Hypotaenidia | |
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Buff-banded rail, Hypotaenidia philippensis | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Gruiformes |
Family: | Rallidae |
Genus: | Hypotaenidia Reichenbach, 1853 |
Type species | |
Rallus pectoralis[1] Reichenbach, 1853
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Species | |
8 living, and see text | |
Synonyms | |
and see text |
Hypotaenidia is a genus of birds in the family Rallidae. The genus is considered separate by the IOC and IUCN, while The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World / eBird consider the species to be part of Gallirallus. Since the mid-19th century, when these rather terrestrial birds were recognized to form a genus distinct from the decidedly aquatic Rallus, the validity of Hypotaenidia has been disputed.
Only in the 2010s has this question be resolved to some degree of satisfaction. While the present genus does indeed belong to the Gallirallus group in tribe Rallini of subfamily Rallinae, it stands apart from the numerous more basal lineages therein, and constitutes a well-distinct clade of smallish to mid-sized species distributed from Sahul far into the Pacific – across a range of at least 9,000 by 8,000 km (almost 6,000 by 5,000 miles). Like their larger more ancestral relatives, they readily evolve into flightless island endemics in the absence of terrestrial predators; however, their smaller bulk makes it easier for them to get airborne, and more prone to be swept away by strong winds. Consequently, they are (together with the Zapornia crakes) suspected to make up much of the prehistoric diversity of flightless rails of the oceanic islands of the Pacific.[2][3]
Hypotaenidia rails are typically a brownish hue on the upperside; this can range from almost beige to blackish in lightness and generally tends toward reddish hues, and many species have light spots or stripes on the remiges or the entire wings; often, conspicuous light stripes run above and/or below the eyes. The underside is barred black-and-white in almost all members of this genus; unlike in the Zapornia crakes (which are also smaller on average, but with some overlap, and generally similar in coloration) this barring is not restricted to the area between legs and tail, but extends across the entire belly up to the neck. A few species are so cryptic that they appear almost uniformly medium to blackish-brown at a distance. The eyes are red to chestnut, and the bill and legs are either more or less bright red to yellowish, or blackish, usually in line with the overall darkness of the plumage.[4]
Species
[edit]Genus Hypotaenidia, as circumscribed after the split-up of Gallirallus, contains the following species:[5]
Extant
[edit]Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
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Okinawa rail | Hypotaenidia okinawae | Okinawa, Japan | |
Barred rail | Hypotaenidia torquata | the Philippines, Sulawesi (Indonesia) and Salawati (western New Guinea) | |
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Buff-banded rail | Hypotaenidia philippensis | Australasia and the southwestern Pacific region, including the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand |
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Guam rail | Hypotaenidia owstoni | Guam |
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Pink-legged rail | Hypotaenidia insignis | New Britain |
Roviana rail | Hypotaenidia rovianae | Western Province (the Solomon Islands) | |
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Woodford's rail | Hypotaenidia woodfordi | the Solomon Islands |
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Lord Howe woodhen | Hypotaenidia sylvestris | Lord Howe Island |
![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Naturalis_Biodiversity_Center_-_RMNH.AVES.87485_-_Gallirallus_sharpei_%28B%C3%BCttikofer%2C_1893%29_-_Sharpe%27s_Rail_-_specimen_-_lateral_view.jpeg/220px-Naturalis_Biodiversity_Center_-_RMNH.AVES.87485_-_Gallirallus_sharpei_%28B%C3%BCttikofer%2C_1893%29_-_Sharpe%27s_Rail_-_specimen_-_lateral_view.jpeg)
"Sharpe's rail" (traditionally Gallirallus sharpei) is the name given to a singular and enigmatic specimen, Naturalis Biodiversity Center RMNH 87485. Probably collected around 1860, the specimen seems to have arrived at the museum without any accompanying data. It has been suggested to be an aberrant individual of H. philippensis which it certainly resembles much in size, shape, and some plumage details; unpublished DNA data also indicates it belongs to this species. Consequently, it would belong in Hypotaenidia if Gallirallus is split.
Extinct
[edit]Several rail species that have gone extinct in fairly recent times and which were traditionally placed in Gallirallus are better assigned to Hypotaenidia:
Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
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†Bar-winged rail | Hypotaenidia poeciloptera | Fiji (Viti Levu) |
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†Dieffenbach's rail | Hypotaenidia dieffenbachii | the Chatham Islands |
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†Tahiti rail | Hypotaenidia pacifica | Tahiti |
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†Wake Island rail | Hypotaenidia wakensis | Wake Island |
![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Cabalus_modestus_%28AM_LB4145-4%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Cabalus_modestus_%28AM_LB4145-4%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
The Chatham rail (Cabalus modestus) is another species that was usually included in Gallirallus in the genus' loose circumscription, and often considered a close relative of H. dieffenbachii with which it shared its island home. However, these two species are far less closely related than presumed, leading to reestablishment of the genus Cabalus when Gallirallus was split up. Even so, the Chatham rail is very closely related to the Hypotaenidia clade, and analyses are hampered by the lack of data from the extinct and little-known species. Some datasets do resolve the Chatham rail as member of Hypotaenidia, and it may eventually be moved here.[2][3][6][7]
Also, many Pacific rails died out before they could be studied alive by scientists, and are not even attested by skin specimens, but only from fragmentary evidence such as subfossil bones or brief reports in travellers' accounts. They have been traditionally placed in Gallirallus, but most if not all would seem to belong elsewhere, and at least in the case of Polynesian species almost certainly in Hypotaenidia:[8]
Melanesian species
- New Ireland rail, "Gallirallus" ernstmayri
![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Gallirallus.sp.norfolk.awda.jpg/220px-Gallirallus.sp.norfolk.awda.jpg)
Micronesian species
- Tinian rail, "Gallirallus" pendiculentus
- Aguiguan rail, "Gallirallus" pisonii
- Rota rail, "Gallirallus" temptatus
Polynesian species
- Astolfo's rail, "Gallirallus" astolfoi[8]
- Nuku Hiva rail, "Gallirallus" epulare[9]
- Ua Huka rail, "Gallirallus" gracilitibia[9]
- Niue rail, "Gallirallus" huiatua [10][11]
- Mangaia rail, "Gallirallus" ripleyi[12]
- Tahuata rail, "Gallirallus" roletti[9]
- Tubuai rail, "Gallirallus" steadmani[13]
- Huahine rail, "Gallirallus" storrsolsoni
- Vava'u rail, "Gallirallus" vavauensis[14]
- ʻEua rail, "Gallirallus" vekamatolu – possibly survived to the early 19th century[15][16]
- Hiva Oa rail, ?"Gallirallus" sp.
