History of changes

• Gruidae Vigors, N.A. 1825. Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 14: 395-517 [413, 488] [original spelling].

  Type genus:

   Grus Pallas, 1766 [Grus Brisson, 1760, Ornithologia, 5: 374-391 (gender: feminine) (type species, by absolute tautonymy: Ardea grus Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Naturae, Ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 141) (Aves). Op. 103, Direction 55].

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Gruinae Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [66].

  Type genus:

   Grus Pallas, 1766.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [145].
• Anthropoideae Bonaparte, C.L. 1857. Conspectus generum avium. Paris : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 232+23 pp. [published 1850-1857] [101].

  Type genus:

   Anthropoides Vieillot, 1816.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [145].
• Psophiinae Bonaparte, C.L. 1831. Saggio di una distribuzione metodica degli animali vertebrati. Giornale Arcadico di Scienze Lettere ed Arti 49: 3-77 [33].

  Type genus:

   Psophia Linnaeus, 1758 [type = Psophia crepitans, Linnaeus 1758 = Psophiidae [Not Psophinae, Gray, G.R. 1840, p. 66 = Psophila Latham]].
• Balaericinae Brasil, L. 1913. Part 19. Grues. Fam. Gruidae. pp.1-9 in Wytsman, P. Genera avium. Brussels : V. Verteneuil & L. Desmet pp. [8].

  Type genus:

   Balearica Brisson, 1760.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Megalornithidae Richmond, C.W. 1917. Generic names applied to birds, with additions and corrections to Waterhouse's "Index Genera Avium". Proceedings of the United States National Museum 53: 565-636 [633].

  Type genus:

   Megalornis Gray, G.R., 1841 [a junior synonym of Grus Brisson].

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• †Geranoididae Wetmore, A. 1933. Fossil Bird Remains from the Eocene of Wyoming. Condor 35(3): 115-118 [115].

  Type genus:

   †Geranoides Wetmore, A., 1933.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [146].
• †Eogruidae Wetmore, A. 1934. Fossil birds from Mongolia and China. American Museum Novitates 711: 1-16 [3].

  Type genus:

   †Eogrus Wetmore, A., 1934.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [150].

Introduction

The 15 species within the family Gruidae comprise one or two genera of which two species, in the genus Grus>, occur in Australia. This family occurs in Eurasia, Africa, Australia and North America, and is vagrant to New Zealand. Each may be described as being large or very large with long necks and legs; they also have long sturdy bills. They have an enlarged caeca and a cleft palate, and the reduced hallux on the anisodactyl foot is elevated above the other three toes. The sexes do not vary in their external morphology although males are slightly larger. Plumage is basically either or white or grey (to bluish); those frequenting extensive wetlands have greater amounts of white whereas those found in smaller wetlands, grasslands or forest are greyer; white birds are generally larger and all have black flight feathers. The majority of species have areas of bare reddish facial and neck skin while some have plumes and red combs on the head. All exhibit long tertials extending beyond their tail and inner flight feathers.

Gruids are gregarious during the non-breeding season when they gather in large flocks. All fly with outstretched necks and trailing legs often soaring to considerable heights. While several of the non Australian species migrate long distances, Australia’s usually sedentary G. rubicunda and G. antigone, only migrate to wetter regions during periods of drought. A characteristic of the family is the often noisy congregations. These are often associated with courtship displays of elaborate dancing, which may involve single birds or groups; dances are also used to distract predators from the young or nests. The vocalisation, usually a loud bugling or trumpeting uttered at either dawn or dusk, is through the use of a convoluted tracheal arrangement. Their trachea is elongate, partially coiled and penetrates the sternum, in some species the trachea is fused with the sternum, allowing the bugling to carry for a considerable distance.

The Australian species frequent open wetlands and grasslands, feeding opportunistically by alternating the diet according to food availability. They are omnivores, feeding on small rodents, fish, amphibians, snakes, terrestrial invertebrates, crustaceans, grain, berries, and tubers.

Courtship is initiated by the pair conducting their spectacular dance often in association with other pairs, pairing is generally permanent amongst the family. The paired birds then select a nest site, which is on the ground in shallow water surrounded by protective plants, and isolated from other nest sites. Both adults construct the large nest — a flat platform nest of weeds and rushes. Each clutch contains two long-oval eggs that are off white or pale cream base colour and sometimes faintly blotched cream or buff overall. Both adults incubate the eggs alternately, the incubation lasting between 28 and 36 days.

The young, upon hatching, are both nidicolous and precocial, being covered by a tawny or grey down. Again both adults care for the young, which may leave the nest within a few days of hatching. The family group remains together for nine months until the next breeding season when the adults drive off the young.

General References

Archibald, G. & Meine, C. 1996. Family Gruidae (Cranes). pp. 60-81 in del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Saragatal, J. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Barcelona : Lynx Edicions Vol. 3.

Campbell, B. & Lack, E. (eds) 1985. A Dictionary of Birds. Calton : T. & A.D. Poyser xxx 670 pp.

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp.

History of changes

• Antigone Reichenbach, L. 1853. Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie. Dresden : Expedition der Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte Lief. 3 xxxi pp. [publication dated as 1852].

  Type species:

   Ardea antigone Linnaeus, 1758 by original designation.
• Mathewsia Iredale, T. 1911. A new generic name for the Australian Crane. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 47 [47].

  Type species:

   Ardea rubicunda Perry, 1810 by original designation.

Introduction

The species in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Grus Peters, 1934, however Krajewski (1989) suggested that Grus as constituted by Peters (1934) was not monophyletic. Subsequent studies have recovered three well supported clades within the species previously placed in Grus, including an "Antigone" clade comprising the Australian species G. antigone & G. rubicunda, the east Asian G. vipio and the North American G. canadensis (see Krajewski et al., 2010). These clades have now become adopted as genera with the Antigone clade placed in the genus Antigone Reichenbach (1853).

Species in this genus are sometimes placed in the subgenus Mattewsia which was proposed by Iredale (1911) as a replacement generic name for Ardea rubicunda Perry 1810, which was misidentified as a species of Ardea. Iredale's (1911) proposal was based on the understanding that the name Antigone was preoccupied by Antigone Gray, 1853 in Mollusca, however Brasil (1912) believed that this was not the case and the name Antigone was available for the work of Reichenbach (1853). As such we follow the work of Krajewski et al. (2010) and others in placing these species in the genus Antigone, and do not include the subgenus Mattewsia.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

General References

Brasil, L. 1912. On the generic names Antigone and Mathewsia. Austral Avian Records 1(5): 122-123

Gray, J.E. 1847. A list of the Genera of Recent Mollusca, their Synonyms and Types. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 15: 129-242 [184]

Iredale, T. 1911. A new generic name for the Australian Crane. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 47 [47]

Krajewski, C. 1989. Phylogenetic relationships among cranes (Gruiformes: Gruidae) based on DNA hybridization. Auk 106: 603-618

Krajewski, C., Sipiorski, J.T. & Anderson, E. 2010. Complete mitochondrial genome sequences and the phylogeny of Cranes (Gruiformes: Gruidae). Auk 127(2): 440-452

Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recent discovered objects. Embellished with coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with extracts relating to animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls & accompanying text. [Publication dated as 1810–1811, pages and plates not numbered. See Mathews & Iredale (1912) for details of publication dates.] [pl. 22, two following pages] (page numbering follows Mathews & Iredale (1912).)

Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [150]

Reichenbach, L. 1853. Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie. Dresden : Expedition der Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte Lief. 3 xxxi pp. [publication dated as 1852]

History of changes

• Ardea antigone Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10 Edn., 824 pp. [142].

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [152].

Generic Combinations

• Antigone antigone (Linnaeus, 1758).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA

NT, Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Wet Tropics (WT)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Sarus Crane)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Sarus Crane)

History of changes

• Grus antigone gillae Schodde, R. 1989. New subspecies of Australian birds. Canberra Bird Notes 13: 119-122 [Date published 28 Feb 1989] [119].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANWC B.38355 Skin, 14 km north of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°20'S, 141°11'E].
  Paratype(s) ANWC B.38353 Skin, 23km ENE of Kurumba, Queensland [17°27'S, 141°03'E]; ANWC B.38354 Skin, 14 km N of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°20'S, 141°11'E]; ANWC B.38356 Skin, 32 km N of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°11'S, 141°12'E]; ANWC B.38357 Skin, 36 km N of Maggieville Station, Queensland [17°09'S, 141°13'E]; QM O.11076 Skin (Also holotype of G.a. fordi Bruce & McAllan), Willets Swamp, near Atherton, Queensland.
• Grus antigone fordi McAllan, I.A.W. & Bruce, M.D. 1989. The Birds of New South Wales A Working List. Turramurra, New South Wales : Biocon Research Group vii 103 pp. [publication dated 1988, published May 1989] [19].

