Laterallus Explained

Laterallus is a genus of birds in the rail family Rallidae. These small, relatively short-billed terrestrial rails are found among dense vegetation near water in the Neotropics, although a single species, the black rail, also occurs in the United States.

The genus was erected by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 with the rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophaius) as the type species.^[1] The genus name is a portmanteau of Rallus lateralis, a synonym of the binomial name for the rufous-sided crake.^[2] The authors of a molecular genetic study published in 2019 proposed that the yellow-breasted crake, the dot-winged crake, and the flightless Inaccessible Island rail should be moved to this genus.^[3]

Species

The genus contains 13 species:^[4]

• Black-banded crake, Laterallus fasciatus
• Rufous-sided crake, Laterallus melanophaius
• Rusty-flanked crake, Laterallus levraudi
• Ruddy crake, Laterallus ruber
• White-throated crake, Laterallus albigularis
• Grey-breasted crake, Laterallus exilis
• Yellow-breasted crake, Laterallus flaviventer
• Black rail, Laterallus jamaicensis
  • Junin crake, Laterallus jamaicensis tuerosi
• Galapagos crake, Laterallus spilonota
• Dot-winged crake, Laterallus spiloptera
• Inaccessible Island rail, Laterallus rogersi
• Red-and-white crake, Laterallus leucopyrrhus
• Rufous-faced crake, Laterallus xenopterus

Further reading

• Taylor, B., & van Perlo, B. (1998). Rails – A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World.

Notes and References

1. Book: Gray, George Robert . George Robert Gray . 1855 . Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum . London . British Museum . 120 .
2. Web site: Jobling . J.A. . 2019 . Laterallus . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Sargatal . J. . Christie . D.A. . de Juana . E. . Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive: Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology . Lynx Edicions . 8 July 2019 .
3. Stervander . M. . Ryan . P.G. . Melo . M. . Hansson . B. . 2019 . The origin of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island rail Atlantisia rogersi (Aves: Rallidae) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 130 . 92–98 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007. 30321695 . 2019MolPE.130...92S . 53024581 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2019 . Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin . World Bird List Version 9.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 8 July 2019 .