Zapata Rail - Discovery and Taxonomy

Discovery and Taxonomy

The Zapata Rail was formally described by American herpetologist Thomas Barbour and his compatriot, ornithologist James Lee Peters, in 1927. They considered it distinctive enough to merit its own genus, Cyanolimnas. The genus name derives from Ancient Greek kuanos "dark blue" and Modern Latin limnas "rail or crake"; the specific name cerverai honours the rail's discoverer, Fermín Zanón Cervera, a Spanish soldier who had stayed on after the Spanish-American War and became a professional naturalist.

Barbour had been accompanied by the Spaniard on his previous visits to Cuba, and on hearing of the strange birds to be found in the Zapata area, he sent Cervera on a series of trips into the region. Cervera eventually found the rail near the very small settlement which is commemorated in the Spanish name for the rail, "Gallinuela de Santo Tomás". Cervera also discovered the Zapata Wren and 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. The Zapata Rail is the only member of the genus Cyanolimnas, and is considered to be intermediate between two other New World genera, Neocrex and Pardirallus. 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. They are believed to be descended from Amaurornis-like ancestral stock.