  Type data:

   Holotype QM O.11076 Skin, Willets Swamp, near Atherton, Queensland.

  Type locality references:

  McAllan, I.A.W. & Bruce, M.D. 1989. The Birds of New South Wales A Working List. Turramurra, New South Wales : Biocon Research Group vii 103 pp. [publication dated 1988, published May 1989] [19].
• Grus antigone gilliae Rogers, D.I. 1993. Grus antigone Sarus Crane. pp. 480-485 in Marchant, S. & Higgins, P.J. (eds). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Melbourne : Oxford University Press Vol. 2. [485] [subsequent misspelling; misspelling of G.a. gillae Schodde].

Generic Combinations

• Antigone antigone gillae (Schodde, 1989).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA

NT, Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Ardea rubicunda Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recent discovered objects. Embellished with coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with extracts relating to animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls & accompanying text. [Publication dated as 1810–1811, pages and plates not numbered. See Mathews & Iredale (1912) for details of publication dates.] [Pt. 4, p. 22].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Ex Bullock Museum), Botany Bay, New South Wales [33°59'S, 151°11'E].

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108].
• Grus antarctica Illiger, J.C.W. 1816. Tabellarische Üebersicht der Vertheilung der Vöegel üeber die Erde. Abhandlungen der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Berlin 1816: 221-236 [230].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New South Wales.
• Grus australasianus Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : Gould, J. Vol. 6 pp. [pl. 48].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 11142 (VN 1642) Skin, New South Wales; ANSP 11141 (VN 1643) Skin, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [153]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [49].
• Ardea antigone Anon. In Field, B. (ed.) 1825. Geographical Memoirs on New South Wale; by various hands: containing … together with other papers on the aborigines, the geology, the timber, the astronomy, and the meteorology of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. London : John Murray xvi 504 pp. [nomen nudum].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Possible synonym of A. rubicunda Perry), Botany Bay, New South Wales [33°59'S, 151°11'E].
• Mathewsia rubicunda argentea Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [227].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 544803 Skin, Near Derby, Western Australia [17°19'S, 123°38'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [301].

Generic Combinations

• Antigone rubicunda (Perry, 1810). —
  Brasil, L. 1912. On the generic names Antigone and Mathewsia. Austral Avian Records 1(5): 122-123 [123]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

New Guinea

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Australian Crane)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Brolga)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Brolga)

History of changes

• Grus Brisson, M.-J 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. V pp.544+lvi. [375].

  Type species:

   Ardea grus Linnaeus, C., 1758 by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [177].
• Grus Pallas, P.S. 1766. Miscellanea Zoologica. Quibus novae imprimis atque obsurae animalium species describunter et observantionibus icomibusque illustrantur. Hagae. Comitum : Hague Vol. 12 224 pp. [66] [junior homonyn of Grus Brisson, 1760].

  Type species:

   Ardea grus Linnaeus, C., 1758 by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [177].

History of changes

• Mathewsia Iredale, T. 1911. A new generic name for the Australian Crane. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 27: 47 [47] [new name replacing Antigone Reichenbach, 1853, not Antigone G.R. Gray].

  Type species:

   Ardea rubicunda Perry, 1810 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [188]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [150]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108].
• Antigone Reichenbach, H.G.L. 1853. Die Vollständigste Naturgeschichte..., 2 Vögel, 1 Avium Syst. nat. Dresden-Leipzig : F. Hofmeister pp. 5-18. [xxiii].

  Type species:

   Ardea collaris Boddaert, 1783 (not Antigone Gray, 1847) by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108].
• Mathewsena Iredale, T. 1914. On the genus -name Mathewsia. Austral Avian Records 2: 81-82 [82] [new name for Mathewsia Iredale,1911; not Mathewsia Sauley, 1868 (= Coleoptera)].

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [150]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [108].

History of changes

Introduction

With 151 species in 38 genera, the homogeneous rallids, apart from Himantornis, constitute a large cosmopolitan family of terrestrial birds; 23 of which have an Australian distribution. Although absent from Antarctica the family has spread widely on the other continents, principally in sub-temperate and tropical areas, and even colonising many oceanic islands, including sub-Antarctic islands. Their sizes range from small to medium; among them are groups such as the crakes, gallinules and coots. A major character of many of the wetland-dwelling species is their thin, laterally compressed body.

As with many families, many of the males have a tendency to be slightly larger than the females but they do not exhibit much sexual dimorphism in size or plumage characteristics. Numerous island taxa are flightless, having reduced wings and breast muscles; this morphology has evolved rapidly on islands where predators are absent. Despite their short and rounded wings and appearance of feeble flight, rallids do conduct nocturnal movements over great distances. During the day, flight about a localised area is effected with the feet dangling and culminates with an awkward drop into cover. Their preference is to run from potential disturbance; this habit is extreme during moulting as many species lose their ability to fly through loss of primaries.

Most rallids are cryptic skulkers with either dull or sombre plumage (e.g. Fulica spp.) or streaked and barred (e.g. Gallirallus spp.). As such, several are infrequently noted except through vocalisations. Several of those having sombre feathering have evolved a colourful frontal shield extending across the forehead from the maxilla (e.g. Gallinula spp., Fulica spp.). Many form loose congregations (e.g. Porzana spp.) whereas others collect in large gregarious flocks (e.g. Tribonyx spp.). In most species the undertail feathers are white and are used by the birds for either display as an alarm. The short tail is almost constantly flicked in the larger cursorial species while in the smaller species it is often degenerate and ragged.

The large legs and feet of rallids may be stout and heavy in the larger terrestrial species; walking on floating vegetation is assisted by the elongate anisodactyl toes. Most of the family have a skulking action while walking; several groups are capable of swimming (Fulica, Gallinula, Porphyrio). Within the several species of Fulica modifications of the pelvis and the well-developed toe lobes have adapted them for swimming and diving. The rallid bill is the most variable feature: some are longer than the head (Rallus longirostris); massive (Porphyrio mantelli); short (Porzana pusilla); or slender (Lewinia pectoralis).

A generalised habitat of the rallids would include most wetlands (swamps, marshes, lagoons, lakes and rivers), the birds roosting in the thick vegetation bordering the water or growing within its boundaries. They also frequent dense forests such as are found in New Guinea. Others (e.g. Tribonyx ventralis, P. fluminea) follow permanent or semi-permanent wetlands in the Australian arid regions or thick grasslands inundated by recent rains (e.g. Gallirallus philippensis). All species are omnivorous: the smaller rallids feed in rank vegetation taking invertebrates, crustaceans and plants; the larger taxa have a similar diet but also include fish, amphibians, eggs and young of birds and carrion. Both Fulica spp. and Gallinula spp. graze and dive to obtain wetland plants. Many are noted to wash their prey before consuming it.

Vocalisations are mostly heard at dawn and dusk with an increase in consistency prior to and during the breeding periods. These calls consist of a variety of raucous cackling, grunting and associated clucking. While many species breed alone some males maintain two active nests, caring for both females and their offspring (e.g. G. tenebrosa). Displays at the nest site include swimming while flicking and displaying their undertail coverts; these courtships are short lived and simple and are initiated by either sex. The birds become protective of the nest site, discouraging the presence of others of their species or any other interloper; this includes use of their feet in a defensive manner.

Nest construction is performed by both sexes collecting reedy growth adjacent to the chosen site; the nests are an open cup. This site may be on the ground or within reed beds or on mats of floating water plants; the only divergence from this is by Africa’s Himantornis haematopus which reportedly constructs an arboreal nest. Both adults share in incubation duties. Egg clutches vary in number from two to 16, and eggs vary in shape from short-oval to oval; they also vary in their base colour from pure white to dark tan, splotched and speckled by darker tans. On hatching, the young are both precocial and nidifugous, clothed in black down and may have coloured head marks (apart from the cryptic Himantornis young which are mottled brown). Heads of nestling Fulica are covered by orange or reddish filaments.

Although able to leave the nest shortly after hatching, the young birds often return to be brooded on the nest. They are fed by parents and/or young of previous nesting successes who assist in raising subsequent broods (e.g. G. tenebrosa). Family groups may remain together until the following breeding period commences at which stage the resident adults chase off their young by loud calls and fights.

