{{short description|Species of bird}} {{Use American English|date=October 2022}}
{{Speciesbox | name = Spotted rail | image = Spotted Rail.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2022 |title=Spotted Rail ''Pardirallus maculatus'' |volume=2022 |article-number=e.T22692763A163614849 |access-date=14 December 2022}}</ref> | genus = Pardirallus | species = maculatus | authority = (Boddaert, 1783) | range_map = Pardirallus maculatus map.svg }}
The '''spotted rail''' ('''''Pardirallus maculatus''''') is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae. It is found in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.<ref name=IOC12.2>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/flufftails/ |title=Finfoots, flufftails, rails, trumpeters, cranes, Limpkin |website=IOC World Bird List |version =v 12.2 |editor-last1=Gill |editor-first1= F. |editor-last2=Donsker|editor-first2=D.|editor-last3=Rasmussen |editor-first3=P. |date=August 2022 |access-date=August 9, 2022 }}</ref><ref name=HBW2021>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</ref>
==Taxonomy==
The spotted rail was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected in French Guiana.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Buffon | first=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | year=1781 | title=Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux | volume=15 | place=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | page=255 | chapter=Le râle tacheté de Cayenne | language=fr | chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42298666 }}</ref> The bird was also illustrated in a hand-colored plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.<ref>{{ cite book | last1=Buffon | first1=Georges-Louis Leclerc de | author1-link=Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon | last2=Martinet | first2=François-Nicolas | author2-link=François-Nicolas Martinet | last3=Daubenton | first3=Edme-Louis | author3-link=Edme-Louis Daubenton | last4=Daubenton | first4=Louis-Jean-Marie | author4-link=Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton | year=1765–1783 | chapter=Râle tacheté, de Cayenne | title=Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle | volume=8 | place=Paris | publisher=De L'Imprimerie Royale | at=Plate 775 | chapter-url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35218445 }}</ref> Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name ''Rallus maculatus'' in his catalogue of the ''Planches Enluminées''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Boddaert | first=Pieter | author-link=Pieter Boddaert | year=1783 | title=Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton: avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés | place=Utrecht | page=48, Number 775 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27822668 | language=fr }}</ref> The spotted rail is now placed in the genus ''Pardirallus'' that was erected by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Bonaparte | first=Charles Lucien | author-link=Charles Lucien Bonaparte | year=1856 | title=Excursion dans les divers Musées d'Allemagne, de Hollande et de Belgique (suite) | journal=Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences | volume=43 | pages=593–601 [599] | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1211135 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin | work=World Bird List Version 9.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/flufftails/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=18 July 2019 }}</ref> The generic name combines the Ancient Greek ''pardos'' meaning "leopard" with the genus ''Rallus''. The specific epithet ''maculatus'' is Latin for "spotted" or "blotched"<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n236 236], 292 }}</ref>
Two subspecies are recognized:<ref name=IOC12.2/>
* ''P. m. insolitus'' <small>(Bangs & Peck, 1908)</small> * ''P. m. maculatus'' <small>(Boddaert, 1783)</small>
==Description==
