NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Brown-cheeked Rail
Rallus indicus Blyth, 1849
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.
A painting of Rallus indicus by Edward Neale from Hume and Marshall's 1880 Gamebirds of India Burmah and Ceylon (volume 2). Reprinted in Frank Finn's 1915 Indian Sporting Birds.
Edward Neale · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The brown-cheeked rail or eastern water rail (Rallus indicus) is a species of bird in the family Rallidae.
It breeds in northern Mongolia, eastern Siberia, northeast China, Korea and northern Japan, and winters in southeast Asia. It used to be considered a subspecies of the water rail.
Wikipedia contributors, Brown-cheeked rail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:04:03.710565+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rallus indicus Blyth, 1849
- Name authority
- Blyth, 1849
- Common name
- Brown-cheeked Rail
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Rallus
- 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
- orderGruiformes
- familyRallidae
- genusRallus Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesRallus indicus Blyth, 1849
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Rallus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Water RailRallus aquaticus Linnaeus, 1758 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| African RailRallus caerulescens J. F. Gmelin, 1789 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| King RailRallus elegans Audubon, 1834 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mangrove RailRallus longirostris Boddaert, 1783 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Madagascar RailRallus madagascariensis J. Verreaux, 1833 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Plain-flanked RailRallus wetmorei J. T. Zimmer & W. H. Phelps, 1944 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bogota RailRallus semiplumbeus P. L. Sclater, 1856 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ecuadorian RailRallus aequatorialis Sharpe, 1894 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Clapper RailRallus crepitans J. F. Gmelin, 1789 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Aztec RailRallus tenuirostris Ridgway, 1874 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Virginia RailRallus limicola Vieillot, 1819 | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Rallus aquaticus indicus Blyth, 1849 Blyth, 1849 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Southern Asia
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=1244193 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:CPG9L. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.