Excluded Taxa

Vagrant Species

CAVS:0899
RALLIDAE: Crex crex (Linnaeus, 1758) [Corncrake] — Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18]; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22, 121, 126]

CAVS:0711
RALLIDAE: Gallicrex cinerea (Gmelin, 1789) [Watercock; vagrant to Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp.; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22, 124, 125, 126]

CAVS:8090
RALLIDAE: Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758) [Common Moorhen] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [125]

CAVS:0900
RALLIDAE: Rallina (Rallina) fasciata (Raffles, 1822) [Red-legged Crake; one Australian record (specimen) from Broome, WA (16 July 1958)] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp.; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22, 120, 126]; Simpson, K. & Day, N. 2010. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria : Penguin Group (Australia) 8, pp. 381. [289]

CAVS:8089
RALLIDAE: Zapornia fusca fusca (Linnaeus, 1766) [Eastern Ruddy-breasted Crake]

CAVS:8088
RALLIDAE: Zapornia fusca (Linnaeus, 1766) [Ruddy-breasted Crake]

General References

Campbell, B. & Lack, E. (eds) 1985. A Dictionary of Birds. Calton : T. & A.D. Poyser xxx 670 pp.

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp.

History of changes

• Rallia Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organises. Palermo (Italy) : Privately Published 224 pp. [Date published April to July] [70] [original spelling].

  Type genus:

   Rallus Linnaeus, 1758 [Rallus Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Naturae, Ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 153 (gender: masculine) (type species, by designation by Fleming, 1821 (Mem. werner. nat. Hist. Soc., 3: 176): Rallus aquaticus Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Naturae, Ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 153) (Aves). Op. 67].

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Rallidae Vigors, N.A. 1825. Observations on the natural affinities that connect the orders and families of birds. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 14: 395-517 [492].

  Type genus:

   Rallus Linnaeus, 1758.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [115].
• Gallinulinae Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [72].

  Type genus:

   Gallinula Brisson, 1760.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [115].
• Porphyrioninae Reichenbach, H.G.L. 1849-50. Die vollstandigste Naturgeschichte des In-und Auslandes. Abt. II. Vogel. Dresden & Leipzig : Expedition der vollstandigsten Naturgeschichte, pp.875 color plates + 1 volume of text. [Date published 1850: Four volumes in seven].

  Type genus:

   Porphyrio Brisson, 1760.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Ocydromiens Bonaparte, C.L. 1850. Note sur plusieurs famillies naturelles d'Oiseaux et descriptions d'espéces nouvelles. Compte rendu de l'Académie des Sciences, Paris 31: 561-564 [562].

  Type genus:

   Ocydromus Wagler, 1830 [a junior synonym of Gallirallus<, Lafresnaye, 1841].

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Ocydrominae Bonaparte, C.L. 1853. Classification ornithologique par series. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris 37(18): 641-647 [646].

  Type genus:

   Ocydromus Wagler, 1830 [a junior synonym of Gallirallus, Lafresnaye, 1841].

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [115].
• Gallinuleae Bonaparte, C.L. 1853. Classification ornithologique par series. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris 37(18): 641-647 [645].

  Type genus:

   Gallinula Brisson, 1760.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [115].
• Himantornithinae Bonaparte, C.L. 1856. Excursions dans les divers musées d;Allemagne, de Hollande et de Belgique et tableeaux paralléliques de l'ordre des echassiers. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris 43(18): 593-601 [600].

  Type genus:

   Himantornis Hartlaub, 1855.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Tribonicinae Bonaparte, C.L. 1856. Excursions dans les divers musées d;Allemagne, de Hollande et de Belgique et tableeaux paralléliques de l'ordre des echassiers. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris 43(18): 593-601 [601].

  Type genus:

   Tribonyx Dubus, 1840.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Gallinulidae Blasius, J.H., 1860.

  Type genus:

   Gallinula Brisson, 1760.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [115].
• Zaporniinae Des Murs, M.A.P.O. 1860. Traité général d'Oologie ornithologique au point de vue de la classification. Paris. xix 640 pp. [521].

  Type genus:

   Zapornia Leach, W.E., 1816 [a junior synonym of Porzana Vieillot, 1816. Porzana Vieillot, 1816, Analyse nouv. Ornithol. élém.: 61 (gender: feminine) (type species, by monotypy: Rallus porzana Linnaeus, 1766, Systema Naturae, Ed. 12, vol. 1, part 1, p. 262) (Aves). Op. 67 Porzana, Rallus, Linnaeus, 1766, Systema Naturae, Ed. 12, vol. 1, part 1, p. 262 (specific name of the type species of Porzana Vieillot, 1816) (Aves). Direction 43].

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Himanthornithinae Gray, G.R. 1871. Hand-list of Genera and Species of Birds, Distinguishing those Contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 3 xi 350 pp. [64].

  Type genus:

   Himanthornis Temminck (in Bonaparte, C.L.), 1854 [not Himatornis, Hartlaub, 1855].

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [116].
• Ortygometridae Sharpe, R.B. 1891. A review of recent attempts to classify birds. 2nd International Ornithological Congress, Budapest. pp.1-90 pl. I-XII in Anonymous. 2nd International Ornithological Congress. Budapest : International Ornithological Congress pp. [70].

  Type genus:

   Ortygometra Leach, W.E., 1816 [a junior synonym of Crex, Bechstein, 1803].

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [116].
• Crecinae Olphe-Galliard, L. 1884-91. Contributions à la faune ornithologique de l'Europe occidentale. Bayonne : Lassere Vol. 2(Fascicule XVI) pp. [165-170].

  Type genus:

   Crex Bechstein, 1803.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• †Telecrecinae Wetmore, A. 1934. Fossil birds from Mongolia and China. American Museum Novitates 711: 1-16 [14].

  Type genus:

   †Telecrex Wetmore, A., 1934.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [116].
• Porphyriinae Verheyen, R. 1957. Contribution au de'membrement de l'ordo artificiel des Gruiformes (Peters 1934). I. Les Ralliformes. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 33(21): 1-44.

  Type genus:

   Porphyrio Brisson, 1760.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [115].
• Sarothrurinae Verheyen, R. 1957. Contribution au de'membrement de l'ordo artificiel des Gruiformes (Peters 1934). I. Les Ralliformes. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 33(21): 1-44.

  Type genus:

   Sarothrura Heine, 1890.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [116].

History of changes

• Erythra Reichenbach, L. 1852. Avium Systema Naturale. Das Natürliche System der Vögel mit hundert Tafeln grössentheils Original-Abbildungen der bis jetzt entdeckten fast zwölfhundert typischen Formen. Leipzig : F. Hofmeister viii, 1-36, i-xxxi pp.; 100 pls. [Date published 1853] [xxi].

  Type species:

   Erythra phoenicura Pennant, T., 1769 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [152].
• Amaurornis Reichenbach, L. 1852. Avium Systema Naturale. Das Natürliche System der Vögel mit hundert Tafeln grössentheils Original-Abbildungen der bis jetzt entdeckten fast zwölfhundert typischen Formen. Leipzig : F. Hofmeister viii, 1-36, i-xxxi pp.; 100 pls. [Date published 1853] [xxi].

  Type species:

   Gallinula olivacea Meyen, 1834 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [95]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [200]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [104-105]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [186].
• Pisynolimnas Heine, F. & Reichenow, A. 1890. Nomenclator Musei Heineani Ornithologici. Berlin : R. Friedländer & Sohn Bd vi 373 pp. [publication dated as 1882–1890] [317].

  Type species:

   Rallus phoenicura Forster, J.R., 1781 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [152].
• Poliolimnas Sharpe, R.B. 1893. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 1: xxviii-xxix [xxviii].

  Type species:

   Porphyrio cinereus Vieillot, L.P., 1819 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [94]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [197]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [104].

Introduction

Arrangement follows Christidis and Boles (2008: 126).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater, Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [126]

History of changes

• Porphyrio cinereus Vieillot, L.P. 1819. Nouveau Dictionaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'Agriculture, à l'Écomomie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une société de naturalistes et d'agriculteurs. Paris : Déterville Vol. 29 pp. [29].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), No locality = Java, Indonesia.
• Porzana leucophrys Gould, J. 1847. On eight species of Australian birds; and on Anthus minimus Vig. and Hors., as the type of a new genus Chthonicola Gould. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1847: 31-35 [published Apr.] [33].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 6243 (VN 1522) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory [11°15'S, 132°08'E].
  Paralectotype(s) ANSP 6244 (VN 1523) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory [11°15'S, 132°08'E]; ANSP 6245 (VN 1524) Skin, Port Essington, Northern Territory [11°15'S, 132°08'E].

