The Zapata rail is a medium-sized, dark-coloured rail, the only member of the monotypic genus Cyanolimnas. It is endemic to the wetlands of the Zapata Peninsula in southern Cuba, where its only known nest was found in sawgrass tussocks. Due to ongoing habitat loss in its limited range, its small population size, and predation by introduced mammals and catfish, it is evaluated as critically endangered.
About Zapata rail in brief
The Zapata rail is a medium-sized, dark-coloured rail, the only member of the monotypic genus Cyanolimnas. It has brown upperparts, greyish-blue underparts, a red-based yellow bill, white undertail coverts, and red eyes and legs. It is endemic to the wetlands of the Zapata Peninsula in southern Cuba, where its only known nest was found in sawgrass tussocks. The species was discovered by Spanish zoologist Fermín Zanón Cervera in March 1927. Due to ongoing habitat loss in its limited range, its small population size, and predation by introduced mammals and catfish, it is evaluated as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Tourism and climate change may pose threats in the future. There are no similar species in Cuba; the sympatric spotted rail is much the same size, but is heavily spotted and barred with white. This is a Cuban endemic restricted to the northern part of the 4,500km Zapata Swamp, which is also the only location for the wren and the subspecies of Zapata sparrow.
The Zapata wren is found nowhere else, and also gives its name to the ZapATA sparrow, and his name is commemorated by the new ecological centre in the Ciénaga de Zapata National Park. The rail family contains more than 150 species divided into at least 50 genera, the exact number depending on the authority. All six species in the three genera are long-billed, five have drab plumage, and all but one have a red spot at the bill base. The sexes are similar in appearance, but immature birds are duller and have olive feet and bill; the chicks, as with all rails, are covered with blackish down. This rail is intermediate to the Colombian crake and the plumbeous rail, but are both mainland birds.
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This page is based on the article Zapata rail published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
