Chestnut-headed Crake

About the Chestnut-headed Crake

The chestnut-headed crake (Anurolimnas castaneiceps) is a species of bird in subfamily Rallinae of family Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots. It is the only species placed in the genus Anurolimnas. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

The chestnut-headed crake was formally described in 1869 by the English ornithologists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin based on a specimen that had been collected in the Napo River region of eastern Ecuador. They coined the binomial name Porzana castaneiceps. The taxonomy of the chestnut-headed crake was previously uncertain and the species was placed in either Rufirallus or Anurolimnas. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2023 found the chestnut-headed crake formed a basal branch within the Pardirallini clade (genera Mustelirallus, Pardirallus, Amaurolimnas and Aramides) with a date of divergence from the rest of the Pardirallini estimated at 15.4 to 18.5 Mya. Based on this result the chestnut-headed crake is now the only species placed in the genus Anurolimnas had been introduced in 1893 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe. The genus name Anurolimnas combines the... Wikipedia →