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [46].
• Porzana cinerea parryi Mathews, G.M. 1913. New species and subspecies of Australian birds. Austral Avian Records 2: 73-79 [published Dec.] [73].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 546410 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberley, Western Australia [15°36'S, 128°17'E]; AMNH 546411 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberley, Western Australia [15°36'S, 128°17'E]; AMNH 546412 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberley, Western Australia [15°36'S, 128°17'E]; AMNH 546413 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberley, Western Australia [15°36'S, 128°17'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [314].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26), Northwest Shelf Province (27), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (White-eyebrowed Water Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (White-browed Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (White-browed Crake)

History of changes

• Porzana moluccana Wallace, A.R. 1865. Descriptions of new birds from the Malay Archipelago. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1865): 474-481 [480].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 1873.5.12.2362 Skin, Ternate, Indonesia.

  Type locality references:

  Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [195].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [19] (Brown Rail, Rufous-tailed Crake, Rufous-vented Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Bush-hen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Pale-vented Bush-hen)

History of changes

• Gallinula ruficrissa Gould, J. 1869. The Birds of Australia, Supplement. London : J. Gould Part 5 pp. [Pl. 79 and text].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown, Cape River, Queensland [20°28'S, 145°29'E].

  Secondary source:

   Gould, J. 1869. Descriptions of five new Species of Birds from Queensland, Australia; and a new humming-bird from the Bahamas. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 4 4: 108-112 [Date published Apr 1869] [111]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [105].
• Gallinula moluccana yorki Mathews, G.M. 1913. Additions and corrections to my Reference List, Addenda. Austral Avian Records 1(8): 187-194 [Date published Jan.] [194].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 546494 Skin, Skull Creek, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [305].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Gallinula phoenicurus Pennant, T. 1769. Indian Zoology. London : Robert Faulder pp. [pl. 10].

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Vagrant to mainland Australia. Found on Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater, Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater

Distribution References

Common Name References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (White-breasted Waterhen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (White-breasted Waterhen)

History of changes

• Gallinula javanica Horsfield, T. 1821. Systematic arrangement and description of birds from the island of Java. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 133-200 [196].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 1880.1.1.3723 Relaxed moiunt, Java, Indonesia.

  Type locality references:

  Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [147].

Introduction

This subspecies is sometimes included within A. phoenicurus phoenicurus, see del Hoyo & Collar (2014) and Dickinson & Remsen (2013).

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Indian Ocean

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater, Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater

General References

del Hoyo, J. & Collar, N.J. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International illustrated checklist of the birds of the world. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Barcelona : Lynx Edicions pp. 903. [350]

Dickinson, E.C. & Remsen Jr, J.V. (eds) 2013. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World 4th. edition Vol. 1. Non-passerines. Eastbourne : Aves Press pp.461.

History of changes

• Eulabeornis Gould, J. 1844. Untitled. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1844)(12): 55-58 [56].

  Type species:

   Eulabeornis castaneoventris Gould, J., 1844 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [84]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [179]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [101].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA

Arnhem Coast (ARC), Central Arnhem (CA), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB) ; NT, Qld: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Central Arnhem (CA), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26)

History of changes

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA

Arnhem Coast (ARC), Central Arnhem (CA), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB) ; NT, Qld: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Central Arnhem (CA), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Chestnut-bellied Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Chestnut Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Chestnut Rail)

History of changes

• Eulabeornis castaneoventris Gould, J. 1844. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, March 26, 1844. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1844: 55-58 [56].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANSP 6183 (VN 1493) Skin, Albert River, Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland [17°34'S, 139°45'E].

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [154]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [102]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [44].
• Eulabeornis castaneiventris Gould, J. 1865. Handbook to the Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 2 629 pp. [For publication date Mathews, G.M. 1925. The Birds of Australia. Supplements 4 & 5. Bibliography of the Birds of Australia Pts 1 & 2. London : H.F. & G. Witherby viii 149 pp.] [338] [misspelling].
• Eulabeornis castaneiventris Bonaparte, C.L.J.L. 1856. Mémoires et communications. Comptes Rendus (Hebdomadaires) des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences. Série D. Sciences Naturelles xliii: 593-602 [600].
• Eulabeornis castaneoventris rogersi Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [193].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 545678 Skin, Obagama, Kimberley, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [310].
• Eulabeornis castaneoventris melvilli Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [29].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 545697 Skin, Melville Island, Northern Territory [11°33'S, 130°56'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [310].
• Eulabeornis castaneoventris melvillensis Mathews, G.M. 1913. A List of the Birds of Australia containing the names and synonyms connected with each genus, species, and subspecies of birds found in Australia, at present known to the author. London : Witherby xxvii 453 pp. [23] (Unintentional emendation of name) [original spelling corrected from C.c. melvilli].

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA

NT, Qld: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Central Arnhem (CA), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

IMCRA

Northern Shelf Province (25), Northwest Shelf Transition (26)

History of changes

• Stagnicola Brehm, C.L. 1831. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vögel Deutschlands, worin nach den sorgfältigsten Untersuchungen und den genauesten Beobachtungen mehr als 900 einheimische Vögel-Gattungen zur Begrüngung einer ganz neuen Ansicht und Behandlung ihrer Naturgeschichte vollständig beschrieben sind. Ilmenau : Bernh. Friedh. Voigt xxiv 1085 pp. [702].

  Type species:

   Fulica chloropus Linnaeus, C., 1758 (= Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus)) by subsequent designation, see Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [167].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR)

History of changes

• Gallinula Brisson, M.J. 1760. Ornithologia sive Synopsis methodica sistens avium divisionem in ordines, sectiones, genera, species, ipsarumque Varietates. Paris : Bauche JB. Vol. 6 pp.543+lxv. [3].

  Type species:

   Fulica chloropus Linnaeus, C., 1758 (as Gallinula) by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [167]; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [98]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [202]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [104]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [186].
• Hydrogallina Lacépède, B.G.É. 1799. Tableaux des mammiferes et des oiseaux. Paris Plassan, pp. [19].

  Type species:

   Fulica chloropus Linnaeus, C., 1758 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [72].

  Secondary source:

   Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [186].
• Stagnicola Brehm, C.L. 1831. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vögel Deutschlands, worin nach den sorgfältigsten Untersuchungen und den genauesten Beobachtungen mehr als 900 einheimische Vögel-Gattungen zur Begrüngung einer ganz neuen Ansicht und Behandlung ihrer Naturgeschichte vollständig beschrieben sind. Ilmenau : Bernh. Friedh. Voigt xxiv 1085 pp. [702].

  Type species:

   Fulica chloropus Linnaeus, C., 1758 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [72].

  Secondary source:

   Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [186].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR)

History of changes

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [19] (Black Gallinule, Black Moorhen, Moorhen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Dusky Moorhen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Dusky Moorhen)

History of changes

• Gallinula tenebrosa Gould, J. 1846. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 6. [pl. 73] (pt.22, pl. 14 in unbound form).

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) BMNH 1841.6.1337 Skin, Murray River, South Australia; ANSP 6378 (1504) Skin, Murray River, South Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [156]; Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [292]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [46].
• Gallinula haematopus Bonaparte, C.L. 1856. Excursions dans les divers musées d;Allemagne, de Hollande et de Belgique et tableeaux paralléliques de l'ordre des echassiers. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris 43(18): 593-601 [600] [nomen nudum].
• Gallinula tenebrosa magnirostris Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [195].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 546698 Skin, Guildford, Western Australia [31°54'S, 115°58'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [315]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [106].
• Gallinula tenebrosa subfrontata Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [195].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 546680 Skin, Richmond River, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [315].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

History of changes

• Hypotaenidia Reichenbach, L. 1852. Avium Systema Naturale. Das Natürliche System der Vögel mit hundert Tafeln grössentheils Original-Abbildungen der bis jetzt entdeckten fast zwölfhundert typischen Formen. Leipzig : F. Hofmeister viii, 1-36, i-xxxi pp.; 100 pls. [Date published 1853] [xxiii].

  Type species:

   Rallus pectoralis Cuvier by original designation.

Introduction

The species in Hypotaenidia are often included in a broad definition of the genus Gallirallus, but Kirchman (2012) shows them to be paraphyletic to Gallirallus in the strict sense. This arrangement is widely accepted.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders (FLI), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Central Eastern Transition (15), Northeast Province (18), Northeast Transition (19), Cape Province (20), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Other Regions

Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater, Coral Sea Islands Territory, Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Macquarie Island terrestrial & freshwater

History of changes

• Rallus philippensis Linnaeus, C. 1766. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Holmiae [=Stockholm] : Laurentii Salvii, Tomus I. Regnum Animale(1) Editio duodecima, reformata [3 vols., 1766-68], 532 pp. [263].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), Philippines.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [100].
• Rallus philippensis Brisson, M.-J 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. V pp.544+lvi. [163, tab.xiv, fig. 1].

