Distribution

The Long-tailed Wood-Partridge is restricted to highland forests in central and southern Mexico in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán, México, Morelos, Puebla, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Distrito Federal (American Ornithologists' Union 1998). The elevational distribution is from 1,200 to 3,300 m (Howell and Webb 1995).

The maps by Leopold (1959) and Johnsgard (1988) delineate a continuous distribution, linking populations from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the Atlantic Slope with the Sierra Madre del Sur. The distribution maps by Carroll (1994) and van Perlo (2006) are at such a large scale that they do not permit comparison. Howell and Webb (1995) depicted four discrete distribution zones showing less area than the former ones: one along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, two in the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero and Oaxaca, and a fourth on the Atlantic Slope from eastern Veracruz and western Puebla to northern Oaxaca.

Endemic to the Americas.

In the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt this quail is restricted to pine-oak, pine, fir and montane evergreen forests. In Jalisco it is found in conifer and oak forests (Zimmerman and Harry 1951, Palomera-García et al. 2007). In Oaxaca it occurs in the humid pine-oak and montane evergreen forest zones between 1280 and 3050 m (Binford 1989, Watson 2003). South of Mexico City it inhabits the least disturbed humid fir-pine-oak forests, between 2800 and 3300 m (Johnsgard 1988). It is restricted to undisturbed montane evergreen forest between 1400 and 2200 m in the Sierra Madre del Sur of Guerrero (Navarro 1992). In all these habitats it is found mainly in humid sites always with a dense underbrush layer, although the tree layer can be open (G. C-L. pers. obs.).

In a study of abundance and habitat use in a mixed conifer forest under commercial exploitation in Michoacán, the highest relative abundance was found in the Pinus pseudostrobus–Ternstroemia pringlei plant association, which also was more used than expected by the Long-tailed in relation to its extent (Chávez-León et al. 2004, Chávez-León and Velázquez 2004). This quail reached high abundances when values of microhabitat variables (altitude, canopy tree cover, litter cover, and relief) were intermediate, and appeared as a generalist in response to the distribution of the plant associations along a habitat use gradient. At the macrohabitat level, it responded as a species restricted to one vegetation type, and particularly to one plant association in forests under exploitation.

None reported.

Fossil remains of Dendrortyx macroura, one skull and one tarsal phalanx, were found in the Late Pleistocene locality of La Presita, located in the north of the state of San Luis Potosí (Corona-M. 2002).  This first fossil record of the Long-tailed Wood-Partridge is remarkable because this species is associated with temperate areas but the La Presita cave is in the Chihuahuan Desert (Corona-M. and Polaco 1999).