Tahiti rail

Tahiti rail
Early 1770s illustration by Georg Forster
Conservation status
Extinct (ca 1930s)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Rallidae
Genus:	Hypotaenidia
Species:	†H. pacifica
Binomial name
†Hypotaenidia pacifica (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Location of Tahiti (red) and Mehetia (lower right), among the Society Islands
Synonyms
Rallus pacificus Gmelin, JF, 1789 Gallirallus pacificus (Gmelin, JF, 1789)

The Tahiti rail, Tahitian red-billed rail, or Pacific red-billed rail (Hypotaenidia pacifica) is an extinct species of rail that lived on Tahiti. It was first recorded during James Cook's second voyage around the world (1772–1775), on which it was illustrated by Georg Forster and described by Johann Reinhold Forster. No specimens have been preserved. As well as the documentation by the Forsters, there have been claims that the bird also existed on the nearby island of Mehetia. The Tahiti rail appears to have been closely related to, and perhaps derived from, the buff-banded rail, and has also been historically confused with the Tongan subspecies of that bird.

The Tahiti rail was 9 inches (23 centimetres) long, and its colouration was unusual for a rail. The underparts, throat, and eyebrow-like supercilium were white, and the upper parts were black with white dots and bands. The nape (or hind neck) was ferruginous (rust-coloured), the breast was grey, and it had a black band across the lower throat. The bill and iris were red, and the legs were fleshy pink. The Tahiti rail was supposedly flightless and nested on the ground. It is said to have been seen in open areas, marshes, and in coconut plantations. Its diet appears to have consisted mainly of insects and occasionally copra (coconut meat). The extinction of the Tahiti rail was probably due to predation by humans and introduced cats and rats. It appears to have become extinct some time after 1844 on Tahiti, and perhaps as late as the 1930s on Mehetia.