Ridgway's Rail

SCI Name:  Rallus obsoletus
Protonym:  Rallus elegans var. obsoletus Am.Nat. 8 p.111
Taxonomy:  Gruiformes / Rallidae / Rallus
Taxonomy Code:  ridrai1
Type Locality:  San Francisco, California.
Author:  Ridgway
Publish Year:  1874
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

RALLUS
(Rallidae; Ϯ Water Rail R. aquaticus) Probably from Med. French Rasle or Râle  rail (supported by Sundevall 1873: "Nomen Rallus, primum Rasle, Bélon, dein Râle, est vox gallica medii ævi, nec latina, sed usu diuturno probata",  and BOU 1915: “the latinized form of the French Rale, our Rail, Dutch Ral”), but Gessner 1555 states, "Rallus hæc avis circa Venetias appellatur", and Macleod 1954, has “Latinized form of German ralle, rail (bird)”; "83. RALLUS.  Rostrum basi crassius, compressum, dorso attenuatum apicem versus, æquale, acutum.  Pedes tetradactyli, fissi.  Corpus compressum." (Linnaeus 1758); ex “Rallus aquaticus” of Willughby 1676, and “Water Rail. Rallus Aquaticus” of Albin 1731; "Rallus Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 153. Type, by subsequent designation, Rallus aquaticus Linné. (Fleming, Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc., 3, 1821, p. 176.)" (Peters 1934, II, 157). Linnaeus's Rallus comprised five species (R. Crex, R. aquaticus, R. lariformis, R. benghalensis, R. carolinus).
Var. Railus, Ralus, Rallas, Rullus, Ballus.
Synon. Biensis, Epirallus.

obsoleta / obsoletum / obsoletus
L. obsoletus  plain, worn out, forgotten  < obsolescere  to wear out.
● ex “Plain Falcon” of Pennant 1785 (syn. Falco rusticolus).

SUBSPECIES

Ridgway's Rail (San Francisco Bay)
SCI Name: Rallus obsoletus obsoletus
obsoleta / obsoletum / obsoletus
L. obsoletus  plain, worn out, forgotten  < obsolescere  to wear out.
● ex “Plain Falcon” of Pennant 1785 (syn. Falco rusticolus).

Ridgway's Rail (Light-footed)
SCI Name: Rallus obsoletus levipes
levipes
L. levipes, levipedis  light-footed  < levis  nimble; pes, pedis  foot  < Gr. πους pous, ποδος podos  foot.

Ridgway's Rail (South Baja)
SCI Name: Rallus obsoletus beldingi
beldingi
Lyman Belding (1829-1917) US ornithologist, collector (subsp. Charadrius wilsonia, Geothlypis, syn. Hydrobates leucorhous, subsp. Passerculus guttatus, subsp. Rallus obsoletus).

Ridgway's Rail (Yuma)
SCI Name: Rallus obsoletus yumanensis
yumanensis
Yuma, Arizona, USA.