Gallirallus

Wekaralle ( Gallirallus australis)

Gallirallus is a genus of Rail birds, including not only three airworthy kinds of mostly flightless birds belong.

Appearance and Body

In the various species of the genus Gallirallus there are three fully airworthy species Pectoral Rail, the Rail Zebra and the banded Rail. All other species of the genus have more or less atrophied wings. There are species like the Weka, which have greatly atrophied shoulder belt, wings, tail and flight feathers and others such as the Guamralle ( Gallirallus owstoni ) that are still airworthy almost - or was it in their extinction.

Depending on the preferred foraging strategies of the type of bill can be significantly longer or slightly shorter than the head and be straight or curved.

The Rotschnabelralle is largely black with white spots on the back and wings, a white belly and a reddish-brown stain in the neck. The two flight-capable species have both black and white banded plumage on the chest and the banded Rail also has a harness on the back. In both types at the back are also brown drawing elements available. Both have striking facial markings. Other species of the genus as the Weka and the Woodhen the Lord Howe Island were completely brown. The often less clear and more banded brown color of many flightless species members is often attributed to the maintenance of youth characteristics ( neoteny ).

Nutrition

Gallirallus - species feed mainly on invertebrates such as usual earthworms, snails, mollusks, insects and crustaceans, and small vertebrates such as reptiles, amphibians, eggs and chicks of other birds, rats and mice. Plant food does occur but usually plays rather a minor role. Herbivores do not exist in the genus.

When foraging some types poking around in the soil and dig up to 10cm deep by earthworms and other subterranean animals. Other burrow with its beak in the leaf litter or feed is picked in the water or on land from the floor. Some species also catch flying insects out of the air by high stretch from the floor.

Species

Some of today the genus Gallirallus associated species were initially assigned to the partially monotypic genera Ocydromus, Habropteryx, Nesiolimnas, Cabalus, Hypotaenidia, Tricholimnas, Eulabeornis and Stictolimnas because of their very different far back formed wings. In the course of the research it became clear that the flightless species are much more closely related to the two airworthy species of the genus, as the striking regression of the wing and the sternum suggesting at first glance, and that inability to fly in an evolutionary often develops surprisingly quickly. This meant that the species were grouped under the genus Gallirallus. Further mergers, in which some of Gallirallus species were performed as subspecies of the banded Rail or Gallirallus - species of the genus Rallus were assigned because they were genetically not to separate the two genera, would not sit through.

• Wekaralle ( Gallirallus australis) Südinselweka ( Gallirallus australis australis)
• Gallirallus australis hectori
• Gallirallus australis scotti

• Macquarie - banded Rail ( Gallirallus philippensis macquariensis ) †