Rails, Gallinules, and Coots
Rallidae
The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and also includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, although the family is found in every terrestrial habitat except dry deserts, polar regions, and alpine areas above the snow line. Members of the Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. There are numerous island species. The most common rail habitats are...
43 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 132 known species
Coots
genusFulica
Typical Moorhens
genusGallinula
Swamphens and Blue Gallinules
genusPorphyrio
Typical Rails
genusRallus
Bush-hens and Allies
genusAmaurornis
Spotted Crakes and allies
genusPorzana
Australo-Pacific Rails
genusGallirallus
Neotropical Wood-Rails
genusAramides
Zapornia Crakes
genusZapornia
Neotropical Marshland Rails
genusPardirallus
Nativehens
genusTribonyx
Crex
genusCrex
Porphyriops
genusPorphyriops
Laterallus Crakes
genusLaterallus
Lewin's Rail and Allies
genusLewinia
Poliolimnas
genusPoliolimnas
Red-legged Crakes and Allies
genusRallina
Gallicrex
genusGallicrex
Rufirallus Crakes
genusRufirallus
Mustelirallus Crakes
genusMustelirallus
Coturnicops Rails
genusCoturnicops
Crecopsis
genusCrecopsis
Paragallinula
genusParagallinula
Dryolimnas
genusDryolimnas
Amaurolimnas
genusAmaurolimnas
Rougetius
genusRougetius
Himantornis
genusHimantornis
Bare-faced Rails
genusGymnocrex
Anurolimnas
genusAnurolimnas
Aenigmatolimnas
genusAenigmatolimnas
Coots × Moorhens
genushybridFulica × Gallinula
Canirallus
genusCanirallus
Aramidopsis
genusAramidopsis
Megacrex
genusMegacrex
Diaphorapteryx
genusDiaphorapteryx
Aphanapteryx
genusAphanapteryx
Mundia
genusMundia
Erythromachus
genusErythromachus
Vitirallus
genusVitirallus
Aphanocrex
genusAphanocrex
Capellirallus
genusCapellirallus
Hovacrex
genusHovacrex
Cave Rails
genusNesotrochis
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Rallidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 154.