Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
May 2008
Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
Tympanuchus cupido ( Linnaeus) 1758
Other vernacular names: prairie chicken, prairie cock, prairie grouse, prairie hen
SUBSPECIES
T. c. cupido (Linnaeus): Heath hen or eastern pinnated grouse. Extinct since 1932. Formerly along the East Coast from Massachusetts south to Maryland and north central Tennessee.
T. c. pinnatus (Brewster): Greater prairie chicken. Currently limited to several small isolated populations in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois and to the grasslands of extreme southern Manitoba, northwestern Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and western Missouri.
T. c. attwateri Bendire: Attwater prairie chicken. Currently limited to a few isolated populations along the coast of Texas from Arkansas and Refugio counties to Galveston County, and inland to Colorado and Austin counties.
T. c. pallidicinctus (Ridgway): Lesser prairie chicken. Currently limited to arid grasslands of southeastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas southward through Oklahoma to extreme eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. Recognized by the A.O.U. Check-list (1957) as a separate species.
Comments
From Grouse and Quails of North America, by Paul A. Johnsgard (Lincoln, NE, 1973 & 2008). Electronic edition copyright © 2008 Paul A. Johnsgard.