Ortalis

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Cladus: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Cladus: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Classis/Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Subclassis/Parvclassis: Neornithes
Infraclassis/Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Pangalloanserae
Cladus: Galloanseres
Ordo: Galliformes
Subordo: Craci

Familia: Cracidae
Genus: Ortalis
Species: O. araucuan – O. canicollis - o. cinereiceps – O. columbiana – o. erythroptera - o. garrula - o. guttata - o. leucogastra - o. motmot - o. poliocephala - o. ruficauda – O. ruficeps – O. squamata – o. superciliaris - o. vetula - o. wagleri

Name

Ortalis Merrem, 1786

Typus: Phasianus motmot Linnaeus, 1766 = Ortalis motmot

Synonyms

Ortalida Merrem, 1786

References
Primary references

Avium rariorum et minus cognitarum icones et descriptiones collectae e germanicus latinae factae. fasc.2 p.4

Additional references

David, N. 2014. The correct stems of family-group names citing Ortalis Merrem, 1786, as type genus (Aves: Cracidae). Zootaxa 3795(1): 99–100. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3795.1.12 Reference page.
Silveira, L.F., Tomotani, B.M., Cestari, C., Straube, F.C. & Piacentini, V.Q. 2017. Ortalis remota: a forgotten and critically endangered species of chachalaca (Galliformes: Cracidae) from Eastern Brazil. Zootaxa 4306(4): 524–536. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4306.4.4 Reference page.

Vernacular names
English: Chachalaca
français: Ortalide
lietuvių: Čačalakos
português: Aracuã
svenska: Chacalacas

Chachalacas are galliform birds from the genus Ortalis. These birds are found in wooded habitats in the far southern United States (Texas),[1][2] Mexico, and Central and South America. They are social, can be very noisy and often remain fairly common even near humans, as their relatively small size makes them less desirable to hunters than their larger relatives. As agricultural pests, they have a ravenous appetite for tomatoes, melons, beans, and radishes and can ravage a small garden in short order. They travel in packs of six to twelve.[3] Their nests are made of sticks, twigs, leaves, or moss and are generally frail, flat structures only a few feet above the ground. During April, they lay from three to five buffy white eggs, the shell of which is very rough and hard.[4] They somewhat resemble the guans, and the two have commonly been placed in a subfamily together, though the chachalacas are probably closer to the curassows.[5]
Taxonomy

The genus Ortalis was introduced (as Ortalida) by the German naturalist Blasius Merrem in 1786 with the little chachalaca (Ortalis motmot) as the type species.[6][7] The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek word όρταλις, meaning "pullet"[8] or "domestic hen."[9] The common name derives from the Nahuatl verb chachalaca, meaning "to chatter." With a glottal stop at the end, chachalacah was an alternate name for the bird known as the chachalahtli. All these words likely arose as an onomatopoeia for the four-noted cackle of the plain chachalaca (O. vetula).[10] The genus contains 16 species.[11]

Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data tentatively suggest that the chachalacas emerged as a distinct lineage during the Oligocene, somewhere around 40–20 mya, possibly being the first lineage of modern cracids to evolve; this does agree with the known fossil record – including indeterminate, cracid-like birds – which very cautiously favors a north-to-south expansion of the family.[5]

Species

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Plain chachalaca	Ortalis vetula	Southern Texas, Mexico, the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, northern Guatemala, northern Honduras and just into the north central part of Nicaragua
	Grey-headed chachalaca	Ortalis cinereiceps	eastern Honduras to northwestern Colombia (from South Chocó to the upper Atrato)
	Chestnut-winged chachalaca	Ortalis garrula	Colombia
	Rufous-vented chachalaca	Ortalis ruficauda	northeast Colombia and Venezuela, Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada
	Rufous-headed chachalaca	Ortalis erythroptera	Colombia and adjacent Ecuador and Peru
	Rufous-bellied chachalaca	Ortalis wagleri	Mexico
	West Mexican chachalaca	Ortalis poliocephala	Mexico, from Jalisco to Oaxaca
	Chaco chachalaca	Ortalis canicollis	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay
	White-bellied chachalaca	Ortalis leucogastra	Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua
	Colombian chachalaca	Ortalis columbiana	Colombia.
	Speckled chachalaca	Ortalis guttata	western Amazon Basin
	East Brazilian chachalaca	Ortalis araucuan	Atlantic forests in eastern Brazil
	Scaled chachalaca	Ortalis squamata	southeastern Brazil
	Little chachalaca	Ortalis motmot	northern Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela
	Chestnut-headed chachalaca	Ortalis ruficeps	north central Brazil
	Buff-browed chachalaca	Ortalis superciliaris	Brazil

Prehistoric species

The cracids have a very poor fossil record, essentially being limited to a few chachalacas. The prehistoric species of the present genus, however, indicate that chachalacas most likely evolved in North or northern Central America:

Ortalis tantala (Early Miocene of Nebraska, USA)
Ortalis pollicaris (Flint Hill Middle Miocene of South Dakota, USA)
Ortalis affinis (Ogallala Early Pliocene of Trego County, Kansas, USA)
Ortalis phengites (Snake Creek Early Pliocene of Sioux County, Nebraska, USA)[12]

The Early Miocene fossil Boreortalis from Florida is also a chachalaca; it may actually be referrable to the extant genus.
References

Marion, Wayne R. (September 1974). "Status of the Plain Chachalaca in South Texas". The Wilson Bulletin. 86 (3): 200–205. JSTOR 4160499.
Sherr, Evelyn B. (2015). Marsh Mud and Mummichogs: An Intimate Natural History of Coastal Georgia. U. Of Georgia Press. p. 96. Archived from the original on 2015-07-23. In the 1920s Howard E. Coffin introduced a breeding population of chachalacas to Sapelo Island, and this breeding population still exists.
"Gray-headed Chachalaca". neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/home. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
"THE BIRD BOOK".
Pereira, S.L.; Baker, A.J.; Wajntal, A. (2002). "Combined nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences resolve generic relationships within the Cracidae (Galliformes, Aves)". Systematic Biology. 51 (6): 946–958. doi:10.1080/10635150290102519. PMID 12554460.
Merrem, Blasius (1786). Avium rariorum et minus cognitarum : icones et descriptiones collectae et e germanicis latinae factae (in Latin). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Ex Bibliopolio Io. Godofr. Mülleriano. p. 40.
Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 16.
Waue, Roland H. (1999). Heralds of Spring in Texas. Texas A&M University Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780890968796. Archived from the original on 2017-11-27.
Arnott, William Geoffrey (2007). Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z. Routledge. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-415-23851-9. Archived from the original on 2014-06-11.
Leopold, Aldo Starker (1972). Wildlife of Mexico: the Game birds and Mammals. University of California Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-520-00724-6.
Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Pheasants, partridges, francolins". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
Wetmore, Alexander. 1923. Avian Fossils from the Miocene and Pliocene of Nebraska. Bulletin American Museum of Natural History XLVIII pp. 483-457.Web access