Painted-snipes
Family: ROSTRATULIDAE (Ridgway 1919)
Genera: Two genera.
- Rostratula – Diminutive of Latin rostratus beaked, large-billed (rostrum bill) (Vieillot 1816).
- Nycticryphes – Greek; nukti– nocturnal, night-; kruphe – in secret (Wetmore and Peters 1923).
Distribution
- Africa: Greater Painted-snipe.
- Asia: Greater Painted-snipe.
- Australasia: Australian Painted-snipe.
- South America: South American Painted-snipe.
Current Taxonomy: Three species. Painted-snipes are closely related to jacanas and are commonly placed in a superfamily with them called Jacanoidea.
- Greater Painted-snipe Rostratula benghalensis (Linnaeus 1758)
- Australian Painted-snipe R. australis (Gould 1838)
- South American Painted-snipe Nycticryphes semicollaris (Vieillot 1816)
Past Taxonomy: Has been very confusing due to this families apparent affinities to other groups such as rails and true snipes.
- Australian Painted-snipe formerly considered a full species but then lumped as a subspecies of Greater Painted-snipe. More recently has been re-split as a full species again due to DNA analysis.
- South American Painted-snipe sometimes lumped with Greater Painted-snipe.
Bibliography
- BirdLife International: IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2020
- del Hoyo, Josep, Andrew Elliot & Jordi Sargatal: Handbook of the Birds of the World – Vol. 3 (1996)
- Hayman, Peter, John Marchant & Tony Prater: Shorebirds – An identification guide to the waders of the world (1986)
- Jobling, James A.: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (2010)
- Seebohm, Henry: The Geographical Distribution of the Family Charadriidae, or, The Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and Their Allies (1888)
Click on an image for more information about the individual species.
