NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Imperial Snipe
Gallinago imperialis P. L. Sclater & Salvin, 1869
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Gallinago imperialis
Joseph Smit · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The imperial snipe (Gallinago imperialis) is a small stocky wader which breeds in the Andes. For a century it was known only from two specimens collected near Bogotá, Colombia, and was presumed extinct, but it was rediscovered in Peru in 1967 and Ecuador in 1988. It is not known if it is migratory.
Wikipedia contributors, Imperial snipe; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:06:09.742620+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gallinago imperialis P. L. Sclater & Salvin, 1869
- Name authority
- P. L. Sclater & Salvin, 1869
- Common name
- Imperial Snipe
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Scolopacidae
- Genus
- Gallinago
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyScolopacidae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusGallinago Brisson, 1760
- speciesGallinago imperialis P. L. Sclater & Salvin, 1869
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Gallinago. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Common SnipeGallinago gallinago (Linnaeus, 1758) | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Madagascar SnipeGallinago macrodactyla Bonaparte, 1839 | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Swinhoe's SnipeGallinago megala Swinhoe, 1861 | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Wood SnipeGallinago nemoricola Hodgson, 1836 | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African SnipeGallinago nigripennis Bonaparte, 1839 | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Noble SnipeGallinago nobilis P. L. Sclater, 1856 | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pantanal SnipeGallinago paraguaiae (Vieillot, 1816) | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Solitary SnipeGallinago solitaria Hodgson, 1831 | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Great SnipeGallinago media (Latham, 1787) | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Magellanic SnipeGallinago magellanica (P. P. King, 1828) | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Puna SnipeGallinago andina Taczanowski, 1875 | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Wilson's SnipeGallinago delicata (Ord, 1825) | ScolopacidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=176702 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3F6VB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.