List of rail species explained

The avian family Rallidae comprise the rails, crakes, and coots. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 152 species distributed among 43 genera, 23 of which have only one species. Twenty-one of the species in the list have gone extinct since A.D. 1500; they are marked (E).[1]

This list is presented according to the IOC taxonomic sequence and can also be sorted alphabetically by common name and binomial.

List

Common nameBinomial namedata-sort-type="number" IOC sequence
Grey-throated railCanirallus oculeus (Hartlaub, 1855)1
Ash-throated crakeMustelirallus albicollis (Vieillot, 1819)2
Paint-billed crakeMustelirallus erythrops (Sclater, PL, 1867)3
Colombian crakeMustelirallus colombianus (Bangs, 1898)4
Zapata railMustelirallus cerverai (Barbour & Peters, JL, 1927)5
Spotted railPardirallus maculatus (Boddaert, 1783)6
Blackish railPardirallus nigricans (Vieillot, 1819)7
Plumbeous railPardirallus sanguinolentus (Swainson, 1838)8
Uniform crakeAmaurolimnas concolor (Gosse, 1847)9
Rufous-necked wood railAramides axillaris Lawrence, 186310
Little wood railAramides mangle (Spix, 1825)11
Russet-naped wood railAramides albiventris Lawrence, 186812
Grey-cowled wood railAramides cajaneus (Müller, PLS, 1776)13
Brown wood railAramides wolfi Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 188414
Giant wood railAramides ypecaha (Vieillot, 1819)15
Red-winged wood railAramides calopterus Sclater, PL & Salvin, 187816
Slaty-breasted wood railAramides saracura (Spix, 1825)17
Ridgway's railRallus obsoletus Ridgway, 187418
Clapper railRallus crepitans Gmelin, JF, 178919
Aztec railRallus tenuirostris Ridgway, 187420
Mangrove railRallus longirostris Boddaert, 178321
King railRallus elegans Audubon, 183422
Plain-flanked railRallus wetmorei Zimmer, JT & Phelps, WH, 194423
Virginia railRallus limicola Vieillot, 181924
Bogota railRallus semiplumbeus Sclater, PL, 185625
Ecuadorian railRallus aequatorialis Sharpe, 189426
Austral railRallus antarcticus King, PP, 182827
Water railRallus aquaticus Linnaeus, 175828
Brown-cheeked railRallus indicus Blyth, 184929
African railRallus caerulescens Gmelin, JF, 178930
Madagascar railRallus madagascariensis Verreaux, J, 183331
African crakeCrecopsis egregia (Peters, W, 1854)32
Rouget's railRougetius rougetii (Guérin-Méneville, 1843)33
White-throated railDryolimnas cuvieri (Pucheran, 1845)34
Reunion railDryolimnas augusti Mourer-Chauviré, Bour, Ribes & Moutou, 1999 (E)35
Corn crakeCrex crex (Linnaeus, 1758)36
Snoring railAramidopsis plateni (Blasius, W, 1886)37
Slaty-breasted railLewinia striata (Linnaeus, 1766)38
Brown-banded railLewinia mirifica (Parkes & Amadon, 1959)39
Lewin's railLewinia pectoralis (Temminck, 1831)40
Auckland railLewinia muelleri (Rothschild, 1893)41
Hawkins's railDiaphorapteryx hawkinsi (Forbes, HO, 1892) (E)42
Calayan railAptenorallus calayanensis (Allen, D, Oliveros, Española, Broad & Gonzalez, 2004)43
Invisible railHabroptila wallacii Gray, GR, 186144
WekaGallirallus australis (Sparrman, 1786)45
Chestnut railEulabeornis castaneoventris Gould, 184446
New Caledonian railCabalus lafresnayanus (Verreaux, J & des Murs, 1860)47
Chatham railCabalus modestus (Hutton, FW, 1872) (E)48
