Moorhen

Moorhens are medium-sized water birds in the genusGallinula, Latin for 'little hen', in the railfamily Rallidae. The genus currently includes seven species, of which one is extinct, and two others probably are. Three species formerly included in Gallinula have been found to have enough differences to be placed in two separate but closely related genera, Paragallinula (with one species, lesser moorhenParagallinula angulata), and Tribonyx, the two native hens of Australia; Tribonyx differs visually by shorter, thicker and stubbier toes and bills, and longer tails that lack the white signal pattern of typical moorhens. The moorhens are also close relatives of the coots (Fulica), but the swamphens (Porphyrio), formerly also thought to be close relatives, are now known to be less closely related.