Red beak rail
| Red beak rail | ||||||||||
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Red-billed rail ( Gallirallus pacificus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Gallirallus pacificus | ||||||||||
| ( Gmelin , 1789) |
The red-billed rail ( Gallirallus pacificus ) was a 23 cm tall, presumably flightless bird from Tahiti . 1
Appearance
The species is only known from a painting by Georg Forster . It had a brown head with a white line that ran from the beak over the eye to the back of the head. The bill and iris were red. She had a white throat, a rust red neck, and a black back. The rump, also black, was sprinkled with individual, small, white dots. The chest was bluish gray, the abdomen, sides and anus white. The black wings had broken white bands. Since the wings appear small, it is assumed that Ralle was flightless. The tail feathers were dotted black and white, the feet flesh-colored. 2
die out
The extinct red-billed rail was discovered by naturalists on Captain James Cook's second voyage in 1777 , but no museum specimens exist and the species is only known from a painting by Georg Forster. Sightings of the Ralle of Tahiti had been reported by 1844 and sightings of Mehetia had been reported until the 1930s . The extinction of the species is believed to be due to introduced rats and cats. 1 2 3
swell
- Kirchman JJ, Steadman DW New Species of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) from an Archaeological Site on Huahine, Society Islands. Pacific Science: Vol. 60, No. 2 pp. 281-297 (2006)
- Dieter Luther: The extinct birds of the world. 4th edition, unchanged reprint of the edition from 1986. Magdeburg: Westkarp-Wiss and Heidelberg: Spektrum Akad. Verlag. 1995
- Hypotaenidia pacifica inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.2. Listed by: Birdlife International, 2008. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
