Rallidae Kirchman & Steadman, 2006, sensu

Abstract

Family Rallidae <p> In Oceania, extant species of Rallidae include the crakes (<i>Porzana, Rallina</i>), swamphens (<i>Porphyrio</i>), moorhens (<i>Gallinula</i>), coots (<i>Fulica</i>), and the “typical” rails, all of which we regard as species of <i>Gallirallus sensu lato</i>. Our classification of <i>Gallirallus</i> closely follows those of Olson (1973) and Taylor (1998), although they both recognized the genus <i>Nesoclopeus</i> for <i>G</i>. <i>woodfordi</i> of the Solomon Islands and † <i>G. poecilopterus</i> of Fiji. Olson (1973) put <i>G. pectoralis</i> in <i>Dryolimnas</i> and Taylor (1998) put it in <i>Lewinia</i>. We do not follow Livezey (1998, 2003), who has advocated dividing the typical rails of Oceania among the genera <i>Gallirallus</i>, <i>Nesoclopeus, Tricholimnas</i>, <i>Cabalus,</i> and <i>Habropteryx</i> to highlight morphological distinctiveness associated with flightlessness. Thus, we include in <i>Gallirallus</i> the historically known species <i>australis, philippensis, calayanensis, owstoni, okinawae, † wakensis, torquatus, insignis, † sylvestris, † dieffenbachii, † modestus, woodfordi</i>, † <i>poecilopterus</i>, <i>striatus,</i> and <i>pectoralis,</i> and the fossil species <i>† ripleyi, † huiatua, † vekamatolu, † storrsolsoni, †roletti, † gracilitibia,</i> and <i>† epulare</i> (Table 2). Two of these species occur in Micronesia: the flightless Guam Rail (<i>G. owstoni</i>), formerly endemic to Guam but now extinct in the wild and survives only in captive breeding programs; and the Banded Rail (<i>G. philippensis</i>), a volant species widespread in Oceania but now occurring in Micronesia only in Palau.</p> <p>Species Flight Status Geographic Range</p> <p> <i>G. australis</i> F E New Zealand</p> <p> <i>G. dieffenbachii</i> F †H,P Chatham Islands</p> <p> <i>G. epulare</i> F †P Nuka Hiva, Marquesas</p> <p> <i>G. e r ns tm a y ri</i> F †P New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago</p> <p> <i>G. gracilitibia</i> F †P Ua Huka, Marquesas</p> <p> <i>G. huiatua</i> F †P Niue</p> <p> <i>G. insignis</i> F E New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago</p> <p> <i>G. lafresnayanus</i> F †H New Caledonia</p> <p> <i>G. modestus</i> F †H,P Chatham Islands</p> <p> <i>G. okinawae</i> F E Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands</p> <p> <i>G. owstoni</i> F C Guam, Mariana Islands</p> <p> <i>G. pacificus</i> F? †H Tahiti, Society Islands</p> <p> <i>G. pendiculentus</i> F †P Tinian, Mariana Islands</p> <p> <i>G. philippensis</i> V E Cocos Is., Philippines, Sundas E. to Samoa, Australia, New</p> <p>Zealand</p> <p> <i>G. pisonii</i> F †P Aguiguan, Mariana Islands</p> <p> <i>G. poecilopterus</i> F †H Taveuni, Viti Levu, and Ovalau, Fiji</p> <p> <i>G. ripleyi</i> F †P Mangaia, Cook Islands</p> <p> <i>G. role t ti</i> F †P Tahuata, Marquesas</p> <p> <i>G. rovianae</i> F E New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands</p> <p> <i>G. storrsolsoni</i> F †P Huahine, Society Islands</p> <p> <i>G. sylvestris</i> F E Lord Howe Island</p> <p> <i>G. temptatus</i> F †P Rota, Mariana Islands</p> <p> <i>G. torquatus</i> V E Philippines, Sulawesi, NW New Guinea</p> <p> <i>G. vekamatolu</i> F †P ‘Eua, Tonga</p> <p> <i>G. wakensis</i> F †H Wake Island</p> <p> <i>G. w o od fo rd i</i> F E Bougainville, Santa Isabel, and Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands</p> <p> <i>G. undescribed</i> sp. F †P Ha’afeva, Tonga</p>Published as part of <i>Kirchman, Jeremy J. & Steadman, David W., 2006, Rails (Rallidae: Gallirallus) from prehistoric archaeological sites in Western Oceania, pp. 1-31 in Zootaxa 1316</i> on pages 6-7, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/173941">10.5281/zenodo.173941</a&gt