The guineafowl are a family of birds in the same order as the pheasants, turkeys and other game birds. They are also widely known as guineahens, (a term formerly applied to the Turkey).

This is an African family of seed-eating ground-nesting birds resembling partridges, but with featherless heads and spangled grey plumage. The Helmeted Guineafowl has been domesticated and introduced outside its natural range, for example in southern France and the West Indies.

The six species are in this group are related to other members of the gamebird family thus.

• ORDER GALLIFORMES
  • Family Megapodiidae: mound-builders
  • Family Cracidae: chachalacas, guans and curassows
  • Family Tetraonidae: grouse
  • Family Phasianidae: partridges, pheasants, quail, and allies
  • Family Odontophoridae: New World quail
  • Family Numididae
    • White-breasted Guineafowl , Agelastes meleagrides
    • Black Guineafowl , Agelastes niger
    • Helmeted Guineafowl, Numida meleagris
    • Plumed Guineafowl , Guttera plumifera
    • Crested Guineafowl , Guttera pucherani
    • Vulturine Guineafowl, Acryllium vulturinum
  • Family Meleagrididae: turkeys
  • Family Mesitornithidae: mesites