NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Giant Snipe
Gallinago undulata (Boddaert, 1783)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The giant snipe (Gallinago undulata) is a stocky wader. It breeds in South America. The nominate subspecies G. u. undulata occurs in two distinct areas, one in Colombia, and the other from Venezuela through Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana to extreme north-eastern Brazil. The southern subspecies G. u. gigantea is found in eastern Bolivia, eastern Paraguay and south-east Brazil, and probably also in Uruguay and north-eastern Argentina.
It occurs in tall vegetation in swamps and flooded grasslands, and occasionally in dry savannah. It ranges from the lowlands up to 2,200 m altitude.
It seems to arrive in some areas after rain, but its seasonal movements are very poorly understood.
Wikipedia contributors, Giant snipe; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:17:58.764927+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Gallinago undulata (Boddaert, 1783)
- Name authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Common name
- Giant 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 undulata (Boddaert, 1783)
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 |
| Imperial SnipeGallinago imperialis P. L. Sclater & Salvin, 1869 | 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 |
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=176712 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:3F6VP. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.