Rallus

Rallus
Water rail (Rallus aquaticus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Rallus
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Rallus aquaticus
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See list

Synonyms

Epirallus Miller, 1942

Rallus is a genus of wetland birds of the rail family. Sometimes, the genera Lewinia and Gallirallus are included in it. Six of the species are found in the Americas, and the three species found in Eurasia, Africa and Madagascar are very closely related to each other, suggesting they are descended from a single invasion of a New World ancestor.

These are slim, long-billed rails with slender legs. Their laterally flattened bodies are an adaptation to life in wet reedbeds and marshes, enabling them to slip easily through the dense semi-aquatic vegetation. Typically these birds have streaked brown upperparts, blue-grey on the face or breast, and barred flanks. Only the African rail has a plain back, and the plain-flanked rail lacks any blue-grey in its plumage and has no flank bars.

Three endemic South American species are endangered by habitat loss, and the Madagascar rail is becoming rare.

Taxonomy

The genus Rallus was erected in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The type species was subsequently designated as the water rail (Rallus aquaticus). The genus name Rallus comes from the pre-binomial Latin name Rallus aquaticus for the water rail used by English ornithologist Francis Willughby in 1676, and by the English naturalist Eleazar Albin in 1731. The precise etymology of the word Rallus is uncertain.

Extant species

The genus contains 14 extant species:

ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Ecuadorian railRallus aequatorialissouthwestern Colombia to southwestern Peru
Austral railRallus antarcticusArgentina and Chile
Water railRallus aquaticusEurope, Asia and North Africa
African railRallus caerulescensfrom Ethiopia to South Africa
Clapper railRallus crepitanseastern U.S., the Gulf of Mexico, eastern Mexico, some Caribbean islands, and south through eastern Central America
King railRallus eleganssouthern United States and Mexico; in Canada, they are found in southern Ontario
Brown-cheeked railRallus indicusnorthern Mongolia, eastern Siberia, northeast China, Korea and northern Japan.
Virginia railRallus limicolasouthern United States and Central America
Mangrove railRallus longirostrisnortheast Colombia, northwest Venezuela, Brazil, Trinidad
Madagascar railRallus madagascariensisMadagascar
Ridgway's railRallus obsoletussoutheastern California and southern Arizona, to northwestern Mexico
Bogotá railRallus semiplumbeusColombia
Aztec railRallus tenuirostrisMexico
Plain-flanked railRallus wetmoreiVenezuela

Fossil record

Life restoration of the five now-extinct species from the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira

Formerly in Rallus

"R." sumiderensis apparently refers to prehistoric remains of the Zapata rail (Cyanolimnas cerverai).

References

  1. ↑ "Rallidae". Howard & Moore Checklist Online. Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  2. 1 2 Taylor & van Perlo (1998)
  3. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae:Laurentii Salvii. p. 153.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  4. ↑ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 157.
  5. ↑ Willughby, Francis (1676). Ornithologiae libri tres (in Latin). London: John Martyn. p. 234.
  6. ↑ Albin, Eleazar; Derham, William (1731). A Natural History of Birds : Illustrated with a Hundred and One Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life. Vol. 1. London: Printed for the author and sold by William Innys. p. 73.
  7. ↑ Jobling, J.A. (2019). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Rallus". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive: Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  8. ↑ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  9. ↑ Gál et al. (1998–1999)
  10. ↑ Alcover, Josep Antoni; Pieper, Harald; Pereira, Fernando; Rando, Juan Carlos (2016-03-01). "Rallus nanus nomen novum: a replacement name for Rallus minutus Alcover et al. 2015". Zootaxa. 4085 (1): 141–142. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4085.1.8. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 27394294.

References