Laterallus

Not to be confused with Lateralus or Lateralus (song).

Laterallus
Rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophalus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Rallidae
Genus:	Laterallus Gray, G.R., 1855
Type species
Rallus melanophaius [1] Vieillot, 1819
Species
see text

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.

Taxonomy

The genus was erected by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 with the rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophaius) as the type species. ^[2] The genus name is a portmanteau of Rallus lateralis, a synonym of the binomial name for the rufous-sided crake. ^[3] 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. ^[4] Additional changes to the content of the genus were made based on the molecular phylogenetic study by Emiliano Depino and collaborators that was published in 2023. ^{[5] [6]}

Species

The genus contains 11 species: ^[6]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Laterallus notatus	Speckled rail
	Laterallus spiloptera	Dot-winged crake
	Laterallus rogersi	Inaccessible Island rail	Inaccessible Island
	Laterallus jamaicensis	Black rail
	Laterallus spilonota	Galapagos crake
	Laterallus flaviventer	Yellow-breasted crake
	Laterallus exilis	Grey-breasted crake
	Laterallus albigularis	White-throated crake
	Laterallus ruber	Ruddy crake
	Laterallus levraudi	Rusty-flanked crake
	Laterallus melanophalus	Rufous-sided crake

The rufous-faced crake (Rufirallus xenopterus), red-and-white crake (Rufirallus leucopyrrhus) and the black-banded crake (Rufirallus fasciatus) were formerly placed in this genus. ^[6]

References

1. "Rallidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
2. Gray, George Robert (1855). Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds Contained in the British Museum. London: British Museum. p. 120.
3. Jobling, J.A. (2019). del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J.; Christie, D.A.; de Juana, E. (eds.). "Laterallus". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive: Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology. Lynx Edicions. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
4. 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. Bibcode:2019MolPE.130...92S. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.007. PMID   30321695. S2CID   53024581.
5. Depino, E.A.; Pérez-Emán, J.L.; Bonaccorso, E.; Areta, J.I. (2023). "Evolutionary history of New World crakes (Aves: Rallidae) with emphasis on the tribe Laterallini". Zoologica Scripta. 52 (4): 394–412. doi:10.1111/zsc.12595.
6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 March 2025.

Further reading

• Taylor, B., & van Perlo, B. (1998). Rails – A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World. ISBN   1-873403-59-3