The Junin crake or Junin rail (''Laterallus jamaicensis tuerosi'') is an elusive and rare

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Rallidae Rails (avian family Rallidae) are a large, Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family (biology), family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial and/or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes ...

found only in marshy habitats around

Lake Junin Lake Junin (; Spanish language, Spanish ''Lago Junín'', named after the nearby town of Junín, Peru, Junin) or Chinchaycocha (possibly from Quechua language, Quechua ''chincha, chinchay'' north, northern, ''chinchay'' ocelot, ''qucha'' lake, lag ...

in the

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

highlands of west-central

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

.Mongabay: Animal photos of the day: the most elusive bird in the world?
/ref> The

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

position of the Junin crake is disputed: It was first described as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the

black rail The black rail (''Laterallus jamaicensis'') is a mouse-sized member of the rail family Rallidae that occurs in both North and South America. Taxonomy The black rail was Species description, formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist J ...

in 1983 and in later years it has variably been considered a black rail subspecies or its own species. Its plumage is highly distinct compared to other black rail subspecies, but its voice is rather similar to those of the two other South American subspecies (''L. j. murivagans'' of coastal Peru and ''L. j. salinasi'' of Chile and Argentina), although it does show some differences. However, their voices are quite distinct from the voices of black rails of North America. Preliminary evidence also suggests that the Galapagos crake, another member of this

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

, has a voice that resembles that of the South American black rails. Regardless of its taxonomic position, the Junin crake is seriously threatened, mostly due to habitat loss, and it is considered

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. Several other threatened animals, including two birds, the Junin grebe (''Podiceps taczanowskii'') and the Junin

white-tufted grebe The white-tufted grebe (''Rollandia rolland''), also known as Rolland's grebe, is a species of grebe in the family Podicipedidae. Found in the southern and western South America, its natural habitat is freshwater lakes, ponds and sluggish rivers ...

(''Rollandia rolland''), are restricted to the same lake.

References

Junin crake Birds of the Peruvian Andes Endemic birds of Peru Junin crake Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Gruiformes-stub