Manipur Bush Quail

Open encyclopedia reference

The Manipur bush quail (Perdicula manipurensis) is a species of quail found in northeastern India and possibly Bangladesh, inhabiting damp grassland, particularly stands of tall grass. It was first collected and described by Allan Octavian Hume on an ornithological expedition to Manipur in 1881.

P. manipurensis was uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered in the October 2024 IUCN Red List update (version 2024-2) under Criterion D, on the basis that any surviving population is estimated at 1–200 mature individuals.

There was no confirmed sighting of the bird from 1932 until June 2006, when Anwaruddin Choudhury reported spotting the quail in Manas, Assam. An earlier unconfirmed observation had been made from Dibru-Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary in March 1998.

BBC News quoted the conservation director of the Wildlife Trust of India, Rahul Kaul, as saying, "This creature has almost literally returned from the dead."

Wikipedia contributors, Manipur bush quail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:13:02.853725+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Perdicula manipurensis Hume, 1881

Name authority

Hume, 1881

Common name

Manipur Bush Quail

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Galliformes

Family

Phasianidae

Genus

Perdicula

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderGalliformes
10. familyPhasianidae
11. genusPerdicula Hodgson, 1837
12. speciesPerdicula manipurensis Hume, 1881

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Perdicula. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 123 records assigned to Phasianidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=176021 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:77449. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.