Black-billed Capercaillie

Open encyclopedia reference

The black-billed capercaillie (Tetrao urogalloides) is a large grouse species closely related to the more widespread western capercaillie. It is a sedentary species that breeds in the larch taiga forests of eastern Siberia as well as parts of northern Mongolia and China. In the far west of its distribution, the black-billed capercaillie has been known to hybridize with the western capercaillie. Compared to its western cousin, the black-billed capercaillie is also more adaptable to open habitat, given the larch forests it lives in are usually less dense than other taiga communities. Thus, they tend to avoid thick coniferous forests. They are primarily herbivorous, feeding on twigs, buds, leaves, shoots, and berries of various plants. However, their diet in the warmer months includes some insects like caterpillars, larvae, ants and midges.

This species is also known as the eastern capercaillie, Siberian capercaillie, spotted capercaillie or (in Russian) "stone capercaillie".

Wikipedia contributors, Black-billed capercaillie; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:01:52.498439+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Tetrao urogalloides Middendorff, 1853

Name authority

Middendorff, 1853

Common name

Black-billed Capercaillie

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Galliformes

Family

Phasianidae

Genus

Tetrao

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. genusTetrao Linnaeus, 1758
12. speciesTetrao urogalloides Middendorff, 1853

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 123 records assigned to Phasianidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

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=1193686 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:9MNPW. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.