The plumbeous rail (''Pardirallus sanguinolentus'') is a species of

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 subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot 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 ...

. It is found in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

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 ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

.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 plumbeous rail has previously been placed in the large genus ''Rallus'', and also in genus ''Orygonax'' with the blackish rail (''Pardirallus nigricans''). Some authors propose that the blackish and plumbeous rails are

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

, and they do form a

superspecies 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 ...

. The plumbeous rail has these six subspecies: *''P. s. simonsi'' Chubb, C., 1918 *''P. s. tschudii'' Chubb, C., 1919 *''P. s. zelebori'' ( Pelzeln, 1865) *''P. s. sanguinolentus'' ( Swainson, 1838) *''P. s. landbecki'' (

Hellmayr Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 – 24 February 1944) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete his degree. After his studies he worked in Vie ...

, 1932) *''P. s. luridus'' ( Peale, 1849)

Description

The blackish rail is long and weighs . The sexes are alike. They have red eyes and legs. They have a green bill and in all but subspecies ''P. s. luridus'' the

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

has a sky blue base and the

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

a bright red one. The

nominate subspecies In 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), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

''P. s. sanguinolentus'' has mottled brown upperparts and plain gray face and underparts. The other subspecies differ somewhat in size and plumage. ''P. s. luridus'' is the largest and ''P. s. zelebori'' the smallest. ''P. s. simonsi'' is more olive brown above and paler gray below than the nominate. ''P. s. tschudii'' also has paler underparts. ''P. s. landbecki'' is more more olive brown upperparts than the nominate and no mottling. ''P. s. luridus'' has no mottling on its upperparts and has paler gray underparts than the nominate.Taylor, B. (2020). Plumbeous Rail (''Pardirallus sanguinolentus''), 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.plurai1.01 retrieved October 13, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The six subspecies of plumbeous rail are distributed thus. The species is found further south than any other South American rail. *''P. s. simonsi'', extreme southern Ecuador south along the Pacific slope through Peru into northern Chile *''P. s. tschudii'', southeastern Peru into central and southeastern Bolivia *''P. s. zelebori'', southeastern Brazil *''P. s. sanguinolentus'', extreme southeastern Brazil, Parguay, Uruguay, and Argentina as far south as

Río Negro Province Río Negro (, ''Black River'') is a province of Argentina, located in northern Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Its cap ...

*''P. s. landbecki'', central Chile between the Atacama Region and

Llanquihue Province Llanquihue Province () is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Los Lagos (X). Its capital is Puerto Montt. Chile's second largest lake, Lake Llanquihue, is located in the province as well as four volcanoes: Osorno, Calbuco, Puntiag ...

and into southwestern Argentina *''P. s. luridus'', southern Chile and Argentina including

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

, and as a

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...

to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

Remsen, 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 The plumbeous rail inhabits a variety of landscapes characterized by water and vegetative cover. Examples include reed marshes (even small ones), ponds with floating vegetation, irrigated croplands, wet ditches through pasture, and oases in arid areas. In elevation it occurs mostly in the lowlands but ranges in some limited areas as high as and in a few locations up to about

Fossil record

Late Pleistocene-early Holocene

fossils 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 ...

of the plumbeous rail are known from the Laguna de Tagua Tagua formation of Chile.

Behavior

Movement

The plumbeous rail's movement patterns are imperfectly known. Some populations, such as those along the Atlantic coast, are known to be sedentary. Those that nest on the Argentine Pampas may move north in winter.

Feeding

The plumbeous rail mostly forages at twilight but is also active during both day and night. It seeks its diet of grubs, worms, and insects in marshes, ponds, and nearby cultivated fields.

Breeding

The plumbeous rail's breeding season varies geographically but is generally within October to January. It makes a rudimentary nest of dry grass on the ground among bushes or tall grass near water. The clutch size is four to six eggs. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.

Vocalization

Male plumbeous rails sing "a series of high, penetrating, rolling squeals" in a duet with the female's "low, deep 'hoo' notes". They sing at any time of day. Their calls are "repeated 'giyp' or 'wit' notes".

Status

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 ...

has assessed the plumbeous rail as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range, and though its population size is unknown it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. Though its "status sdifficult to assess in many areas" it is abundant in some, and is " obably more widespread than is currently known".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1274077 plumbeous rail Birds of South America plumbeous rail Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by William Swainson