Flufftails are small birds related to rails and finfoots. There are nine species, seven of which are distributed across sub-Saharan Africa, with the remaining two in Madagascar. The genus was long placed with the rail family Rallidae, but is now placed in the family Sarothruridae, along with three other species of wood rails.
The striped flufftail is a species of bird in the flufftail family Sarothruridae. It is also known as the red-tailed flufftail. The species is closely related to the Madagascar flufftail. The species has a disjunct distribution across the Afromontane of southeastern Africa, with two subspecies. The nominate subspecies S. a. affinis is found in eastern South Africa and Eswatini. S. a. antonii, named for German ornithologist Anton Reichenow, is found in eastern Zimbabwe and Mozambique, Malawi, southern Tanzania, Kenya and the south of South Sudan.
The white-winged flufftail is a very rare African bird in the family Sarothruridae. The estimated global population size of white-winged flufftails is less than 250 adults. These birds reside in Ethiopia and South Africa but it is unknown whether these populations are one large or two different populations.
The buff-spotted flufftail is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is found in forested areas of Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Madagascar flufftail is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is endemic to Madagascar.
The chestnut-headed flufftail is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is found in Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia.
The white-spotted flufftail is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It has a widespread range of presence across the African tropical rainforest.
The red-chested flufftail is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa from Liberia to Ethiopia and south to South Africa.
The slender-billed flufftail is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is found in highlands of eastern Madagascar.
Sarothruridae is a family of small- to medium-sized ground-living birds found mostly in Madagascar and sub-Saharan Africa, with the genus Rallicula being restricted to New Guinea and the Moluccas. The species in this family were once considered to sit with the larger rail family Rallidae.