- Norfolk Island rail, "Gallirallus" sp. - possibly survived to the early 19th century[17]
In addition, the Small Oʻahu "crake" ("Porzana" ziegleri) is anatomically similar to Hypotaenidia and could have been be a Zapornis-sized species of the present genus, while the Snipe rail (Capellirallus karamu) of New Zealand might be closely enough related to the Chatham rail to be included in its genus, i.e. Hypotaenidia if Cabalus is considered invalid.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Rallidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
- ^ a b Kirchman, Jeremy J. (2012): Speciation of flightless rails on islands: A DNA-based phylogeny of the typical rails of the Pacific. Auk 129(1):s 56–69. doi:10.1525/auk.2011.11096 PDF fulltext
- ^ a b Garcia-R, Juan C. et al. (2014): Deep global evolutionary radiation in birds: Diversification and trait evolution in the cosmopolitan bird family Rallidae. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 81: 96–108. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.09.008 PDF fulltext
- ^ Taylor, P. Barry & van Perlo, Ber (1998): Rails: a guide to the rails, crakes, gallinules, and coots of the world (Helm Identification Guides). Yale University Press, New Haven. ISBN 0-300-07758-0.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
- ^ a b Garcia-R, Juan C. & Matzke, Nicholas J. (2021): Trait-dependent dispersal in rails (Aves: Rallidae): Historical biogeography of a cosmopolitan bird clade. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 159: 107106. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107106 PDF preprint
- ^ Kirchman, Jeremy J. et al. (2021): Phylogeny based on ultra-conserved elements clarifies the evolution of rails and allies (Ralloidea) and is the basis for a revised classification. Ornithology 138(4): 1–21. doi:10.1093/ornithology/ukab042 PDF fulltext
- ^ a b Salvador, Rodrigo B.; Anderson, Atholl; Tennyson, Alan J.D. (2021). "An Extinct New Rail (Gallirallus, Aves: Rallidae) Species from Rapa Island, French Polynesia". Taxonomy. 1 (4): 448–457. doi:10.3390/taxonomy1040032.
- ^ a b c Kirchman, Jeremy J.; Steadman, David. (2007). "New species of extinct rails (Aves: Rallidae) from archaeological sites in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia". Pacific Science. 61 (1): 145–163. doi:10.1353/psc.2007.0008. hdl:10125/22605. S2CID 86793953. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014.(subscription required)
- ^ "Gallirallus huiatua; holotype". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
- ^ Steadman, David W.; Worthy, Trevor H.; Anderson, Atholl; Walter, Richard. (1 June 2000). "New species and records of birds from prehistoric sites on Niue, southwest Pacific". Wilson Bulletin. 112 (2): 165–186. doi:10.1676/0043-5643(2000)112[0165:NSAROB]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 86588636. Archived from the original on 24 May 2007.(subscription required)
- ^ Steadman, D. W. (1986). "Two new species of rails (Aves: Rallidae) from Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands". Pacific Science. 40 (1): 27–43.
- ^ Worthy, Trevor H.; Bollt, Robert. (1 January 2011). "Prehistoric birds and bats from the Atiahara site, Tubuai, Austral Islands, East Polynesia". Pacific Science. 65 (1): 69–86. doi:10.2984/65.1.069. hdl:10125/23211. S2CID 54836563. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014.(subscription required)
- ^ Worthy, Trevor H.; Burley, David V. (2020). "Prehistoric avifaunas from the Kingdom of Tonga". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 189 (3): 998–1045. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz110.
- ^ A similar bird was found to live on nearby Vava‘u in 1793. Given that G. vekamatolu was flightless, this may just as well represent a related species.
- ^ Kirchman, J.J.; Steadman, D. W. (2005). "Rails (Aves: Rallidae: Gallirallus) from prehistoric sites in the Kingdom of Tonga, including description of a new species". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 118 (2): 465–477. doi:10.2988/0006-324x(2005)118[465:rargfp]2.0.co;2. S2CID 86755841.
- ^ "State Library of New South Wales". Retrieved 6 January 2023.
External links
[edit]Data related to Hypotaenidia at Wikispecies