This form is known from several subfossil remains that had been recovered from a site at Mauna Kea on the island of Hawai’i, Hawaiian Islands, at an elevation of 1450.
The Small Hawaii Crake falls within the size range of the Hawaiian Crake (Zapornia sandwichensis (Gmelin)) and may in fact turn out to be identical with that species. [1]
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
The Saint Helena Swamphen was described in 1973 based on subfossil remains that had been found on the island of Saint Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The species reached a size of about 17 cm and was completely flightless.
The Saint Helena Swamphen, like almost all of Saint Helena’s endemic bird species, disappeared at the beginning of the 16th century, shortly after the island was occupied by European settlers which brought with them several foreign animals. [1][2][3]
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson: Evolution of the Rails of the South Atlantic Islands (Aves: Rallidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 125. 1973 [2] Storrs L. Olson: Paleornithology of St. Helena Island, south Atlantic Ocean. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 23. 1975 [3] Storrs L. Olson: A synopsis of the fossil Rallidae. In: S. Dillon Ripley: Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae. David R Godine, Boston: 339-373. 1977
The Bornean Crake, described in 1938, is regarded to as a subspecies of Baillon’s Crake (Zapornia pusilla (Pallas)), but may in fact well represent a distinct species.
The bird is known apparently only from the type specimen, a female that was collected in 1912 in the eastern part of Borneo.
The Bornean Crake is more or less similar to Baillon’s Crake, but is smaller and differs somewhat in its coloration.
The Medium Maui Rail is so far known from the subfossil remains of probably only two individuals, one was found in the Pu’u Naio Cave, the other one in the Lower Waihoi Valley Cave, together with the remains of the larger Severn’s Rail (Zapornia severnsi (Olson & James)).
The species was about the size of the Hawaiian Rail (Zapornia sandwicensis (Gmelin)). [1]
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
The fossil record proves that once as many as three species of the genus Zapornia occurred next to each other on the island of Mangaia, Cook Islands.
These are the extant Spotless Crake (Zapornia tabuensis (Gmelin)), which is probably locally extinct, the Mangaian Crake (Zapornia rua (Steadman)), which was endemic to the island and is now extinct, and a third species, not yet described.
This third species was smaller than the Mangaian Crake and was very likely flightless too. [1]
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References:
[1] David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006
This rail form is known only from the subfossil distal end of a left femur, that was recovered from the Makawehi Dunes on the island of Kaua’i.
This single part of a bone does not fall within the size range of any of the known rail species known from Kaua’i, but, of course, is to fragmentary to describe the species properly. [1]
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References:
[1] [1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Freiherr von Kittlitz, the discoverer of the species, writes in the year 1858.:
“Here on Ualan a very similar bird is found, but it comes from the family of the rails. It lives solitary on the ground on these always soggy, deeply shadowed places of the forests. One can hear here from time to time its pervasive mating call; its body, which roughly matches that of a quail in size, is considerably less as in the remainder rails compressed; furthermore it carries the tail, which is missing the rectrices, not upright like those. Its appearance is much more those of a young, still completely tailless domestic chicken. The whole plumage is dull black, tinged whitish at the chin, the bill black, the naked eyelids are like the feet fine red like lead tetroxide, the eyes somewhat darker red like sealing wax. The tongue is of the length of the bill, at the tip flat and like horn. The bird is not common on Ualan and moreover because of its little accessible whereabouts also difficult to hunt. Maybe it is Rallus tabuensis, of which a short description is found in Latham’s Index ornithologicus. In Petersburg I did left behind a completely engraved copper plate with a depiction of this bird; I don’t know, if from the same since 1853 has still made use of. I myself had not liked to make the decision to declare the species for a new one; would it be so, however, I’d like to give it the name Rallus Monasa. The natives of Ualan name them as Setamanot.“ [2]
The bird can be found (very tiny, in the left front) on a depiction from F. W. H. von Kittlitz’s ‘Vierundzwanzig Vegetations-Ansichten von Küstenländern und Inseln des Stillen Oceans’ from the year 1844.