The spotted rail is {{convert|25|to|28|cm|in|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|130|to|220|g|oz|abbr=on}}; females are slightly smaller than males. The sexes are alike. They have a long greenish bill (beak) with a red spot at the base of the mandible and pinkish legs. "Immatures are much drabber (some may lack barring), but older immatures have [the] pattern of the adult."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Schulenberg |first1=Thomas S. |title=Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition |last2=Stotz |first2=Douglas F. |last3=Lane |first3=Daniel F. |last4=O'Neill |first4=John P. |last5=Parker |first5=Theodore A. |last6=Egg |first6=Antonio Brack |last7=Dyer |first7=Dale |last8=McQueen |first8=Lawrence B. |last9=Schmitt |first9=N. John |date=2007 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-13023-1 |jstor=j.ctt7sq4j }}</ref> The juvenile has a more yellowish bill, a brown iris, generally drabber, especially their legs and feet and a variable plumage of 3 morphs.<ref name=":1" /> It can have a "dark morph, with almost plain, dark brown upperparts, and sooty, dark-tipped ventral feathers with no white bars; pale morph, with throat and breast pale greyish brown, and breast weakly barred white; barred morph, with throat grey, spotted white, and breast and belly sharply barred white".<ref name=":1" /> The dark morph's plumage can be confused with ''P. sanguinolentus'' and ''P. nigricans'', but both have "paler upperparts and bright red legs and feet" to differentiate them.<ref name=":1" /> Additionally, ''P. sanguinolentus'' is bigger and has a grey chin and throat, a grey-brown vent that contrasts with its slaty grey underparts.<ref name=":1" /> ''P. nigricans'' on the other hand has a black vent and tail.<ref name=":1" />
Both subspecies have a blackish head with a red eye, black and brown upperparts, and black underparts with white streaks and spots. The nominate subspecies ''P. m. maculatus'' has white streaks on its upperparts and a shorter slender bill whereas ''P. m. insolitus has'' white spots and a larger bill.<ref name="SPRA-BOW">Taylor, B. (2020). Spotted Rail (''Pardirallus maculatus''), 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.sporai.01 retrieved October 13, 2022</ref><ref>Parkes, K. C., Kibbe, D. P., & Roth, E. L. (1978). I• SPOTTED RAIL (Pardirallus maculatus). ''American Birds''.</ref> The juveniles of these subspecies are identifiable due to the grey or white tipped buff undertail-coverts in ''P.m. maculatus'' and white tipped grey undertail-coverts in ''P.m. insolitus''.<ref name=":1" />
George E. Watson determined that molting lasts from August to December in the Cuban population based on the stage of molt of a few observed specimens within those months.<ref name=":3">Watson, G. E. (1962). Notes on the Spotted Rail in Cuba. ''Wilson Bulletin'', ''74'', 349–356.</ref>
==Distribution and habitat==
the subspecies ''P. m. insolitus'' of the spotted rail is found from Mexico to Costa Rica. The nominate subspecies is found in Cuba, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, and every mainland South American country except Guyana (though in Chile only as a vagrant to the Juan Fernández Islands). The species also occurs in Panama but the subspecies there is not known. Its distribution in Mexico, Central America, and much of South America is local rather than continuous. In addition to Chile, it has occurred as a vagrant in Trinidad and the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and Texas.<ref name=SPRA-BOW/><ref name=NACC>Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2022. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.aou.org/taxa {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220100331/https://checklist.aou.org/taxa |date=2020-02-20 }}</ref><ref name=SACCcountries>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</ref>
The spotted rail inhabits wet landscapes including marshes, swamps, rice fields, and wet grasslands. It requires dense cover.<ref name=SPRA-BOW/>
==Behavior== ===Movement===
The spotted rail has no pattern of movement, though it is known to move locally in response to changing water levels or drought, and has documented vagrancy.<ref name=SPRA-BOW/> Some observations of a Spotted Rail in captivity in Mexico note that they climb up vegetation using their wings for balance and they fly back down.<ref name=":3" /><ref>1. Friedmann, H. (1949). The status of the Spotted Rail, Pardirallus maculatus, in Chiapas. Auk, 66:86-87.</ref>
===Feeding===
The spotted rail forages in shallow water or along the water's edge. It usually stays in cover but at dawn and dusk may feed in more open areas. Its diet includes earthworms, adult and larval insects and other invertebrates, and also small fish and pondweed (''Potamogeton epihydrus'').<ref name=SPRA-BOW/>
===Breeding===
The spotted rail's breeding season varies widely across its range. There are no differences in colour during breeding season, but they have enlarged gonads. It appears to be territorial during the breeding season. It makes a cup or bowl nest of grass or dead rushes in vegetation near the ground and often above shallow water. The clutch size is two to seven eggs. The incubation period and time to fledging are not known.<ref name=SPRA-BOW/>
