Snoring rail

Snoring rail
From The Birds of Celebes and the neighbouring islands, 1898
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Aramidopsis
Sharpe, 1893
Species:
A. plateni
Binomial name
Aramidopsis plateni
(Blasius, 1886)
   Approximate resident range
Inset shows location of Sulawesi
Synonyms

Rallus plateni

The snoring rail (Aramidopsis plateni), also known as the Celebes rail or Platen's rail, is a large flightless rail and the only member of the genus Aramidopsis. The species is endemic to Indonesia, and it is found exclusively in dense vegetation in wet areas of Sulawesi and nearby Buton. The rail has grey underparts, a white chin, brown wings and a rufous patch on the hind-neck. The sexes are similar, but the female has a brighter neck patch and a differently coloured bill and iris. The typical call is the snoring: ee-orrrr sound that gives the bird its English name.

Its inaccessible habitat and retiring nature mean that the snoring rail is rarely seen and as a result, little is known of its behaviour. Only the adult plumage has been described, and the breeding behaviour is unrecorded. It feeds on small crabs and probably other small prey such as lizards. Although protected under Indonesian law since 1972, the rail is threatened by habitat loss (even within nature reserves), hunting for food and predation by introduced species; it is therefore evaluated as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Aramidopsis plateni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22692552A93358553. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22692552A93358553.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.