The scaly spurfowl was
formally described in 1857 by the American ornithologist
John Cassin from specimens collected by
Paul Du Chaillu in the
Cape Lopez region in what is now the West Africa state of
Gabon. Cassin coined the
binomial name Francolinus squamatus. The specific epithet
squamatus is Latin for "scaled". The species is now placed in the
genus Pternistis that was introduced by the German naturalist
Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. A phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that the scaly spurfowl is a
sister species to the
Ahanta spurfowl. Three
subspecies are now recognised: •
P. s. squamatus (
Cassin, 1857) — southeast Nigeria to north and east Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), Gabon and the Republic of the Congo (R Congo) •
P. s. schuetti (
Cabanis, 1880) — east R Congo to Uganda, central and southwest Kenya, and central Ethiopia. Also northeast and southeast Tanzania and north Malawi (
Vipya Plateau) •
P. s. maranensis (
Mearns, 1910) — southeast Kenya, northeast Tanzania ==Notes==