Okinawa railHypotaenidia okinawae (Yamashina & Mano, 1981)49
Barred railHypotaenidia torquata (Linnaeus, 1766)50
Buff-banded railHypotaenidia philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766)51
Guam railHypotaenidia owstoni Rothschild, 189552
Pink-legged railHypotaenidia insignis (Sclater, PL, 1880)53
Roviana railHypotaenidia rovianae (Diamond, 1991)54
Woodford's railHypotaenidia woodfordi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1889)55
Bar-winged railHypotaenidia poeciloptera (Hartlaub, 1866) (E)56
Lord Howe woodhenHypotaenidia sylvestris (Sclater, PL, 1870)57
Dieffenbach's railHypotaenidia dieffenbachii (Gray, GR, 1843) (E)58
Tahiti railHypotaenidia pacifica (Gmelin, JF, 1789) (E)59
Wake Island railHypotaenidia wakensis Rothschild, 1903 (E)60
Spot-flanked gallinulePorphyriops melanops (Vieillot, 1819)61
SoraPorzana carolina (Linnaeus, 1758)62
Spotted crakePorzana porzana (Linnaeus, 1766)63
Australian crakePorzana fluminea Gould, 184364
Black-tailed nativehenTribonyx ventralis (Gould, 1837)65
Tasmanian nativehenTribonyx mortierii Du Bus de Gisignies, 184066
Lesser moorhenParagallinula angulata (Sundevall, 1850)67
Dusky moorhenGallinula tenebrosa Gould, 184668
Common gallinuleGallinula galeata (Lichtenstein, MHC, 1818)69
Common moorhenGallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758)70
Tristan moorhenGallinula nesiotis Sclater, PL, 1861 (E)71
Gough moorhenGallinula comeri (Allen, JA, 1892)72
Makira woodhenGallinula silvestris (Mayr, 1933)73
Samoan woodhenGallinula pacifica (Hartlaub & Finsch, 1871) (E)74
Red-fronted cootFulica rufifrons Philippi & Landbeck, 186175
Horned cootFulica cornuta Bonaparte, 185376
Giant cootFulica gigantea Eydoux & Souleyet, 184177
Red-gartered cootFulica armillata Vieillot, 181778
Eurasian cootFulica atra Linnaeus, 175879
Red-knobbed cootFulica cristata Gmelin, JF, 178980
Mascarene cootFulica newtonii Milne-Edwards, 1867 (E)81
Hawaiian cootFulica alai Peale, 184982
American cootFulica americana Gmelin, JF, 178983
Andean cootFulica ardesiaca Tschudi, 184384
White-winged cootFulica leucoptera Vieillot, 181785
Allen's gallinulePorphyrio alleni Thomson, 184286
Purple gallinulePorphyrio martinica (Linnaeus, 1766)87
Azure gallinulePorphyrio flavirostris (Gmelin, JF, 1789)88
Western swamphenPorphyrio porphyrio (Linnaeus, 1758)89
African swamphenPorphyrio madagascariensis (Latham, 1801)90
Grey-headed swamphenPorphyrio poliocephalus (Latham, 1801)91
Black-backed swamphenPorphyrio indicus Horsfield, 182192
Philippine swamphenPorphyrio pulverulentus Temminck, 182693
Australasian swamphenPorphyrio melanotus Temminck, 182094
White swamphenPorphyrio albus (Shaw, 1790) (E)95
North Island takahePorphyrio mantelli (Owen, 1848) (E)96
South Island takahePorphyrio hochstetteri (Meyer, AB, 1883)97
Ocellated crakeMicropygia schomburgkii (Schomburgk, 1848)98
Russet-crowned crakeRufirallus viridis (Müller, PLS, 1776)99
Chestnut-headed crakeRufirallus castaneiceps (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1869)100
Swinhoe's railCoturnicops exquisitus (Swinhoe, 1873)101
Yellow railCoturnicops noveboracensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789)102