Generic Combinations

• Rallus (Hypotaenidia) philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766). —
  Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [164]
• Hypotaenidia philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766). —
  Olson, S.L. 1973. Evolution of the Rails of the South Atlantic Islands (Aves: Rallidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 152: i-iii, 1-53 [41]
• Gallirallus philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766). —
  Olson, S.L. 1973. A classification of the Rallidae. Wilson Bulletin 85(4): 381-416 [397]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders (FLI), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Central Eastern Transition (15), Northeast Province (18), Northeast Transition (19), Cape Province (20), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Other Regions

Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater, Coral Sea Islands Territory, Macquarie Island terrestrial & freshwater

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Banded Landrail, Banded Rail, Buff-banded Land-rail, Corncrake, Landrail, Little Tarler Bird, Painted Rail, Pectoral Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Buff-banded Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Buff-banded Rail)

History of changes

• Eulabeornis philippensis andrewsi Mathews, G.M. 1911. The Birds of Australia. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 pp. [199].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 1898.9.21.4 Skin, Horsburgh Island, Cocos Keeling Group [12°05'S, 96°50'E]
  Comment: Other specimen/s unlocated.

  Type locality references:

  Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [14].

Generic Combinations

• Hypotaenidia philippensis andrewsi (Mathews, 1911).

Distribution

Other Regions

Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater

History of changes

• Rallus macquariensis Hutton, F.W. 1879. On a new Species of Rail from Macquarie Island. Ibis 4 3: 453-456 [455].

  Type data:

   Holotype OMNZ AV.740 Mounted skin (The pelvis is held in the NMNZ OR..015139) [Tennyson & Bartle, 2008]), Macquarie Island [54°37'S, 158°52'E].

  Type locality references:

  Tennyson, A.J.D. & Bartle, J.A. 2008. Catalogue of type specimens of birds in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Tuhinga, Te Papa Museum of New Zealand 19: 185–207 [195].

Generic Combinations

• Hypotaenidia philippensis macquariensis (Hutton, 1879).

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Extinct

Other Regions

Macquarie Island terrestrial & freshwater

History of changes

• Eulabeornis philippensis mellori Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [192].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 545176 Skin, Sandy Hook Island, Western Australia [34°02'S, 121°59'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [305].
• Rallus pectoralis Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : Gould, J. Vol. 6 pp. [pl. 76].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New South Wales.
• Hypotaenidia australis von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14-54 [42] (New name for Rallus pectoralis Gould, not Temminck 1831).
• Eulabeornis philippensis yorki Mathews, G.M. 1913. Additions and corrections to my reference list. Austral Avian Records 2(1): 6-10 [Date published 2 August 1913] [6].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 545145 Skin, Skull Creek, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [305].
• Hypotaenidia philippensis norfolkensis Mathews, G.M. 1931. Mr. Gregory M. Mathews sent the following description of a new race of the Pectoral Rail. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 51: 129 [129].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 545195 Skin, Burnt Pine, Norfolk Island [29°02'S, 167°57'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [305].

Generic Combinations

• Hypotaenidia philippensis mellori (Mathews, 1912).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Flinders (FLI), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

History of changes

• Gallirallus philippensis tounelieri Schodde, R. & de Naurois, A. 1982. Patterns of variation and dispersal in the Buff-breasted Rail (Gallirallus philippensis<) in the South-west Pacific, with description of a new subspecies. Notornis 29: 131‑142 [136].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP Skin, Ile Longe, Chesterfield Islands [19°53'S, 158°19'E]
  Comment: The location of this specimen is unknown, but was intended for the MNHP.

Generic Combinations

• Hypotaenidia philippensis tounelieri (Schodde & de Naurois, 1982).

Distribution

IMCRA

Northeast Province (18), Northeast Transition (19), Cape Province (20), Northeast Shelf Province (40), Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Other Regions

Coral Sea Islands Territory

History of changes

• Ocydromus sylvestris Sclater, P.L. 1870. [Untitled]. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1869: 471-473 [Date published 1870] [472, pl. 35].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1881.5.1.5699 Relaxed mount, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales [31°33'S, 159°05'E].

  Type locality references:

  Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [290].

Generic Combinations

• Hypotaenidia sylvestris (Sclater, 1869). —
  Dickinson, E.C. & Remsen Jr, J.V. (eds) 2013. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World 4th. edition Vol. 1. Non-passerines. Eastbourne : Aves Press pp.461.
• Gallirallus sylvestris (Sclater, 1869).

Distribution

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Distribution References

Common Name References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Lord Howe Woodhen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Lord Howe Woodhen)

History of changes

• Lewinia Gray, G.R. 1855. Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum 192 pp. [120].

  Type species:

   Rallus lewinii Swainson, W., 1837 (= Rallus pectoralis Temminck, 1831) by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1921. A Manual of the Birds of Australia. Orders Casuarii to Columbae. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 xxiv 279 pp. 36 pls. [190]; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [80]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [100]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [178].
• Donacias Heine, F. & Reichenow, A. 1890. Nomenclator Musei Heineani Ornithologici. Berlin : R. Friedländer & Sohn Bd vi 373 pp. [publication dated as 1882–1890] [321] [unnecessary nomen novum for Lewinia G.R. Gray, 1855].

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [80]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [100]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [178].
• Hyporallus Iredale, T. & Mathews, G.M. 1926. Descriptions of new genera of birds. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 46: 76 [76].

  Type species:

   Rallus muelleri Rothschild. L.W., 1893 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [178].

Introduction

Recognised as full genus, following Christidis and Boles (2008: 121).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Ben Lomond (BEL), Flinders (FLI), King (KIN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [121]

History of changes

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, SA, Tas, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Ben Lomond (BEL), Flinders (FLI), King (KIN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Lewin Water Rail, Pectoral Rail, Short-toed Rail, Slate-breasted Rail, Water Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Lewin's Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Lewin's Rail)

History of changes

• Rallus brachipus Swainson, W. 1838. Animals in Menageries. In, Lardner, D. (ed.) The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. London : Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman & John Taylor. [336].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), Tasmania.

Distribution

States

Tasmania

IBRA

Tas: Ben Lomond (BEL), Flinders (FLI), King (KIN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE)

History of changes

• Rallus pectoralis clelandi Mathews, G.M. 1911. The Birds of Australia. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 pp. [189].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 545038 Skin, Western Australia; BMNH Skin, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [303].

Distribution

States

Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Extinct

History of changes

• Rallus pectoralis Temminck, C.J. 1831. Nouveau Recueil des Planche Colorees des Oixeaux. Paris Vol. 88. [Text opposite Pl. 523].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), Oceania = New South Wales.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria

IBRA

NSW, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP)

History of changes

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT) ; WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Carnarvon (CAR), Esperance Plains (ESP), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

History of changes

• Notornis Owen, R. 1848. On the remains of the gigantic and presumed extinct wingless or terrestrial birds of New Zealand (Dinornis and Palapteryx, with indications of two other genera (Notornis and Nestor). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London [1848]: 1-10 [2].

  Type species:

   Notornis mantelli Owen, R., 1848 (based on diagnosis) by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [210]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [187].
• Kentrophorina Mathews, G.M. 1928. The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant with Additions to "The Birds of Australia". London : H.F. & G. Witherby xii 139 pp. pls 1-45. [6].

  Type species:

   Fulica atra White, 1790 by monotypy.

Distribution

States

New South Wales

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

History of changes

• Fulica alba Shaw, G. in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls. [published before Aug.] [238].

  Type data:

   Holotype NMW 50.761 Skin, Norfolk Island = Lord Howe Island, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14-54 [44]; Schifter, H., Bauernfeind, E. & Schifter, Th. 2007. Die typen dwer Vogelsammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien. Teil 1, Nonpasseres. - Kataloge der wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 20, Heft. 1. pp.376 [119-120].
• Porphyrio raperi Mathews, G.M. 1928. The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant with Additions to "The Birds of Australia". London : H.F. & G. Witherby xii 139 pp. pls 1-45. [based on 'Raper' painting no. 73 (dated 1790) in Natural History Museum].

  Secondary source:

   Hindwood, K.A. 1940. The birds of Lord Howe Island. The Emu 40: 1-86 pl. 1.
• Porphyrio stanleyi Rowley, G.D. 1875. Porphyrio stanleyi (The White Porphyrio). Ornithological Miscellany 1: 37-48, pl. ix [37].