{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Pardirallus-maculatus |species=spotted rail}}
===Vocalization===
The spotted rail makes a "[l]oud repeated, rasping, groaning screech, usually preceded by grunt or pop, 'g'reech' or 'pum-kreep'"<ref name="SPRA-BOW" /> resembling a "decelerating-accelerating [cough]: 'pJEW-pJEW pJEEEW pJEEEW-pJEW'"<ref name=":0" /> when it is agitated, or making an aggressive or territorial call.<ref name="SPRA-BOW" /><ref name=":0" /> "Calls include a deep thumping sound, almost low enough where one feels it more than hears it. Also a series of reedy chatters: 'tchi-di-dert,' similar to the bisyllabic chirp of Blackish Rail.".<ref name=":0" /> It also makes "an accelerating series of deep, gruff, pumping notes" and a "sharp, repeated 'gek'."<ref name="SPRA-BOW" /> It sometimes calls at night.<ref name="SPRA-BOW" />
=== Threats === The mongoose ''Herpestes auropunctatus'', is an invasive species that preys on the spotted rail.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Taylor |first=Barry |title=Spotted Rail (Pardirallus maculatus) |date=2020-03-04 |work=Birds of the World |editor-last=Billerman |editor-first=Shawn M. |url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/sporai/1.0/introduction |access-date=2024-10-05 |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |language=en |doi=10.2173/bow.sporai.01 |editor2-last=Keeney |editor2-first=Brooke K. |editor3-last=Rodewald |editor3-first=Paul G. |editor4-last=Schulenberg |editor4-first=Thomas S.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It is thought to have reduced their populations in the drained agricultural lands of Cuba in the 1960s.<ref name=":1" /> The mongoose population was also held responsible for its vanishing in Jamaica.<ref name=":1" /> Threats like the mongoose can become even greater when they molt most of their flight feathers simultaneously, leaving them exposed to predation.<ref name=":3" />
In 2023, seventeen individual spotted rails in southern Brazil underwent a helminth (parasitic worm) inspection and three birds had Cyclocoelidae (Digenea) present in both nasal and abdominal cavities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Santos |first1=José Junior Dos |last2=Mascarenhas |first2=Carolina Silveira |last3=Müller |first3=Gertrud |date=2023-07-24 |title=A new genus and new species of Cyclocoelidae (Digenea), a parasite in spotted rail, Pardirallus maculatus (Gruiformes: Rallidae), in the Pampa biome, southern Brazil |url=https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5319.1.8 |journal=Zootaxa |language=en |volume=5319 |issue=1 |pages=120–126 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.5319.1.8 |pmid=37518246 |issn=1175-5334|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In birds, the presence of helminths can sometimes lead to apathy or diarrhea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Branion |first=H.D. |date=March 1963 |title=The Merck Veterinary Manual |journal=Poultry Science |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=552–553 |doi=10.3382/ps.0420552 |issn=0032-5791|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Status==
The spotted rail is considered to be of Least Concern by the global IUCN red list because of its large range, which does not approach the vulnerable threshold (evaluated through range size, habitat quality, fragmentation, and population size).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Spotted Rail (Pardirallus maculatus) - BirdLife species factsheet |url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/spotted-rail-pardirallus-maculatus |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=datazone.birdlife.org}}</ref> It is "[u]ndoubtedly overlooked, especially when breeding, and probably more widespread within [its] range than existing records suggest."<ref name="SPRA-BOW" /> Its population is stable and has 7000 – 18000 mature individuals and does not approach vulnerable status (considers population size, population trends over a decade or three generations as well as population structure).<ref name=":2" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/pictures/Pardirallus_maculatus.html Image at ADW]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1270896}}
spotted rail Category:Birds of Central America Category:Birds of the Dominican Republic Category:Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Category:Birds of Venezuela Category:Birds of Trinidad and Tobago Category:Birds of Brazil Category:Birds of Paraguay Category:Birds of Uruguay Category:Birds of South America spotted rail Category:Birds of the Amazon rainforest Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot