Laterallus
Laterallus | |
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Black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Gruiformes |
Family: | Rallidae |
Genus: | Laterallus Gray, G.R., 1855 |
Type species | |
Rallus melanophaius[1] Vieillot, 1819 | |
Species | |
see text |
Laterallus is a genus of birds in the rail family Rallidae. These small, relatively short-billed terrestrial rails are found among dense vegetation near water in the Neotropics, although a single species, the black rail, also occurs in the United States.
Taxonomy
The genus was erected by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 with the rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophaius) as the type species.[2] The genus name is a portmanteau of Rallus lateralis, a synonym of the binomial name for the rufous-sided crake.[3] The authors of a molecular genetic study published in 2019 proposed that the yellow-breasted crake, the dot-winged crake, and the flightless Inaccessible Island rail should be moved to this genus.[4] Additional changes to the content of the genus were made based on the molecular phylogenetic study by Emiliano Depino and collaborators that was published in 2023.[5][6]
Species
The genus contains 11 species:[6]
- Speckled rail, Laterallus notatus (formerly placed in the genus Coturnicops)
- Dot-winged crake, Laterallus spiloptera
- Inaccessible Island rail, Laterallus rogersi
- Black rail, Laterallus jamaicensis
- Galapagos crake, Laterallus spilonota
- Yellow-breasted crake, Laterallus flaviventer
- Grey-breasted crake, Laterallus exilis
- White-throated crake, Laterallus albigularis
- Ruddy crake, Laterallus ruber
- Rusty-flanked crake, Laterallus levraudi
- Rufous-sided crake, Laterallus melanophaius
The rufous-faced crake (Rufirallus xenopterus), red-and-white crake (Rufirallus leucopyrrhus) and the black-banded crake (Rufirallus fasciatus) were formerly placed in this genus.[6]
References
- ^ "Rallidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
- ^ Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 120.
- ^ Jobling, J.A. (2019). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Laterallus". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive: Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ Stervander, M.; Ryan, P.G.; Melo, M.; Hansson, B. (2019). "The origin of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island rail Atlantisia rogersi (Aves: Rallidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 130: 92–98. Bibcode:2019MolPE.130...92S. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007. PMID 30321695. S2CID 53024581.
- ^ Depino, E.A.; Pérez-Emán, J.L.; Bonaccorso, E.; Areta, J.I. (2023). "Evolutionary history of New World crakes (Aves: Rallidae) with emphasis on the tribe Laterallini". Zoologica Scripta. 52 (4). doi:10.1111/zsc.12595.
- ^ a b c Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
Further reading
- Taylor, B., & van Perlo, B. (1998). Rails – A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World. ISBN 1-873403-59-3