  Type data:

   Holotype LIVCM D.3213 Mount, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales [31°33'S, 159°05'E]
  Comment: Original description identifies locality as 'New Zealand". Formerly Bullock Museum # 1645.

Distribution

States

New South Wales

Extra Distribution Information

Extinct - historically from Lord Howe Island.

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Distribution References

Common Name References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (White Gallinule)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (White Gallinule)

History of changes

• Porphyrio Brisson, M.-J 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. V pp.544+lvi. [522] (Also referred to in Index (key) Volume 1, p. 48).

  Type species:

   Fulica porphyrio Linnaeus, C., 1758 (as Porphyrio) by absolute tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [99]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [207]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [106]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [187].
• Caesarornis Reichenbach, L. 1852. Avium Systema Naturale. Das Natürliche System der Vögel mit hundert Tafeln grössentheils Original-Abbildungen der bis jetzt entdeckten fast zwölfhundert typischen Formen. Leipzig : F. Hofmeister viii, 1-36, i-xxxi pp.; 100 pls. [Date published 1853] [xxi].

  Type species:

   Gallinula poliocephala Latham, J., 1801 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [99]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [106]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [187].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT) ; WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Carnarvon (CAR), Esperance Plains (ESP), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

History of changes

• Fulica porphyrio Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae Regnum Animale. Lipsiae : S.G. Englemann 10, pp. 824 +iii. [152].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT) ; WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Carnarvon (CAR), Esperance Plains (ESP), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [19] (Azure-breasted Gallinule, Bald Coot, Black-backed Gallinule, Black-backed Water-hen, Blue Bald Coot, Blue-breasted Swamphen, Eastern Swamphen, Macquarie Water-hen, Purple Gallinule, Redbill, Swamphen, Tarler Bird, Western Swamphen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Purple Swamphen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Purple Swamphen)

Menkhorst, P., Rogers, D., Clarke, R., Davies, J., Marsack, P. & Franklin, K. 2019. The Australian Bird Guide. Clayton South, VIC : CSIRO Publishing 2nd, pp. 576. [206] (Australasian Swamphen)

History of changes

• Porphyrio bellus Gould, J. 1841. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, Dec. 8, 1840. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1840: 168-178 [Date published Jul 1841: publication dated 1840] [176].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6401 (VN 1488) Skin, Western Australia; ANSP 6402 (VN 1489) Skin, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [47].
• Porphyrio melanotus woodwardi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [29].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 547190 Skin, Mongers Lake, Western Australia [29°29'S, 116°04'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [317].

Miscellaneous Literature Names

• Porphyrio melanotus bellus Gould, 1841 [melanotus treated at species level]. —
  Garcia-R. J.C. & Trewick, S.A. 2015. Dispersal and speciation in purple swamphens (Rallidae: Porphyrio ). Auk 132: 140-155

Distribution

States

Western Australia

IBRA

WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Carnarvon (CAR), Esperance Plains (ESP), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Distribution References

History of changes

• Porphyrio melanotus Temminck, C.J. 1820. Manuel d'ornithologie; ou, Tableau systematique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe, précéde d'une analyse du système général d'ornithologie, et suivi d'une table alphabétique des espèces. Paris : Gabriel Dufour Vol. 2. [701].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New Holland = Australia.
• Porphyrio cyanocephalus Bonaparte, C.L. 1856. Excursions dans les divers musées d;Allemagne, de Hollande et de Belgique et tableeaux paralléliques de l'ordre des echassiers. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences. Paris 43(18): 593-601 [599].
• Porphyrio melanotus fletcherae Mathews, G.M. 1911. The Birds of Australia. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 pp. [243].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 547199 Skin, Tasmania.

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [317].
• Porphyrio melanotus neomelanotus Mathews, G.M. 1911. The Birds of Australia. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 pp. [246].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 547135 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberly, Western Australia [15°36'S 128°17'E]; AMNH 547136 Skin, Parrys Creek, East Kimberly, Western Australia [15°36'S 128°17'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [317].

Miscellaneous Literature Names

• Porphyrio melanotus melanotus Temminck, 1820 [melanotus treated at species level]. —
  Garcia-R. J.C. & Trewick, S.A. 2015. Dispersal and speciation in purple swamphens (Rallidae: Porphyrio ). Auk 132: 140-155

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Distribution References

History of changes

• Porphyrio cyanophalus Vieillot, L.P. 1819. Nouveau Dictionaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'Agriculture, à l'Écomomie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une société de naturalistes et d'agriculteurs. Paris : Déterville Vol. 28 pp. [28].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Determination by Mathews (1931)), No locality = south-western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1931. A list of the birds of Australasia (including New Zealand, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands and the Australasian Antarctic quadrant). London : Taylor & Francis pp.562.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [107].
• Porphyrio cyanocephalus Elliot, D.G. 1878. The genus Porphyrio and its Species. Stray Feathers 7: 6-25 [13] [subsequent misspelling].

History of changes

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Southeast Shelf Transition (37)

History of changes

• Porzana Vieillot, L.P. 1816. Analyse d'une nouvelle ornithologie élémentaire. Paris : Déterville 70 pp. [Date published 14 Apr 1816] [61].

  Type species:

   Porzana porzana Linnaeus, C., 1766 (also by tautonomy. Given as 'Maronette Buffon') by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [90]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [182]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [102-103]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [184].
• Limnobaenus Sundevall, C.J. 1872. Methodi Naturalis Avium Disponendarum Tentamen. Stockholm : Samson & Wallin lxix 187 + 12 pp. [130].

  Type species:

   Rallus fuscus Linnaeus, C., 1766 by subsequent designation, see Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [145].

  Secondary source:

   Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [145]; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [96].
• Porzanoidea Mathews, G.M. 1912. New generic names for Australian birds. Austral Avian Records 1: 105-117 [Date published 24 Dec 1912] [117].

  Type species:

   Gallinula immaculata Swainson, W., 1837 (= Porzana tabuensis Gmelin, 1789) by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [91]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [182]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [103]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [184].
• Porzanoides Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [297] [typographic error in index for Porzanoidea Mathews].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Southeast Shelf Transition (37)

History of changes

• Porzana fluminea Gould, J. 1843. [Untitled - thirty new species of Australian birds...]. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1842: 131-140 [Date published February 1843] [139].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6250 (VN 1526) Skin, New South Wales; ANSP 6249 (VN 1525) Skin, New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [45].
• Rallus novaehollandiae Pucheran, J. 1851. Observations (and Etudes) sur les types peu connus de Musee de Paris. Revue et Magazin de Zoologie 3: 272-283 [278].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), New South Wales.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [103].
• Porzana fluminea whitei Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1: 73-80 [Date published 28 Jun 1912] [73].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 546072 Skin, Lake Wangary, South Australia [34°33'S, 135°30'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [311].
• Rallus novaehollandiae Lesson, R.P. 1831. Traite d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique. Paris : F.G. Levrault Vol. 2 pp 659. [537] [nomen nudum].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Southeast Shelf Transition (37)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Spotted Crake, Spotted Water Crake, Water Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Australian Spotted Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Australian Spotted Crake)

History of changes

Distribution

States

Queensland

IBRA

Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

History of changes

• Rallina Gray, G.R. 1846. The Genera of Birds: comprising their generic characters, notice of the habits of each genus, and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera. London : Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans Vol. 3 669 pp. clxxxv pls. [595] [based on Reichenbach MS (1845)].

  Type species:

   Rallus fasciatus Raffles, T.S., 1822 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1921. Notes of interest. Austral Avian Records 4: 139-164 [151]; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [88]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [171]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [102].
• Euryzona Gray, G.R. 1855. Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum 192 pp. [120, 150] (Ex Reichenbach Ms) [nomen nudum. Based on Reichenbach MS (1845)].

  Secondary source:

   Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [74].
• Tomirdus Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [193].

  Type species:

   Eulabeornis tricolor robinsoni Mathews, G.M., 1911 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [88]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [171]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [102].

Distribution

States

Queensland

IBRA

Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

History of changes

• Rallina tricolor Gray, G.R. 1858. A list of the birds, with descriptions of new species, obtained by Mr Alfred R. Wallace in the Aru and Ké Islands. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1858: 169-198 [Mathews, G.M. 1911. On some necessary alterations in the nomenclature of birds. Pt II. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 1–22 (cf. Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240))] [188].

