Editing Turkey (bird) (section)

==Fossil record==
A number of turkeys have been described from [[fossil]]s. The Meleagridinae are known from the [[Early Miocene]] ({{circa|23}} [[mya (unit)|mya]]) onwards, with the [[extinct]] [[Genus|genera]] ''[[Rhegminornis]]'' (Early Miocene of Bell, U.S.) and ''[[Proagriocharis]]'' (Kimball [[Late Miocene]]/[[Zanclean|Early Pliocene]] of Lime Creek, U.S.). The former is probably a [[basal turkey]], the other a more contemporary bird not very similar to known turkeys; both were much smaller birds. A turkey fossil not assignable to genus but similar to ''Meleagris'' is known from the Late Miocene of [[Westmoreland County, Virginia]].<ref name="Farner and King">{{cite book |author= Farner, Donald Stanley |author2= King, James R. |name-list-style= amp |title=Avian biology |publisher=Academic Press |location=Boston |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-12-249408-6 }}</ref> In the modern genus ''Meleagris'', a considerable number of species have been described, as turkey fossils are robust and fairly often found, and turkeys show great variation among individuals. Many of these supposed fossilized species are now considered [[junior synonym]]s. One, the well-documented [[California turkey]] ''Meleagris californica'',<ref>Formerly ''Parapavo californica'' and initially described as ''Pavo californica'' or "California peacock"</ref> became extinct recently enough to have been hunted by early human settlers.<ref>{{cite book |author=Broughton, Jack |title=Resource depression and intensification during the late Holocene, San Francisco Bay: evidence from the Emeryville Shellmound vertebrate fauna |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-520-09828-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/resourcedepressi0032brou }}; [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060213090658.htm lay summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024100920/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060213090658.htm |date=24 October 2017 }}</ref> It has been suggested that its demise was due to the combined pressures of human hunting and [[climate change]] at the end of the [[last glacial period]].<ref>Bochenski, Z. M., and K. E. Campbell Jr. (2006). [http://www.nhm.org/site/sites/default/files/pdf/contrib_science/CS509.pdf The extinct California Turkey, ''Meleagris californica'', from Rancho La Brea: Comparative osteology and systematics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412101807/https://nhm.org/site/sites/default/files/pdf/contrib_science/CS509.pdf |date=12 April 2019 }}. ''Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County'', Number 509.</ref>

The [[Oligocene]] fossil ''[[Meleagris antiquus]]'' was first described by [[Othniel Charles Marsh]] in 1871. It has since been reassigned to the genus ''[[Paracrax]]'', first interpreted as a [[Cracidae|cracid]], then soon after as a [[Bathornithidae|bathornithid]] [[Cariamiformes]].

===Fossil species===
* ''Meleagris'' sp. (Early Pliocene of [[Bone Valley]], U.S.)
<!-- * ''Meleagris leopoldi'' (Late Pliocene of Cita Canyon, U.S.){{snd}}formerly ''Agriocharis''
* ''Meleagris progenes'' (Rexroad Late Pliocene, Meade County, U.S.){{snd}}formerly ''Agriocharis'' [probably synonyms of extant gallopavo] -->
* ''Meleagris'' sp. (Late Pliocene of Macasphalt Shell Pit, U.S.)
<!-- * ''Meleagris anza'' (Early Pleistocene of San Diego County, U.S.) [probably synonyms of extant gallopavo] -->
* ''[[Meleagris californica]]'' (Late Pleistocene of southwestern U.S.){{snd}}formerly ''Parapavo/Pavo''<!-- Auk62:596; Condor32:81; Condor38:249; Condor44:283 -->
* ''Meleagris crassipes'' (Late Pleistocene of southwestern North America)<!-- Condor42:154; Condor96:577; RevMexCiencGeol20:79 -->

Turkeys have been considered by many authorities to be their own family—the Meleagrididae—but a recent genomic analysis of a [[retrotransposon marker]] groups turkeys in the family [[Phasianidae]].<ref name=Jan>{{cite journal| last1 = Jan| first1 = K.| last2 = Andreas| first2 = M.| last3 = Gennady| first3 = C.| last4 = Andrej| first4 = K.| last5 = Gerald| first5 = M.| last6 = Jürgen| first6 = B.| last7 = Jürgen| first7 = S.| year = 2007| title = Waves of genomic hitchhikers shed light on the evolution of gamebirds (Aves: Galliformes)| journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology| doi = 10.1186/1471-2148-7-190| volume = 7| issue = 1| page = 190| pmid = 17925025| pmc = 2169234| df = dmy-all| doi-access = free| bibcode = 2007BMCEE...7..190K}}</ref> In 2010, a team of scientists published a draft sequence of the domestic turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') genome.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Dalloul | first1 = R. A. | last2 = Long | first2 = J. A. | last3 = Zimin | first3 = A. V. | last4 = Aslam | first4 = L. | last5 = Beal | first5 = K. | last6 = Blomberg Le | first6 = L. | last7 = Bouffard | first7 = P. | last8 = Burt | first8 = D. W. | last9 = Crasta | first9 = O. | last10 = Crooijmans | first10 = R. P. | last11 = Cooper | first11 = K. | last12 = Coulombe | first12 = R. A. | last13 = De | first13 = S. | last14 = Delany | first14 = M. E. | last15 = Dodgson | first15 = J. B. | last16 = Dong | first16 = J. J. | last17 = Evans | first17 = C. | last18 = Frederickson | first18 = K. M. | last19 = Flicek | first19 = P. | last20 = Florea | first20 = L. | last21 = Folkerts | first21 = O. | last22 = Groenen | first22 = M. A. | last23 = Harkins | first23 = T. T. | last24 = Herrero | first24 = J. | last25 = Hoffmann | first25 = S. | last26 = Megens | first26 = H. J. | last27 = Jiang | first27 = A. | last28 = De Jong | first28 = P. | last29 = Kaiser | first29 = P. | last30 = Kim | first30 = H. | editor1-last = Roberts | editor1-first = Richard J | title = Multi-Platform Next-Generation Sequencing of the Domestic Turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo''): Genome Assembly and Analysis | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000475 | journal = PLOS Biology | volume = 8 | issue = 9 | pages = e1000475 | year = 2010 | pmid =  20838655| pmc =2935454 | doi-access = free }}</ref> In 2023 a new improved haplotype-resolved domestic turkey genome was published, which confirmed the large inversion on the Z chromosome not found in other [[Galliformes]], and found new structural variations between the parent haplotypes that provides potential new target genes for breeding.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barros |first1=Carolina P |last2=Derks |first2=Martijn F L |last3=Mohr |first3=Jeff |last4=Wood |first4=Benjamin J |last5=Crooijmans |first5=Richard P M A |last6=Megens |first6=Hendrik-Jan |last7=Bink |first7=Marco C A M |last8=Groenen |first8=Martien A M |title=A new haplotype-resolved turkey genome to enable turkey genetics and genomics research |journal=[[GigaScience]] |date=12 December 2022 |volume=12 |doi=10.1093/gigascience/giad051 |language=en |pmc=10360393 |pmid=37489751}}</ref>