| Laterallus | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| Family: | Rallidae |
| Genus: | Laterallus Gray, G.R., 1855 |
| 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.
The genus was erected by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 with the rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophaius) as the type species.[1] The genus name is a portmanteau of Rallus lateralis, a synonym of the binomial name for the rufous-sided crake.[2] 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.[3]
Species
The genus contains 13 species:[4]
- Black-banded crake, Laterallus fasciatus
- Rufous-sided crake, Laterallus melanophaius
- Rusty-flanked crake, Laterallus levraudi
- Ruddy crake, Laterallus ruber
- White-throated crake, Laterallus albigularis
- Grey-breasted crake, Laterallus exilis
- Yellow-breasted crake, Laterallus flaviventer
- Black rail, Laterallus jamaicensis
- Junin crake, Laterallus jamaicensis tuerosi
- Galapagos crake, Laterallus spilonota
- Dot-winged crake, Laterallus spiloptera
- Inaccessible Island rail, Laterallus rogersi
- Red-and-white crake, Laterallus leucopyrrhus
- Rufous-faced crake, Laterallus xenopterus
References
- ^ 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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007.
- ^ 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.
- Taylor, B., & van Perlo, B. (1998). Rails – A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World. ISBN 1-873403-59-3