Okinawa rail
| Okinawa rail | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Gruiformes |
| Family: | Rallidae |
| Genus: | Gallirallus |
| Species: | G. okinawae |
| Binomial name | |
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Gallirallus okinawae (Yamashina & Mano, 1981) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Rallus okinawae |
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Rallus okinawae
The Okinawa rail (Gallirallus okinawae) is a species of bird in the rail family, Rallidae. It is endemic to Okinawa Island in Japan where it is known as the Yanbaru kuina (ヤンバルクイナ（山原水鶏）?, "Yanbaru rail"). Its existence was only confirmed in 1978 and it was formally described in 1981 although unidentified rails had been recorded on the island since at least 1973 and local stories of a bird known as the agachi kumira may refer to this species.
It is a medium-sized and almost flightless rail with short wings and tail, olive-brown upperparts, black underparts with white bars and a red bill and legs.
It occurs in subtropical moist forests and in neighbouring habitats. It nests and feeds on the ground but usually roosts in trees. It is classified as an endangered species and is threatened by habitat loss and introduced predators.
The species was first described in 1981 by Yoshimaro Yamashina and T. Mano in the Journal of the Yamashina Institute of Ornithology. This was based on a specimen found dead on June 2 at Mt. Fuenchiji in Kunigami District, Okinawa. It was initially placed in the genus Rallus but then moved to Gallirallus, a genus of medium-sized, often flightless, rails found in Australasia and Asia. It is closely related to the barred rail (G. torquatus) and New Britain rail (G. insignis) as well as to the Calayan rail (G. calayanensis), another recently discovered species.
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