Shelley's Francolin  (Scleroptila shelleyi)

Global Status

IUCN Data (Global)

IUCN 2024. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2024-1 (www)

Assessment year: 2024

Assessment Citation

BirdLife International 2024. Scleroptila shelleyi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2024: e.T22728223A263712313. Accessed on 22 December 2024.

Taxonomic notes:

Scleroptila shelleyi and S. whytei (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously placed in the genus Francolinus and lumped as F. shelleyi following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Population:

The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be generally common to locally rare (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Fuller et al. 2000). The species is declining owing to habitat degradation caused by over-grazing and burning (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Rationale:

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence under 20,000 km² combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (under 10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be over 10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (over 30% decline over ten years or three generations). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Trend justification:

The species is declining owing to habitat degradation caused by over-grazing and burning (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Trade use:

This species has been reported as used in trade at a low prevalence, being found in two of the seven trade datasets evaluated (Donald et al. 2024).