  Type data:

   Holotype Skin (Unlocated female '... In Wallace's collection' Gray, 1858), Aru Islands, Indonesia.
• Eulabeornis tricolor robinsoni Mathews, G.M. 1911. The Birds of Australia. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 pp. [203].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 545493 Skin, Russell River, Queensland [17°13'S, 145°58'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [308].

Distribution

States

Queensland

IBRA

Qld: Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Red-necked Rail)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Red-necked Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Red-necked Crake)

History of changes

• Tribonyx Du Bus, A.J.C. 1840. Nouv genre d'oiseau de la famille des Gallinules. Bulletin Academie Imperiale et Royale des Sciences et belles-lettres de Bruxelles 7(1): 212-214 and pl. [212].

  Type species:

   Tribonyx mortierii Du Bus, A.J.C., 1840 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [97]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [199]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [104]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [186].
• Brachyptrallus Lafresnaye, F. 1840. Descriptions de quelques nouvelle especes d'oiseaux. Revue Zoologique par la Société Cuvierienne 3: 227-232 [231].

  Type species:

   Brachyptrallus ralloides ralloides, 1840 (= Gallinula mortierii du Bus de Gisignies, 1840) by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [97]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [104]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [186].
• Microtribonyx Sharpe, R.B. 1893. Untitled. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 1: xxviii-xxix [xxix].

  Type species:

   Gallinula ventralis Gould, J., 1836 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [97]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [199]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [105]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [186].

Introduction

Elevated to full genus status, following Christidis and Boles (2008: 124).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL) ; Tas: Flinders (FLI), King (KIN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR)

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp.

History of changes

• Tribonyx mortierii Du Bus, A.J.C. 1840. Nouv genre d'oiseau de la famille des Gallinules. Bulletin Academie Imperiale et Royale des Sciences et belles-lettres de Bruxelles 7(1): 212-214 and pl. [214].
• Brachyptrallus ralloides Lafresnaye, F. 1840. Descriptions de quelques nouvelle especes d'oiseaux. Revue Zoologique par la Société Cuvierienne 3: 227-232 [232].
• Tribonyx gouldi Sclater, P.L. 1867. Note on the Species of the Genus Tribonyx. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 3 20: 122-123 [123].

  Type data:

   Holotype Unknown, Nuper in vivario, Soc. Zool. Londin (= Captive bird, London).
  Status unknown, Unknown, Nuper in vivario, Soc. Zool. Londin (= Captive bird, London).

  Secondary source:

   Sclater, P.L. 1867. Untitled. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1867): 815-821 [817].
• Tribonyx mortieri Sharpe, R.B. 1894. Catalogue of the Birds in the collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum Trustees Vol. 23 pp.xiii_353. [164] [subsequent misspelling].

Generic Combinations

• Gallinula mortierii (Du Bus, 1840).

Distribution

States

Tasmania

IBRA

Tas: Ben Lomond (BEL), Flinders (FLI), King (KIN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [19] (Narkie, Native Hen, Tasmanian Native Hen, Water Hen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Tasmanian Native-hen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Tasmanian Native-hen)

History of changes

• Gallinula ventralis Gould, J. 1837. [Untitled] (A small collection of birds from Swan RIver...). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (4): 85-86 [Date published 1837: dated 1836] [85].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6389 (VN 1499) Skin, Swan River, Western Australia; ANSP Unknown (Missing), Swan River, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [46].
• Tribonyx ventralis whitei Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [194].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 546438 Skin, Nevertire, New South Wales [31°50'S, 147°43'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [314].
• Tribonyx ventralis territorii Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [195].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 546434 Skin, Alexandria, Northern Territory [19°03'S 136°42'E]; AMNH 546435 Skin, Alexandria, Northern Territory [19°03'S 136°42'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [314].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Black-tailed Native Hen, Black-tailed Water-hen, Gallinule, Native Hen, Swamphen, Water Hen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Black-tailed Native-hen)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Black-tailed Native-hen)

History of changes

• Zapornia Stephens, J.F. 1824. General Zoology or Systematic Natural History, commenced by the late George Shaw, M.D.F.R.S. & C. Aves, Part 1. London : J. & A. Arch et al. Vol. XII(1) pp. 1-297, pl. 1-35. [230].

  Type species:

   Zapornia pusilla Pallas, 1776 by monotypy.
• Zaporina Forster, T. 1827. The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Natural Phenomena. London : John Nicols pp.xlviii + 440. [417] [unjustified emendation of Zapornia Stephens, 1824].

  Type species:

   Rallus parvus Scopoli, 1769 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [103].
• Phalaridion Kaup, J. 1829. Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und Natürliches System der Europäischen Thierwelt. Leipzig : C.W. Leske xii 204 pp. [173].

  Type species:

   Rallus parvus Scopoli, 1769 by subsequent designation, see Meves, W. 1875. Brüteplätze seltener europäischer Vögel. Journal für Ornithologie 23: 428-434 [433] (As Phalaridium pusillum Gmelin).
• Rallites Pucheran, J. 1845. Notes sur quelques éspèces Madécasses de l'ordre des Échassiers. Revue Zoologique par la Société Cuvierienne [1845]: 277-280 [277].

  Type species:

   Rallus parvus Scopoli, 1769 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [103].
• Schoenocrex Roberts, A. 1922. A review of the nomenclature of South African birds. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 8: 187-272 [197].

  Type species:

   Rallus pusillus Pallas, 1776 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [182]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [103].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [90]
• Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [184]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

History of changes

• Rallus pusillus Pallas, P.S 1776. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russschen Reichs in einem ausfuhrlichen Auszuge. Thle. Frankfurt und Leipzig Vol. 3 809 pp. [700].

Generic Combinations

• Zapornia pusilla (Pallas, 1776). —
  Garcia-R, J.C. & Matzke, N.J. 2021. Trait-dependent dispersal in rails (Aves: Rallidae): Historical biogeography of a cosmopolitan bird clade. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 159(107106): 1-7 [3]
• Porzana pusilla (Pallas, 1776). —
  Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [123]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Northeast Shelf Transition (41)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Little Crake, Little Water Crake, Marsh Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Baillon's Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Baillon's Crake)

History of changes

• Porzana palustris Gould, J. 1843. [Untitled - thirty new species of Australian birds...]. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1842: 131-140 [Date published February 1843] [139].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANSP 6238 (VN 1528) Skin, Van Diemans Land (Tasmania).

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 [155]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [45].
• Porzana pusilla fitzroyi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1: 73-80 [Date published 28 Jun 1912] [73].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 545955 Skin, Derby, King Sound, Western Australia [17°19'S, 123°38'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [311]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [103].
• Rallus minor Cotton, J. 1848. List of birds which frequent the upper portion of the River Goulburn in the district of Port Phillip, New South Wales. Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science 3(5): 361-365 [Date published Jul 1848] [364] [nomen nudum].

Generic Combinations

• Zapornia pusilla palustris (Gould, 1843).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

History of changes

Generic Combinations

• Zapornia tabuensis (Gmelin, 1789).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [18] (Leaden Crake, Little Swamphen, Little Tarler Bird, Little Waterhen, Putoto, Spotless Water Crake, Swamp Rail, Tabuan Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Spotless Crake)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Spotless Crake)

History of changes

• Rallus tabuensis Gmelin, J.F 1789. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Linné, editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Regnum Animalium. Leipzig (Lipsiae) : G.E. Beer Vol. 1 pp. 501–1032. [717].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown (Unlocated), Tongatapu, Tahiti and neighbouring islands.

  Type locality references:

  Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [103].
• Gallinula immaculata Swainson, W. 1838. The Natural History of Fishes, Amphibians, and Reptiles, or Monocardian Animals. London : Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans, and John Taylor Vol. 1 368 pp. 100 figs. [337].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, Unknown, Tasmania.
• Porzana plumbea roberti Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [446].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 546149 Skin, [King George Sound], Western Australia [35°03'S, 117°58'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [311].
• Crex plumbea Gray, J.E. 1829. In Griffith's 'Anim. Kingdom; Vol. 8 (Aves, 3), London: Whittaker, Treacher & Co.

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH Old Vellum Cat. 39.148a Relaxed mount, No locality = New Zealand.

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1911. The Birds of Australia. London : H.F. & G. Witherby Vol. 1 pp. [217]; Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [229].
• Rallus tenebrosus Gray, G.R. 1862. A list of the birds of New Zealand and the adjacent islands. Ibis 4(15): 214-252 [239].
• Porzanoidea plumbea campbelli Mathews, G.M. 1914. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2(5): 83-107 [Date published 24 Sep 1914] [85].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 546153 Skin, Botany Swamp, New South Wales [33°57'S, 151°12'E]; AMNH 546154 Skin, Botany Swamp, New South Wales [33°57'S, 151°12'E]; AMNH 546155 Skin, Botany Swamp, New South Wales [33°57'S, 151°12'E]; AMNH 546156 Skin, Botany Swamp, New South Wales [33°57'S, 151°12'E]; AMNH 546157 Skin, Botany Swamp, New South Wales [33°57'S, 151°12'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [312].

