| Mangaia crake Temporal range: Late Holocene | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| Family: | Rallidae |
| Genus: | Porzana |
| Species: | †P. rua |
| Binomial name | |
| †Porzana rua | |
The Mangaia crake (Porzana rua) is an extinct species of flightless bird in the rail family, Rallidae.
The crake was described in 1986 from subfossil bones of late Holocene age found in caves on the island of Mangaia, in the southern Cook Islands of East Polynesia. The cause of its extinction is ascribed to a combination of predation and habitat alteration following human settlement of the island and the introduction of exotic mammals. [1]
The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, although the family is found in every terrestrial habitat except dry deserts, polar regions, and alpine areas above the snow line. Members of the Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous island species are known. The most common rail habitats are marshland and dense forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation.
The Inaccessible Island rail is a small bird of the rail family, Rallidae. Endemic to Inaccessible Island in the Tristan Archipelago in the isolated south Atlantic, it is the smallest extant flightless bird in the world. The species was described by physician Percy Lowe in 1923 but had first come to the attention of scientists 50 years earlier. The Inaccessible Island rail's affinities and origin were a long-standing mystery; in 2018 its closest relative was identified as the South American dot-winged crake, and it was proposed that both species should be nested within the genus Laterallus.
The spotted crake is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. The scientific name is derived from Venetian terms for small rails.
Baillon's crake, also known as the marsh crake, is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae.
Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus Gallinula, Latin for "little hen". They are close relatives of coots. They are often referred to as (black) gallinules. Recently, one of the species of Gallinula was found to have enough differences to form a new genus Paragallinula with the only species being the lesser moorhen.
The slaty-legged crake or banded crake is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae.
Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. It is a roughly circular island, with an area of 51.8 square kilometres (20.0 sq mi), 203 kilometres (126 mi) from Rarotonga. Originally heavily populated, Mangaia's population has dropped by 75% in the last 50 years.
Porphyrio is the swamphen or swamp hen bird genus in the rail family. It includes some smaller species which are usually called "purple gallinules", and which are sometimes separated as genus Porphyrula or united with the gallinules proper in Gallinula. The Porphyrio gallinules are distributed in the warmer regions of the world. The group probably originated in Africa in the Middle Miocene, before spreading across the world in waves from the Late Miocene to Pleistocene.
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.
Porzana is a genus of birds in the crake and rail family, Rallidae. Its scientific name is derived from Venetian terms for small rails. The spotted crake is the type species.
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 mewing kingfisher or Mangaia kingfisher, known locally as the tanga‘eo, is a species of bird in the Alcedinidae, or kingfisher family. It is endemic to Mangaia in the Cook Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and plantations.
The striped crake is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is the only species in the genus Aenigmatolimnas, having formerly been included in Porzana or in the defunct genus Poliolimnas. Its precise relationships, however, are still enigmatic.
The yellow-breasted crake is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It was formerly sometimes placed in the obsolete genus Poliolimnas or united with the Ocellated crake in Micropygia, and is now occasionally separated in a monotypic genus Hapalocrex. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA revealed that it is not a part of Porzana proper, and instead belongs within the Coturnicops–Laterallus clade. While its precise relationships are still insufficiently resolved, it is not closely related to Micropygia, and Stervander et al. (2019) suggested that it should be referred to as Laterallus flaviventer pending further data.
The dot-winged crake is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. Despite its morphological similarities, the assignment to the genus Porzana is not correct. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA placed it in the predominantly South American clade Laterallus, and further analyses revealed that it is the sister species of the world's smallest flightless bird, the Inaccessible Island rail. Stervander et al. (2019) proposed that the dot-winged crake should be referred to as Laterallus spilopterus.
Rallina is a genus of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It contains four species found in forest and marshland in Asia and Australasia. They are 18–34 cm long and mainly chestnut or brown, often with black and white markings. They are four species that are now placed in the genus Rallicula that were previously included in the genus Rallina. In fact, some taxonomic authorities continue to place them there. A fifth species, the Great Nicobar crake was proposed but not accepted as a separate species.
The great ground dove is an extinct species of bird in the family Columbidae. It was found in Mangaia in the southern Cook Islands, and in French Polynesia where subfossil bones between 1000–2000 years old have been found in the Marquesas, as well as between 750–1250 years old at the Fa'ahia early occupation site on Huahine in the Society Islands.
The Mangaia rail is an extinct species of flightless bird in the rail family, Rallidae.
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