Rallina
| Rallina | |
|---|---|
| Red-necked crake (Rallina tricolor) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| Family: | Rallidae |
| Genus: | Rallina G.R. Gray, 1846 |
| Type species | |
| Rallus fasciatus[1] Raffles, 1822 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Tomirdus Mathews, 1912 | |
Rallina is a genus of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It contains four species found in forest and marshland in Asia and Australasia.[2] They are 18–34 cm long and mainly chestnut or brown, often with black and white markings.[3]
Four African species formerly usually placed in Rallina are now placed in the genus Rallicula; some taxonomic authorities continue to place them in Rallina, but as the pronounced sexual dimorphism of Rallicula shows, they are no true rails at all, but instead belong to the recently separated (though outwardly similar) flufftail family Sarothruridae.
Species
[edit]The genus contains the following four species:[2]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red-necked crake | Rallina tricolor Gray, 1858 |
the Moluccas, Lesser Sundas, New Guinea lowlands and adjacent islands, and north-eastern Australia. | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Andaman crake | Rallina canningi (Blyth, 1863) |
Andaman Islands | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Red-legged crake | Rallina fasciata (Raffles, 1822) |
north-eastern India, eastern Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Indonesia | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Slaty-legged crake | Rallina eurizonoides (Lafresnaye, 1845) |
India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka to the Philippines and Indonesia. | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
A fifth Rallina species, the Great Nicobar crake, was proposed but not formally described in 2012.[4] As of 2023, the supposed new species was only recorded twice, in 2011 and 2015; however, in 2021 populations of Red-legged and Slaty-legged crakes were discovered to inhabit Great Nicobar Island. It was thus suggested that the "Great Nicobar crake" is a hybrid between these two species.[5] However, the putative new species was observed again in 2025 in a different part of the island so was suggested to indeed be a new species.[6]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Rallidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
- 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ↑ Taylor, Barry & Ber van Perlo (1998). Rails: A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World. Sussex: Pica Press.
- ↑ Kumar, S Rajesh. "An apparently new species of Rallina crake from Great Nicobar Island, India". BirdingASIA. 17: 44–46.
- ↑ Dalvi, S.; Dixit, S.; Dharwadkar, O.; Thackeray, T. (2021). "The Red-legged Crake Rallina fasciata—a new species for the Indian Subcontinent, and the Slaty-legged Crake Rallina eurizonoides—a new species for the Nicobar Islands" (PDF). Indian Birds. 17 (6): 161–164.
- ↑ Sethi, P.; Sethi, N.; Shill, V. (2025). "A Tale of Two Crakes from the Great Nicobar Island, India: The Red-legged Crake Rallina fasciata and the undescribed Great Nicobar Crake Rallina sp" (PDF). Indian Birds. 21 (5): 129–134.