Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

(Rallidae). Most species are placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Gallinula'',

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "little hen." They are close relatives of coots. They are often referred to as (black) gallinules. Recently, one of the species of ''Gallinula'' was found to have enough differences to form a new genus '' Paragallinula'' with the only species being the lesser moorhen (''Paragallinula angulata''). Two

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

from the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n region, sometimes separated in , are called "native hens" (also native-hen or nativehen). The native hens differ visually by shorter, thicker and stubbier toes and bills, and longer tails that lack the white signal pattern of typical moorhens.Boles (2005)

Description

These rails are mostly brown and black with some white markings in

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

color. Unlike many of the rails, they are usually easy to see because they feed in open water margins rather than hidden in reedbeds. They have short rounded wings and are weak fliers, although usually capable of covering long distances. The

common moorhen The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen, is a bird species in the Rail (bird), rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, across Africa, Europe, and Asia. It lives around well-ve ...

in particular migrates up to from some of its breeding areas in the colder parts of

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. Those that migrate do so at night. The Gough moorhen on the other hand is considered almost flightless; it can only flutter some metres. As is common in rails, there has been a marked tendency to evolve flightlessness in island populations. Moorhens can walk very well on their strong legs, and have long toes that are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. These birds are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

, consuming plant material, small rodents, amphibians and

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. They are aggressively territorial during the breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer.

Systematics and evolution

The

''Gallinula'' was introduced by the French zoologist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosophy, natural philosopher. Brisson was born on 30 April 1723 at Fontenay-le-Comte in the Vendée department of western France. Note that page 14 ...

in 1760 with the

(''Gallinula chloropus'') as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

. The genus ''Gallinula'' contains five extant, one recently

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

, and one possibly extinct

: * Samoan moorhen, ''Gallinula pacifica'' – sometimes placed in ''Pareudiastes'', possibly extinct (1907?) * Makira moorhen, ''Gallinula silvestris'' – sometimes placed in ''Pareudiastes'' or ''Edithornis'', extremely rare with no direct observations in recent decades, but still considered likely extant due to reports of the species persisting in very small numbers. *† Tristan moorhen, ''Gallinula nesiotis'' – formerly sometimes placed in '; extinct (late 19th century) * Gough moorhen, ''Gallinula comeri'' – formerly sometimes placed in ''Porphyriornis'' *

Common moorhen The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen, is a bird species in the Rail (bird), rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, across Africa, Europe, and Asia. It lives around well-ve ...

, ''Gallinula chloropus'' * Common gallinule, ''Gallinula (chloropus) galeata'', recently split by the AOU, other committees still evaluating * Dusky moorhen, ''Gallinula tenebrosa'' Former members of the genus: * Lesser moorhen, ''Paragallinula angulata'' * Spot-flanked gallinule, ''Porphyriops melanops'' * Black-tailed native hen, ''Tribonyx ventralis'' * Tasmanian native hen, ''Tribonyx mortierii'' Other moorhens have been described from older remains. Apart from the 1–3 extinctions in more recent times, another 1–4 species have gone

as a consequence of early human settlement: Hodgen's waterhen (''Gallinula hodgenorum'') of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

—which belongs in

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

''Tribonyx''—and a species close to the Samoan moorhen from Buka,

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, which is almost certainly distinct from the Makira moorhen, as the latter cannot fly. The undescribed Viti Levu gallinule of

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

would either be separated in ''Pareudiastes'' if that genus is considered valid, or may be a completely new genus. Similarly, the undescribed "swamphen" of Mangaia, currently tentatively assigned to '' Porphyrio'', may belong to ''Gallinula''/''Pareudiastes''.

Evolution

Still older

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s document the genus since the

Late Oligocene The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the pro ...

onwards. The genus seems to have originated in the Southern Hemisphere, in the general region of

. By the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Australlus''. Even among non-

Passeriformes A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

, this genus has a long documented existence. Consequently, some unassigned fragmentary rail fossils might also be from moorhens or native hens. For example, specimen QM F30696, a left

distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...

tibiotarsus The tibiotarsus is the large bone between the femur and the tarsometatarsus in the leg of a bird. It is the fusion of the proximal part of the tarsus with the tibia. A similar structure also occurred in the Mesozoic Heterodontosauridae. These ...

piece from the Oligo-Miocene boundary at Riversleigh, is similar to but differs in details from ''"G." disneyi''. It cannot be said if this bird—if a distinct species—was flightless. From size alone, it might have been an ancestor of ''G. mortierii'' (see also below). In addition to

paleosubspecies A chronospecies is a species derived from a sequential development pattern that involves continual and uniform changes from an extinct ancestral form on an evolutionary scale. The sequence of alterations eventually produces a population that is p ...

of ''Gallinula chloropus'', the doubtfully distinct

Late Pliocene Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * Late (The 77s album), ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudo ...

to Pleistocene ''Gallinula mortierii reperta'' was described, referring to the population of the Tasmanian native hen that once inhabited mainland Australia and became extinct at the end of the last ice age. It may be that apart from

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

it was driven to extinction by the introduction of the dingo, which as opposed to the

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

predators hunted during the day, but this would require a survival of mainland ''Gallinula mortierii'' to as late as about 1500 BC.Baird (1991), Boles (2005) ''"G." disneyi'' was yet another flightless native hen, indicative of that group's rather basal position among moorhens. Its time and place of occurrence suggest it as an ancestor of ''G. mortierii (reperta)'', from which it differed mostly in its much smaller size. However, some limb bone proportions are also strikingly different, and in any case such a scenario would require a flightless bird to change but little during some 20 million years in an environment rich in

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s. As the fossils of ''G. disneyi'' as well as the rich recent and

subfossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

material of ''G. mortierii'' shows no evidence of such a change at all, ''"G." disneyi'' more probably represents a case of parallel evolution at an earlier date, as signified by its placement in ''Australlus''.

Description

Systematics and evolution

Evolution

References

Further reading