Porzana

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iSpotted Crake
Spotted Crake, Porzana porzana
Spotted Crake, Porzana porzana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Porzana
Vieillot, 1816
Species

see text

Porzana is a genus of crakes. It has a global distribution, contains 13 living species, and 4-5 recently extinct ones. In addition, a large number of prehistorically extinct species known only from fossil or subfossil remains have been discovered.

Living species

  • Little Crake, Porzana parva
  • Baillon's Crake, Porzana pusilla
  • Spotted Crake, Porzana porzana
  • Australian Crake, Porzana fluminea
  • Sora, Porzana carolina
  • Dot-winged Crake, Porzana spiloptera
  • Ash-throated Crake, Porzana albicollis
  • Ruddy-breasted Crake, Porzana fusca
  • Band-bellied Crake, Porzana paykullii
  • Spotless Crake, Porzana tabuensis
  • Henderson Island Crake, Porzana atra
  • Yellow-breasted Crake, Porzana flaviventer
  • White-browed Crake, Porzana cinerea

Extinct species

  • Porzana estramosi (Sajóvölgyi Middle? - Late Miocene of Hungary)
  • Porzana piercei (Shore Hills Late Pleistocene of Bermuda, W Atlantic)
  • Porzana cf. flaviventer (Bermuda, West Atlantic)

The Middle Pleistocene fossil described as Porzana auffenbergi is now placed in Rallus.

[edit] Reference

  • Taylor, P. Barry & van Perlo, Ber (1998): Rails : a guide to the rails, crakes, gallinules, and coots of the world. Yale University Press, New Haven. ISBN 0300077580