Orange River francolin

The Orange River francolin (Scleroptila gutturalis) is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae found in grassland and woodland in Africa.^[2] In the taxa from the northern part of its distribution (Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Kenya), the neck-line does not reach the eye and the belly is whitish.^[2] In the southern taxa (Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho) the neck-line reaches the eye and the belly is buff.^[2] This has led some authorities to treat them as separate species: The Archer's or acacia francolin (S. gutturalis with subspecies lorti) in the north, and the Orange River francolin (S. levaillantoides with subspecies jugularis) in the south.^[2]

Orange River francolin
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Genus:	Scleroptila
Species:	S. gutturalis
Binomial name
Scleroptila gutturalis (Rüppell, 1835)
Synonyms
Francolinus levaillantoides

Taxonomy

Scleroptila gutturalis levalliantoides (Smith, 1836) was made available as levalliantoides.^[3] The name is probably misspelled, and can easily be confused with Scleroptila levaillantii. Both are likely named after Francois Levaillant.