Zapata Rail

SCI Name:  Cyanolimnas cerverai
Protonym:  Cyanolimnas cerverai Proc.NewEngl.Zool.Cl. 9 p.95
Taxonomy:  Gruiformes / Rallidae / Cyanolimnas
Taxonomy Code:  zaprai1
Type Locality:  Santo Tomds, Peninsula de Zapata, Cuba.
Author:  Barbour & Peters
Publish Year:  1927
IUCN Status:  Critically Endangered

DEFINITIONS

CYANOLIMNAS
(Rallidae; Ϯ Zapata Rail C. cerverai) Gr. κυανος kuanos  dark-blue; Mod. L. limnas  rail  < Gr. λιμνας limnas  of the marsh  < λιμνη limnē  marsh; "These two new birds [Cyanolimnas, Torreornis] were secured by the senior author while recently on Cuba. They were taken by the collector, Mr. Fermin Z. Cervera, to whom all credit for their discovery is due. A full discussion of their relationships will follow in a later paper.   Cyanolimnas cerverai gen. et sp. nov.  Generic characters. - A medium-sized ralline with short rounded wing; very short tail, the barbs of the rectrices very sparse; tarsus stout and short, not exceeding middle toe with claw. Bill moderate, somewhat longer than head, swollen basally.  ...  Coloration: Above, olive brown; sides of head and under parts plumbeous; throat white. The coloring resembles closely that of Pardirallus rytirhynchus Vieillot. The combination of short wing and stout tarsus suggests relationships with Nesotrochis Wetmore (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 54, 1918, p. 516, type Nesotrochis debooyi Wetmore), but the latter has a tarsus more than twice as long as that of the bird with which we are dealing" (Barbour & J. Peters 1927) (Laurent Raty in litt.); "Cyanolimnas Barbour and Peters, Proc. New Eng. Zoöl. Cl., 9, 1927, p. 95. Type, by monotypy, Cyanolimnas cerverai Barbour and Peters." (Peters, 1934, II, p. 174).

cerverai
Fermín Zanón Cervera (1875-1944) Spanish soldier, landowner and naturalist in Cuba (Cyanolimnas, Ferminia).