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Buff-banded rail

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"Tikling" redirects here. For the other species referred to by this name, see Barred rail.

Buff-banded rail
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Hypotaenidia
Species:
H. philippensis
Binomial name
Hypotaenidia philippensis
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms
  • Rallus philippensis Linnaeus, 1766 (protonym)
  • Hypotaenidia philippensis (Linnaeus, 1766)
  • Gallirallus sharpei (Buttikofer, 1893)

The buff-banded rail (Hypotaenidia philippensis) is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the rail family, Rallidae. This species comprises several subspecies found throughout much of Australasia and the south-west Pacific region, including the Philippines (where it is known as tikling), New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand (where it is known as the banded rail, or moho-pererū in Māori),[2] and numerous smaller islands, covering a range of latitudes from the tropics to the subantarctic.

Taxonomy

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson described and illustrated the buff-banded rail in his multi-volume Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in the Philippines. He used the French name Le rasle rayé des Philippines and the Latin name Rallus Philippensis Striatus.[3] Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.[4] When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson in his Ornithologie.[4] One of these was the buff-banded rail. Linnaeus included a terse description, coined the binomial name Rallus philippensis and cited Brisson's work.[5] The buff-banded rail was formerly placed in the genus Gallirallus but is now placed in the genus Hypotaenidia that was introduced in 1853 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.[6]

Subspecies

Numerous subspecies are recognised for the buff-banded rail because of repeated dispersion of birds to islands in the Pacific, often followed by founder effects and reduced potential for gene flow.[7] The weka in New Zealand evolved from a lineage with common ancestry to modern buff-tailed banded rail populations, and has changed over time to become flightless.

Twenty subspecies are recognised:[6]

Description

Painting by John Gould

It is a largely terrestrial bird the size of a small domestic chicken, with mainly brown upperparts, finely banded black and white underparts, a white eyebrow, chestnut band running from the bill round the nape, with a buff band on the breast. It utilises a range of moist or wetland habitats with low, dense vegetation for cover. It is usually quite shy but may become very tame and bold in some circumstances, such as in island resorts within the Great Barrier Reef region.[8]

Behaviour and ecology

The buff-banded rail is an omnivorous scavenger which feeds on a range of terrestrial invertebrates and small vertebrates, seeds, fallen fruit and other vegetable matter, as well as carrion and refuse. Its nest is usually situated in dense grassy or reedy vegetation close to water, with a clutch size of 3–4. Although some island populations may be threatened, or even exterminated, by introduced predators, the species as a whole appears to be safe and its conservation status is considered to be of Least Concern.[9]

Lady Elliot Island, Qld, Australia

See also

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Hypotaenidia philippensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22692425A93353232. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692425A93353232.en.
  2. ^ Hugh Robertson, Barrie Heather (Author), & Derek Onley. (2005) The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand Revised edition, Viking.
  3. ^ Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Vol. 5. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. pp. 163–167, Plate 14 fig 1. The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen.
  4. ^ a b Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 28: 317–335. hdl:2246/678.
  5. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1766). Systema naturae : per regna tria natura, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (12th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 263.
  6. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  7. ^ Garcia-R., Juan C.; Joseph, Leo; Adcock, Greg; Reid, Julian; Trewick, Steven A. (2017). "Interisland gene flow among populations of the buff-banded rail (Aves: Rallidae) and its implications for insular endemism in Oceania". Journal of Avian Biology. 48 (5): 679–690. doi:10.1111/jav.01201.
  8. ^ Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J., eds. (1993). "Gallirallus philippensis Buff-banded rail" (PDF). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Vol. 2, Raptors to lapwings. Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. pp. 495–506, Plate 40. ISBN 978-0-19-553069-8.
  9. ^ BirdLife International. (2006). Species factsheet: Gallirallus philippensis. Downloaded "BirdLife International – conserving the world's birds". Archived from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2012. on 25 October 2006
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