Generic Combinations

• Zapornia tabuensis tabuensis (Gmelin, 1789).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

History of changes

• Fulicariae Nitzsch, C.L. 1820. Ueber die Nafendrüfe der Vögel. Deutsches Archiv für die Physiologie 7: 235-268 [263] [original spelling].

  Type genus:

   Fulica Linnaeus, 1758.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [113].
• Fulicariae Nitzsch, C.L. 1829. Observationes de avium arteria carotide communi. Halae : Akademie Fridericianae Halensis cum Vitebergensis 36 pp. [publication undated].

  Type genus:

   Fulica Linnaeus, 1758.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [113].

History of changes

• Fulica Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10 Edn., 824 pp. [152].

  Type species:

   Fulica atra Linnaeus, C., 1758 (as Fulica; = Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758) by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [102]; Peters, J.L. 1934. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 2 xvii 401 pp. [211]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [107]; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Order GRUIFORMES: Rails, Cranes and Allies. pp.177-190 in Gill, B.G., Bell, B.D., Chambers, G.K., Medway, D.G., Palma, R.L., Scofield, R.P., Tennyson, A.J.D. & Worthy, T.H. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Wellington : Te Papa Press 4th Edn, 500 pp. [189].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

History of changes

• Fulica atra Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10 Edn., 824 pp. [152].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [19] (Australian Coot, Coot, Toorie)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Eurasian Coot)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Eurasian Coot)

History of changes

• Fulica australis Gould, J. 1845. [Untitled]. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1845)(13): 2-3 [2].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 6335 (VN 1502) Skin, Western Australia; ANSP 6336 (VN 1503) Skin, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [47].
• Fulica novaehollandiae Gould, J. in Grey, G. 1841. Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in north-west and western Australia, during the years 1837, 38 and 39 under the Authority of Her Majesty's Government. London : T. & W. Boone Vol. 2 vii 482 pp. (Appendix D, pp. 415-421). [publication date] (Nomen nudum).

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1924. In Proceedings of meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, March 12, 1924. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 44: 69-70 [70] (Replacement name for F. novaehollandiae Gould, and in itself a nomen nudum).
• Fulica tasmanica Grant, J.E. 1845. Fulica Tasmanica? Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science 2: 310 [310].
• Fulica atra ingrami Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [196].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 547358 Skin, Alexandria, Northern Territory [19°03'S 136°42'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [317].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

History of changes

• Otidia Rafinesque, C.S. 1815. Analyse de la nature, ou tableau de l'univers et des corps organises. Palermo (Italy) : Privately Published 224 pp. [Date published April to July] [70] [original spelling].

  Type genus:

   Otis Linnaeus, 1758.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [137].
• Otinae Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [64] [emendation].

  Type genus:

   Otis Linnaeus, 1758.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [173].
• Otidinae Gray, G.R. 1841. A List of the Genera of Birds, with their synonyms and an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J. Taylor xii 115 pp. [Date published Sep 1841] [83] [replacement name].

  Type genus:

   Otis Linnaeus, 1758.
• Otidae Bonaparte, C.L. 1854. Conspectus systematis ornithologiae. Annales des Sciences Naturelles Zoologie, Paris 4 1: 105-152 [148] [subsequent misspelling].

  Type genus:

   Otis Linnaeus, 1758.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [173].
• Lissotinae Verheyen, R. 1957. Contribution au de'membrement de l'ordo artificiel des Gruiformes (Peters 1934). I. Les Ralliformes. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 33(21): 1-44.

  Type genus:

   Lissotis Reichenbach, H.G.L., 1848.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [173]; Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [137].
• Neotinae Verheyen, R. 1957. Contribution au de'membrement de l'ordo artificiel des Gruiformes (Peters 1934). I. Les Ralliformes. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 33(21): 1-44.

  Type genus:

   Neotis Sharpe, R.B., 1893.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [173]; Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [137].

Introduction

This homogeneous Old World family has an Afro-Asian distribution with 26 species in nine genera; only one genus, Ardeotis, occurs in Australia. Otidids are mostly large bodied, terrestrial and highly cursorial species with a predominantly cryptic plumage pattern. The upper body is basically buff or grey with fine black vermiculating or barring; the underparts are variable from white or buff to black. Some species have a brightly patterned neck or head, or in flight show white wing patches, and in some species there are ornamental plumes on the head and neck. The broad head, associated with a short but stout bill, long neck and legs, are all extended when in flight.

Other characteristics include the possession of large eyes adapted for nocturnal activity. Their anisodactyl feet lack a hallux and are short and broad in comparison to the length of the long and strong legs. Each species is sexually dimorphic with males tending to be much larger and more brightly coloured and patterned than females. Although all are strong fliers using their broad wings, they prefer to either walk or run to avoid detection; an alternative is to crouch on the ground in the grass.

Otidids are basically sedentary or in pairs and may be either solitary or gregarious, numbers often associating in areas of large insect infestations. All inhabit grasslands or more arid regions although Ardeotis australis may be found in ‘thick areas of scrub’. The species are omnivorous or opportunistic, principally feeding on grasshoppers and locusts or other large invertebrates; they also consume small ground vertebrates, young birds and seeds.

The otidids' courtship display includes the male posturing and strutting with his puffed-out head and neck plumage, this includes the inflating of a gular pouch that develops during mating season; they also raise the up-fanned tail over the back while extending their scapulars on drooped wings. Apart from when breeding, the birds rarely utter any vocalisations except for occasional grunts, hisses or whistles if alarmed. During the courtship the males include a drum-like booming.

At the cessation of the courtship, the male leaves the female and she undertakes nesting activities. Males may be polygamous and continue to seek and mate with other females. The nest, constructed by the female, is a shallow, sometimes loosely lined, depression or scrape in the ground. In it the female lays egg clutches that vary from one to five; A. australis regularly lays two. These short-oval to oval eggs have an olive-green or reddish brown base colour and may be marked with brownish speckles or blotches. The female incubates the eggs for about 21 days and then, alone, cares for her young. The young are precocial, their downy covering being buff, finely dotted with black; they leave the nest shortly after hatching and continue to be cared for by the female.

General References

Campbell, B. & Lack, E. (eds) 1985. A Dictionary of Birds. Calton : T. & A.D. Poyser xxx 670 pp.

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp.

History of changes

• Ardeotis Le Maout, E. 1853. Les Trois Régnes de la Nature. Historie Naturelle d'Oiseaux. Paris : L. Curmer 2, pp.xlviii + 425. [339-340].

  Type species:

   Otis arabs Linnaeus, C., 1758 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [109].
• Austrotis Mathews, G.M. 1913. New genera and species. Austral Avian Records 2(1): 12-13 [Date published 2 Aug 1913] [12].

  Type species:

   Otis australis Gray, J.E., 1829 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. [187]; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [109].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Jarrah Forest (JF), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

History of changes

• Otis australis Gray, J.E. 1829. In Griffith's 'Anim. Kingdom; Vol. 8 (Aves, 3), London: Whittaker, Treacher & Co. [305] (Entered as Ot. australis).

  Type data:

   Holotype Unknown (The specimen was in General T. Davies collection which was disposed of by auction in London), New South Wales.
• Otis australasianus Gould, J. 1841. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, Dec. 8, 1840. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1840: 168-178 [Date published Jul 1841: publication dated 1840] [176].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) ANSP 11940 (VN 1451) Skin, Western Australia; ANSP 11942 (VN 1452) Skin, Western Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [50].
• Otis novaehollandiae Leichhardt, F.W.L. 1847. Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia from Moreton Bay to Port Essington during 1844-45. London : T. & W. Boone pp.544. [260] (Nomen nudum).
• Choriotis australis derbyi Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [226].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 547547 Skin, Derby, King Sound, Western Australia [17°19'S, 123°38'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1-306 [10].
• Austrotis australis melvillensis Mathews, G.M. 1915. Additions and corrections to my reference list. Austral Avian Records 3: 51 [51].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 547553 SKin, Melville Island, Northern Territory [11°33'S, 130°56'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1-306 [10].

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Jarrah Forest (JF), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Distribution References

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [19] (Plain Turkey, Wild Turkey)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Australian Bustard)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [22] (Australian Bustard)

History of changes