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Depiction from: ‘F. W. H. von Kittlitz: Vierundzwanzig Vegetations-Ansichten von Küstenländern und Inseln des Stillen Oceans, aufgenommen in den Jahren 1827, 28 und 29 auf der Entdeckungsreise der Kaiserlich-Russischen Corvette Senjawin unter Capitain Lütke. Siegen: Friedrich 1844’
[1] F. W. H. von Kittlitz: Vierundzwanzig Vegetations-Ansichten von Küstenländern und Inseln des Stillen Oceans, aufgenommen in den Jahren 1827, 28 und 29 auf der Entdeckungsreise der Kaiserlich-Russischen Corvette Senjawin unter Capitain Lütke. Siegen: Friedrich 1844 [2] F. H. v. Kittlitz. Denkwürdigkeiten einer Reise nach dem russischen Amerika, nach Mikronesien und durch Kamtschatka, Gotha 1858 [3] Dieter Luther: Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt. Westarp Wissenschaften 1986 [4] H. Douglas Pratt, Phillip L. Bruner, Delwyn G. Berrett: A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press 1987 [5] Errol Fuller: Extinct Birds. Penguin Books (England) 1987 [6] Barry Taylor, Ber van Perlo: Rails: A Guide to the Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots of the World. Yale University Press 1998 [7] Beth Slikas; Storrs L. Olson; Robert C. Fleischer: Rapid, independent evolution of flightlessness in four species of Pacific Island rails (Rallidae): an analysis based on mitochondrial sequence data. Journal of Avian Biology 33: 5-14. 2002
This species from the island of Maui, Hawaiian Islands, was among the larger members of its genus, it may have reached a length of nearly 22 cm. [1]
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
Excavations in post-Lapita sites on the small island of Aiwa Levu in the Lau Archipelago, Fiji produced subfossil bones from as much as 16 land bird species, four or five of them now extinct.
Among these subfossil remains were that of a small, flightless rail, that could be assigned to the genus Zapornia. [1]
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References:
[1] David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006
The Tiny Molokai Crake was described in 1991 based on subfossil remains that had been recovered from dune deposits at Ilio Point and Mo’omomi on the island of Moloka’i, Hawaiian Islands.
The species reached a size of only about 11 cm, that means it was the smallest rail species in the world known so far, it was, like all its Hawaiian congeners, completely flightless.
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
This species was described in 1991 based on subfossil remains which had been found on the island of O’ahu, Hawaiian Islands.
The species is one of the smallest members of its genus, reaching a length of only about 13 cm, but was still undercut by other Hawaiian species. [1]
***
This, and other closely related species were certainly among the first to disappear after the introduction of dogs and rats to the Hawaiian Islands by the first Polynesian settlers.
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
This species, one of the largest of the many Hawaiian crake species, is known from subfossil remains that were found on the island of O’ahu, Hawaiian Islands, and exclusively at lowland areas near the coast.
The species probably disappeared as one of the first straight after the arrival of men.
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References:
[1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
Western Hawaiian Crake (Zapornia sandwichensis ssp. sandwichensis)
The Hawaii Crake or Hawaiian Rail is the only of the extinct rails from the Hawaiian main islands, that is known to have survived into historical times.
The species inhabited open, grassy areas and behaved somewhat like a small mammal, running through the vegetation in search for food.
The Hawaiians called the bird moho.
***
The last specimen dates from the year 1864, since then no one has aver seen a Hawaiian Crake again.
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Depiction from: ‘Scott B. Wilson; A. H. Wilson; Frederick William Frohawk; Hans Gadow: Aves Hawaiienses: the birds of the Sandwich Islands. London: R. H. Porter 1890-1899’
The Medium Kauai Crake is and undescribed species known from few bones that were recovered from the dunes at Makawehi in the south of the island of Kaua’i, Hawaiian Islands.
The species may have been about the size of the Hawaiian Crake (Zapornia sandwichensis (Gmelin)), perhaps slightly larger.
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References:
[1] [1] Storrs L. Olson & Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands: Part I. Non-Passeriformes. In: Ornithological Monographs 45. 1991
This is one the countless rail forms that are represented by several subfossil bones only, which, on the one hand, are sufficient enough to show them to be new, but, on the other hand, are not sufficient enough to describe them as new species.
The bones of this form were excavated on the island of Malakula, Vanuatu.
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References:
[1] David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006
The Mangaian Swamphen was described in 1986 based on subfossil remains that had been found on the island of Mangaia, Cook Islands.
The species was flightless and lived in sympatry with the slightly smaller Spotless Crake (Zapornia tabuensis (Gmelin)) and another not yet described form of the same genus. [1]
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References:
[1] David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006
The about 100 km² large island of Tinian in the Mariana island chain was once the home of yet another small, flightless species of rail, which is known today only from subfossil remains.
These harmless little birds certainly were among the first victims of the dogs, pigs, and rats that had been introduced to the islands by the first human settlers. [1]
***
The island of Saipan, Tinian’s neighbor, very likely once harbored its own endemic species of the same genus, but remains are not known so far. [1]
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References:
[1] David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press 2006
