The painted buttonquail was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name Perdix varia.

[2] "Painted buttonquail" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU).

[3] The possibly-extinct New Caledonian buttonquail (Turnix novaecaledoniae) of New Caledonia was formerly considered a third subspecies, but was split as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021.

It feeds on insects and seeds, and the males incubate the eggs for a fortnight and then care for the young.

The subspecies Turnix varius scintillans is endemic to the Houtman Abrolhos islands off the west coast of Australia.