The
Phasianinae (
Horsfield, 1821) are a
subfamily of the pheasant family (
Phasianidae) of
landfowl, the
order Galliformes. The subfamily includes
pheasants,
tragopans,
junglefowl,
peafowl, and other similar birds. Although this subfamily was considered
monophyletic and separated from the
partridges,
francolins, and
Old World quails (
Perdicinae) till the early 1990s,
molecular phylogenies have shown that this two subfamilies actually constitute only one lineage. For example, some
partridges (genus
Perdix) are more closely affiliated to
pheasants, whereas
Old World quails and
partridges from the genus
Alectoris are closer to
junglefowls.