Gallirallus is a
genus of
rails that live in the
Australasian-
Pacific region. The genus is characterised by an ability to colonise relatively small and isolated islands and thereafter to evolve flightless forms, many of which became extinct following Polynesian settlement.
Taxonomy
Following recent taxonomic revisions, there is only one known extant species in this genus along with several extinct species of dubious classification, with all other species being moved to Hypotaenidia, Cabalus, Lewinia, or Aptenorallus.[1]
Description
Many of the rails, including the well-known
weka of
New Zealand, are flightless or nearly so.
Many of the resultant flightless island
endemics became
extinct after the arrival of humans, which hunted these birds for food, introduced novel
predators like rats, dogs or pigs, and upset the local
ecosystems. A common
Polynesian name of these rails, mainly relatives of G. philippensis, is veka/weka (in
English, this name is generally limited to Gallirallus australis).
On the other hand, Gallirallus species are (with the exception of the weka) notoriously retiring and shy birds with often drab coloration.
The
Calayan rail (formerly Gallirallus calayanensis) was placed into the genus Aptenorallus in 2021.[2]
Species extinct before A.D. 1500
Aside from the weka, all species classified in the genus Gallirallus are only known from subfossil remains, having gone extinct in the
Quaternary extinction event. Given the recent taxonomic changes that have led to the weka being the only remaining Gallirallus species, it is possible these may also belong to different genera, but are presently retained in Gallirallus due to uncertainty.[3]
^A similar bird was found to live on nearby
Vava‘u in 1793. Given that G. vekamatolu was flightless, this may just as well represent a related species.
^Kirchman, J.J.; Steadman, D. W. (2005). "Rails (Aves: Rallidae: Gallirallus) from prehistoric sites in the Kingdom of Tonga, including description of a new species". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 118 (2): 465–477.
doi:
10.2988/0006-324x(2005)118[465:rargfp]2.0.co;2.
S2CID86755841.