Rallidae

Kirchman, Jeremy J. & Steadman, David W., 2006, Rails (Rallidae: Gallirallus) from prehistoric archaeological sites in Western Oceania, Zootaxa 1316, pp. 1-31 : 6-7

Family Rallidae

In Oceania, extant species of Rallidae include the crakes ( Porzana , Rallina ), swamphens ( Porphyrio ), moorhens ( Gallinula ), coots ( Fulica ), and the “typical” rails, all of which we regard as species of Gallirallus sensu lato. Our classification of Gallirallus closely follows those of Olson (1973) and Taylor (1998), although they both recognized the genus Nesoclopeus for G. woodfordi of the Solomon Islands and † G. poecilopterus of Fiji. Olson (1973) put G. pectoralis in Dryolimnas and Taylor (1998) put it in Lewinia . We do not follow Livezey (1998, 2003), who has advocated dividing the typical rails of Oceania among the genera Gallirallus , Nesoclopeus, Tricholimnas , Cabalus , and Habropteryx to highlight morphological distinctiveness associated with flightlessness. Thus, we include in Gallirallus the historically known species australis , philippensis , calayanensis, owstoni , okinawae , † wakensis , torquatus , insignis , † sylvestris , † dieffenbachii , † modestus , woodfordi , † poecilopterus , striatus , and pectoralis , and the fossil species † ripleyi , † huiatua , † vekamatolu , † storrsolsoni , †roletti, † gracilitibia , and † epulare ( Table 2). Two of these species occur in Micronesia: the flightless Guam Rail ( G. owstoni ), formerly endemic to Guam but now extinct in the wild and survives only in captive breeding programs; and the Banded Rail ( G. philippensis ), a volant species widespread in Oceania but now occurring in Micronesia only in Palau.

Species Flight Status Geographic Range

G. australis F E New Zealand

G. dieffenbachii F †H,P Chatham Islands

G. epulare F †P Nuka Hiva, Marquesas

G. e r ns tm a y ri F †P New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago

G. gracilitibia F †P Ua Huka, Marquesas

G. huiatua F †P Niue

G. insignis F E New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago

G. lafresnayanus F †H New Caledonia

G. modestus F †H,P Chatham Islands

G. okinawae F E Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands

G. owstoni F C Guam, Mariana Islands

G. pacificus F? †H Tahiti, Society Islands

G. pendiculentus F †P Tinian, Mariana Islands

G. philippensis V E Cocos Is. , Philippines, Sundas E. to Samoa, Australia, New

Zealand

G. pisonii F †P Aguiguan, Mariana Islands

G. poecilopterus F †H Taveuni, Viti Levu, and Ovalau, Fiji

G. ripleyi F †P Mangaia, Cook Islands

G. role t ti F †P Tahuata, Marquesas

G. rovianae F E New Georgia Group, Solomon Islands

G. storrsolsoni F †P Huahine, Society Islands

G. sylvestris F E Lord Howe Island

G. temptatus F †P Rota, Mariana Islands

G. torquatus V E Philippines, Sulawesi, NW New Guinea

G. vekamatolu F †P ‘Eua, Tonga

G. wakensis F †H Wake Island

G. w o od fo rd i F E Bougainville, Santa Isabel, and Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

G. undescribed sp. F †P Ha’afeva, Tonga