Speckled railCoturnicops notatus (Gould, 1841)103
Yellow-breasted crakeLaterallus flaviventer (Boddaert, 1783)104
Black railLaterallus jamaicensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789)105
Galapagos crakeLaterallus spilonota (Gould, 1841)106
Dot-winged crakeLaterallus spiloptera (Durnford, 1877)107
Inaccessible Island railLaterallus rogersi (Lowe, 1923)108
Ruddy crakeLaterallus ruber (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1860)109
Rufous-sided crakeLaterallus melanophaius (Vieillot, 1819)110
Rusty-flanked crakeLaterallus levraudi (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1869)111
Rufous-faced crakeLaterallus xenopterus Conover, 1934112
Red-and-white crakeLaterallus leucopyrrhus (Vieillot, 1819)113
Grey-breasted crakeLaterallus exilis (Temminck, 1831)114
White-throated crakeLaterallus albigularis (Lawrence, 1861)115
Black-banded crakeLaterallus fasciatus (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1868)116
Ascension crakeMundia elpenor (Olson, 1973) (E)117
St. Helena railAphanocrex podarces Wetmore, 1963 (E)118
Black crakeZapornia flavirostra (Swainson, 1837)119
Sakalava railZapornia olivieri (Grandidier, G & Berlioz, 1929)120
Ruddy-breasted crakeZapornia fusca (Linnaeus, 1766)121
Band-bellied crakeZapornia paykullii (Ljungh, 1813)122
Black-tailed crakeZapornia bicolor (Walden, 1872)123
Brown crakeZapornia akool (Sykes, 1832)124
Baillon's crakeZapornia pusilla (Pallas, 1776)125
St. Helena crakeZapornia astrictocarpus (Olson, 1973) (E)126
Little crakeZapornia parva (Scopoli, 1769)127
Spotless crakeZapornia tabuensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789)128
Kosrae crakeZapornia monasa (Kittlitz, 1858) (E)129
Tahiti crakeZapornia nigra (Miller, JF, 1784) (E)130
Henderson crakeZapornia atra (North, 1908)131
Hawaiian railZapornia sandwichensis (Gmelin, JF, 1789) (E)132
Laysan railZapornia palmeri (Frohawk, 1892) (E)133
Slaty-legged crakeRallina eurizonoides (Lafresnaye, 1845)134
Andaman crakeRallina canningi (Blyth, 1863)135
Red-legged crakeRallina fasciata (Raffles, 1822)136
Red-necked crakeRallina tricolor Gray, GR, 1858137
Blue-faced railGymnocrex rosenbergii (Schlegel, 1866)138
Talaud railGymnocrex talaudensis Lambert, 1998139
Bare-eyed railGymnocrex plumbeiventris (Gray, GR, 1862)140
Nkulengu railHimantornis haematopus Hartlaub, 1855141
New Guinea flightless railMegacrex inepta D'Albertis & Salvadori, 1879142
White-browed crakePoliolimnas cinereus (Vieillot, 1819)143
Striped crakeAenigmatolimnas marginalis (Hartlaub, 1857)144
WatercockGallicrex cinerea (Gmelin, JF, 1789)145
White-breasted waterhenAmaurornis phoenicurus (Pennant, 1769)146
Plain bush-henAmaurornis olivacea (Meyen, 1834)147
Talaud bush-henAmaurornis magnirostris Lambert, 1998148
Isabelline bush-henAmaurornis isabellina (Schlegel, 1865)149
Pale-vented bush-henAmaurornis moluccana (Wallace, 1865)150
Red railAphanapteryx bonasia (de Sélys-Longchamps, 1848) (E)151
Rodrigues railErythromachus leguati Milne-Edwards, 1873 (E)152

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Finfoots, flufftails, rails, trumpeters, cranes, Limpkin . IOC World Bird List . v 14.1 . Gill . F. . Donsker. D.. Rasmussen . P. . January 2024 . January 4, 2024 .