Wake rail
| Wake rail | ||||||||||||
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Wake rail ( Gallirallus wakensis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gallirallus wakensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Rothschild , 1903) |
The wake rail ( Gallirallus wakensis ) was a flightless, ground-breeding, beach-dwelling bird that presumably descended from the white rail ( Gallirallus philippensis ).
Appearance
The ear covers and reins are dark brown and there is a light gray stripe over the eyes. The chin is white, the neck white above and gray below. The top of the rail is dark ash brown to earth brown. The underside is ash brown, whitish towards the middle of the abdomen. A light rust-colored band, which is not always clearly pronounced, runs across the chest. The tail is a solid brown color. Flanks, chest and stomach sides as well as under tail coverts have narrow white cross bars. Axillary feathers and under wing coverts are brown with white transverse bands.
Occurrence and extinction
The rail was endemic to the 6.5 km² large coral island of Wake Island in the western Pacific between Hawaii and the Marianas . Before the beginning of the Second World War , the rail was still widespread there. It became extinct during the Japanese occupation of the island in World War II, and there were hardly any other birds after this occupation. It can therefore be assumed that the railing was hunted down by the starving Japanese occupation troops for food and thus exterminated. It has not been proven again after 1945. The very soft wing and tail feathers indicate that the flight ability was poor.
swell
- ↑ a b c 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
- ^ Alfred M. Bailey: Notes on the Birds of the Midway and Wake Islands. The Wilson Bulletin. March 1951 Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 35-37
- ↑ Hypotaenidia wakensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Retrieved on December 16 of 2008.
further reading
- Storrs L. Olson, Mark J. Rauzon: The Extinct Wake Island Rail Gallirallus wakensis: A Comprehensive Species Account Based on Museum Specimens and Archival Records . The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 123 (4) pp. 663-689. 2011 doi: 10.1676 / 11-029.1