Pavoninae

The Pavoninae are a subfamily of the pheasant family (Phasianidae) of landfowl, the order Galliformes. This subfamily includes the peafowl, arguses, peacock-pheasants, spurfowl, junglefowl (including the chicken), francolins, and Old World quail. Pavoninae is believed to have diverged from Phasianinae during the early Oligocene, about 30 million years ago.[1][2]

Pavoninae
Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Subfamily:	Pavoninae Rafinesque, 1815
Genera
See text
Synonyms
Gallinae

The members of this family were not thought to form a monophyletic group until recent phylogenetic studies; prior to this, the members were classified on a morphological basis; the peafowl, arguses, peacock-pheasants, and junglefowl were placed with the true pheasants in the subfamily Phasianinae, while the spurfowl, bamboo partridges, francolins, snowcocks, most partridges, and Old World quails were placed with other small phasianids in the now-defunct subfamily Perdicinae. The more recent finding of these birds forming a grouping distinct from Phasianinae has been accepted by the International Ornithological Congress and has been incorporated into its taxonomy. However, some potential problems still remain, as mitogenomic data indicates that Pavoninae may still not be monophyletic within itself, but is rather a paraphyletic grouping consisting of three successively-diverging clades.[1][2][3]