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Gallirallus
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| Gallirallus | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
| |
| Weka, Gallirallus australis | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| Family: | Rallidae |
| Genus: | Gallirallus Lafresnaye, 1841 |
| Type species | |
| Gallirallus brachypterus Lafresnaye, 1841=Rallus australis Sparman, 1786 | |
| Species | |
|
18, of which 6 is extinct | |
Gallirallus is a genus of rails that live in the Australasian-Pacific region. The genus is characterised by an ability to colonise relatively small and isolated islands and thereafter to evolve flightless forms, many of which became extinct following Polynesian settlement.
Taxonomy
[edit]The genus Gallirallus was introduced in 1841 by the French ornithologist Frédéric de Lafresnaye to accommodate a single species, Gallirallus brachypterus Lafresnaye.[1] This is the type species. The name is a junior synonym of Rallus australis Sparman, 1786, the weka.[2] The genus name is a portmanteau of the genera Gallus that had been introduced by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 for the fowl, and the genus Rallus that had been introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the rails.[3]
The genus Gallirallus now includes species that were formerly placed in the genera Aptenorallus, Habroptila, Eulabeornis, Cabalus, and Hypotaenidia.[4] Based on genetic analyses that showed relatively shallow branch lengths and sometimes conflicting relationships,[5][6] the five genera have been subsumed into a broad Gallirallus.[7]
Description
[edit]Many of the rails, including the well-known weka of New Zealand, are flightless or nearly so. Many of the resultant flightless island endemics became extinct after the arrival of humans, which hunted these birds for food, introduced novel predators like rats, dogs or pigs, and upset the local ecosystems. A common Polynesian name of these rails, mainly relatives of G. philippensis, is veka/weka (in English, this name is generally limited to Gallirallus australis).
On the other hand, Gallirallus species are (with the exception of the weka) notoriously retiring and shy birds with often drab coloration.
Species
[edit]The genus contains 18 species. Of these 6 have become extinct in historical times.[7]
| Image | Common name | Scientific name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Calayan rail | Gallirallus calayanensis (formerly in Aptenorallus) |
Calayan Island (far northern Philippines) |
 |
Invisible rail | Gallirallus wallacii (formerly in Habroptila) |
Halmahera (northern Moluccas) |
 |
Chestnut rail | Gallirallus castaneoventris (formerly in Eulabeornis) |
Aru Islands (southwest of New Guinea) and coastal north Australia |
 |
Weka | Gallirallus australis | North Island, South Island, Stewart Island and satellites (New Zealand) |
 |
†New Caledonian rail | Gallirallus lafresnayanus (formerly in Cabalus) |
forest of New Caledonia (probably extinct; no definite records since 1890) |
 |
Lord Howe woodhen | Gallirallus sylvestris (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
Lord Howe Island (east of Australia) |
 |
Okinawa rail | Gallirallus okinawae (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
forest and edge from lowlands to hills of northern Okinawa (Ryukyu Islands, southern Japan) |
 |
†Tahiti rail | Gallirallus pacificus (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
formerly Tahiti and adjacent eastern Society Islands; extinct, last reported 1800 |
 |
Buff-banded rail | Gallirallus philippensis (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
Philippines to Australia and Pacific islands |
 |
†Chatham rail | Gallirallus modestus (formerly in Cabalus) |
formerly Chatham Islands; extinct, last reported 1900 |
 |
†Dieffenbach's rail | Gallirallus dieffenbachii (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
formerly Chatham Islands; extinct, last reported 1900 |
.jpg) |
Pink-legged rail | Gallirallus insignis (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
forest of New Britain (southeastern Bismarck Archipelago) |
 |
Woodford's rail | Gallirallus woodfordi (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
Solomon Islands |
 |
†Bar-winged rail | Gallirallus poecilopterus (formerly in Eulabeornis) |
formerly Viti Levu and Ovalau, Fiji (western Polynesia); extinct, last reported 1973 |
 |
Guam rail | Gallirallus owstoni (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
forest of Guam (southern Mariana Islands); extinct in the wild until successfully reintroduced into Rota (southernmost Northern Mariana Islands) and Cocos Islands (just south of Guam) |
.jpg) |
†Wake Island rail | Gallirallus wakensis (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
formerly Wake Island; extinct, last reported 1944 |
.JPG) |
Barred rail | Gallirallus torquatus (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
Philippines, islets off Sabah (Malaysia), Sulawesi and satellites and west New Guinea |
| Roviana rail | Gallirallus rovianae (formerly in Hypotaenidia) |
New Georgia islands (west-central Solomon Islands) |
Species extinct before A.D. 1500
[edit]
Aside from the weka, all species classified in the genus Gallirallus are only known from subfossil remains, having gone extinct in the Quaternary extinction event. Given the recent taxonomic changes that have led to the weka being the only remaining Gallirallus species, it is possible these may also belong to different genera, but are presently retained in Gallirallus due to uncertainty.[8]
- Astolfo's rail, Gallirallus astolfoi[8]
- Nuku Hiva rail, Gallirallus epulare[9]
- New Ireland rail, Gallirallus ernstmayri
- Ua Huka rail, Gallirallus gracilitibia[9]
- Niue rail, Gallirallus huiatua [10][11]
- Tinian rail, Gallirallus pendiculentus
- Aguiguan rail, Gallirallus pisonii
- Mangaia rail, Gallirallus ripleyi[12]
- Tahuata rail, Gallirallus roletti[9]
- Tubuai rail, Gallirallus steadmani[13]
- Huahine rail, Gallirallus storrsolsoni
- Rota rail, Gallirallus temptatus
- ʻEua rail, Gallirallus vekamatolu – possibly survived to the early 19th century[14][15]
- Hiva Oa rail, ?Gallirallus sp.
- Norfolk Island rail, Gallirallus sp. - possibly survived to the early 19th century[16]
- Vava'u rail, Gallirallus [Hypotaenidia] vavauensis Worthy & Burley 2020[17]
References
[edit]- ^ de Lafresnaye, Frédéric (1841). "Nouvelle espèces d'oiseaux". Revue Zoologique (in French and Latin): 241–243 [243].
- ^ Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr., eds. (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-9568611-0-8.
- ^ Jobling, James A. "Gallirallus". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
- ^ Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr., eds. (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. pp. 153–155. ISBN 978-0-9568611-0-8.
- ^ Garcia-R, J.C.; Lemmon, E.M.; Lemmon, A.R.; French, N. (2020). "Phylogenomic reconstruction sheds light on new relationships and timescale of rails (Aves: Rallidae) evolution". Diversity. 12 (2): 70. doi:10.3390/d12020070.
- ^ Kirchman, J.J.; Rotzel McInerney, N.; Giarla, T.C.; Olson, S.L.; Slikas, E.; Fleischer, R.C. (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) ukab042. doi:10.1093/ornithology/ukab042.
- ^ a b AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. 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)
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Gallirallus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Gallirallus at Wikispecies
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