Yellow-breasted crake

The yellow-breasted crake (''Laterallus flaviventer'') is a species of bird in subfamily Rallinae of family Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots. It is found on several Caribbean islands and in most of Central America and South America.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022

Taxonomy and systematics

The yellow-breasted crake was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux''. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name ''Rallus flaviventer'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''. The yellow-breasted crake was next placed in the genus '' Porzana'' that was erected by the French ornithologist Louis-Pierre Vieillot in 1816. That generic name is the Venetian word for the small crakes. The specific epithet combines the Latin ''flavus'' meaning "yellow" with ''venter'' meaning "belly".

However, the yellow-breasted crake's taxonomy has not been resolved. It was formerly sometimes placed in the obsolete genus ''Poliolimnas'' or united with the Ocellated crake in ''Micropygia''. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA revealed that it is not a part of '' Porzana'' proper, and instead belongs within the ''Coturnicops''–''Laterallus'' clade.

As of late 2022 the International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World place the yellow-breasted crake in genus ''Laterallus''. The North American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) and the Clements taxonomy place it in the monotypic genus ''Hapalocrex''. The South American Classification Committee of AOS retains it in genus '' Porzana'' after rejecting ''Laterallus'' but is seeking a proposal to move it to ''Hapalocrex''.Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2022. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.aou.org/taxaClements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved July 24, 2022

The worldwide taxonomic systems agree that the yellow-breasted crake has these five subspecies:

* ''L. f. gossii'' ( Bonaparte, 1856)
* ''L. f. hendersoni'' Bartsch, 1917
* ''L. f. woodi'' van Rossem, 1934
* ''L. f. bangsi'' Darlington, 1931
* ''L. f. flaviventer'' (Boddaert, 1783)

Description

The yellow-breasted crake is long. Males weigh and females . The sexes are alike. Their generally buffy face has a dark line through the eye and a pale buff-white supercilium, a pattern unique among New World members of Rallidae. Adults of the nominate subspecies ''L. f. flaviventer'' have brown upperparts and a white throat, buffy yellow breast, and black and white banded flanks and belly. The other subspecies differ from the nominate in size and the intensity of their colors. The nominate and ''L. f. gossii'' are the largest, and the nominate has the darkest neck and breast. ''L. f. bangsi''s upperparts are the darkest and ''L. f. hendersoni''s are the palest.Taylor, B. and E. de Juana (2020). Yellow-breasted Crake (''Hapalocrex flaviventer''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.yebcra1.01 retrieved November 27, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The five subspecies of yellow-breasted crake are found thus:

* ''L. f. gossii'', Cuba and Jamaica
* ''L. f. hendersoni'', Hispaniola and Puerto Rico
* ''L. f. woodi'', from central Mexico south to northwestern Costa Rica
* ''L. f. bangsi'', northern Colombia
* ''L. f. flaviventer'', Panama east through northern and central Colombia and Venezuela to the Guianas and south through parts of Brazil, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay into northeastern Argentina; also Trinidad and TobagoRemsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 24 July 2022. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved July 24, 2022

Undocumented sight records in Ecuador lead the South American Classification Committee (SACC) of the AOS to call the species hypothetical in that country. The SACC also notes it as a vagrant rather than inhabitant in Uruguay.

The yellow-breasted crake is primarily a bird of freshwater systems, but is also rarely found at saltwater. It inhabits marshes, grassy edges of ponds and lakes, rice fields, and flooded grassy fields. In elevation it ranges from sea level to .

Behavior

Movment

The yellow-breasted crake is usually considered sedentary, but movements have not been fully defined. At some locations in Colombia it is present only from March to July, and in Costa Rica is appears to make local movements as water levels change. In addition, the SACC has no records of breeding in French Guiana, which hints at some migration.

Feeding

The yellow-breasted crake forages among emergent plants, sometimes running across them or climbing among them. It leaves cover during dawn and dusk to feed at the water's edge. Its diet includes small gastropods, insects, and seeds.

Breeding

The yellow-breasted crake's breeding season(s) are not well defined but appear to vary geographically. It builds a loose nest among reeds or marsh grass. An average clutch is about four eggs. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.

Vocalization

The yellow-breasted crake has at least three vocalizations, a " w, harsh, rolled or churring 'k'kuk kurr-kurr'", a "plaintive, squealing, single or repeated 'kreer' or 'krreh'", and a "high-pitched, whistled 'peep'."

Status

The IUCN has assessed the yellow-breasted crake as being of Least Concern. Its estimated population of 7000 mature individuals has an unknown trend. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered locally common in much of its range and is "undoubtedly more widespread than is known."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q929942

yellow-breasted crake
Birds of the Caribbean
Higher-level bird taxa restricted to the Neotropics
yellow-breasted crake
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot