''Laterallus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s in the rail

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Rallidae. These small, relatively short-billed

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

rails are found among dense vegetation near water in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bi ...

, although a single species, the black rail, also occurs in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The genus was erected by the English zoologist

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray FRS (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the younger broth ...

in 1855 with the rufous-sided crake (''Laterallus melanophaius'') as the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

. The genus name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordssynonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

of the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

for the rufous-sided crake. The authors of a molecular genetic study published in 2019 proposed that the yellow-breasted crake, the dot-winged crake, and the flightless Inaccessible Island rail should be moved to this genus.

Species

The genus contains 13 species: * Black-banded crake, ''Laterallus fasciatus'' * Rufous-sided crake, ''Laterallus melanophaius'' * Rusty-flanked crake, ''Laterallus levraudi'' * Ruddy crake, ''Laterallus ruber'' *

White-throated crake The white-throated crake (''Laterallus albigularis'') is a species of bird in subfamily Rallinae of family Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela.HBW ...

, ''Laterallus albigularis'' * Grey-breasted crake, ''Laterallus exilis'' * Yellow-breasted crake, ''Laterallus flaviventer'' * Black rail, ''Laterallus jamaicensis'' **

Junin crake The Junin crake or Junin rail (''Laterallus jamaicensis tuerosi'') is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is usually considered a subspecies of the black rail. The Junín rail is, as suggested by its common name, endemic to marshy ha ...

, ''Laterallus jamaicensis tuerosi'' * Galapagos crake, ''Laterallus spilonota'' * Dot-winged crake, ''Laterallus spiloptera'' * Inaccessible Island rail, ''Laterallus rogersi'' * Red-and-white crake, ''Laterallus leucopyrrhus'' * Rufous-faced crake, ''Laterallus xenopterus''

References

*Taylor, B., & van Perlo, B. (1998). ''Rails – A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World.'' Bird genera * Taxa named by George Robert Gray {{Gruiformes-stub