The rufous-faced crake (''Laterallus xenopterus'') is a species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
in subfamily Rallinae of family
Rallidae
The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, altho ...
, the rails, gallinules, and coots.
[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][ It is found in ]Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, and Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
.[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]
Taxonomy and systematics
The rufous-faced crake is monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
.[
]
Description
The rufous-faced crake is about long and weighs about . The sexes are alike. They have a blue-gray bill, legs, and feet. They have a rufous face, hindneck, and upper back; a white throat and belly; and a buffy ochraceous foreneck and breast. Their upperwing coverts
A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts
The ear coverts are s ...
, secondaries, and scapulars have black and white bars as do their flanks. Their tail and undertail coverts are black.[Taylor, B., P. F. D. Boesman, E. de Juana, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Rufous-faced Crake (''Laterallus xenopterus''), 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.rufcra1.01 retrieved November 29, 2022]
Distribution and habitat
The rufous-faced crake is found in northeastern Bolivia's Beni Department
Beni (), sometimes El Beni, is a northeastern department of Bolivia, in the lowlands region of the country. It is the second-largest department in the country (after Santa Cruz), covering 213,564 square kilometers (82,458 sq mi), and it was cre ...
, in several states in south-central Brazil, and in central Paraguay.[ It is known from perhaps a dozen widely scattered locations in those areas][ but "given the suitable habitat in intervening areas and elsewhere ..he species may be more widespread and less local than suspected."][
]
Behavior
Movment
No movements are known for the rufuous-faced crake.[
]
Feeding
The rufous-faced crake's foraging techniques and diet have not been documented.[
]
Breeding
Nothing is known about the rufous-faced crake's breeding biology.[
]
Vocalization
The rufous-faced crake's song is "a drawn-out, slightly descending trill". It also makes " ft call notes "piú piú'".[
]
Status
The IUCN originally assessed the rufous-faced crake as Threatened but since 1994 has rated it as Vulnerable. Its known areas of habitation are small and widely scattered, and its estimated population of 2500 to 10,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. Loss of habitat by conversion to agriculture (corn and soybeans) and silviculture (''Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of Flowering plant, flowering trees, shrubs or Mallee (habit), mallees in the Myrtaceae, myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the Tribe (biology) ...
'' and pines) has played a major role in the species' decline. "The most significant threat is possibly the widespread use of pesticides, fertilisers and other chemicals."[
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1266419
rufous-faced crake
Birds of the Pantanal
rufous-faced crake
rufous-faced crake
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot