NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
St Helena Rail
Zapornia astrictocarpus (Olson, 1973)
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 Saint Helena crake (Zapornia astrictocarpus) is an extinct bird species from the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, one of two flightless rails which survived there until the early 16th century.
After American ornithologist Alexander Wetmore described bones of the large Saint Helena rail (Aphanocrex podarces) from Prosperous Bay, Saint Helena, in 1963, American paleontologist Storrs Olson found almost complete skeletons of the Saint Helena crake in the same region in 1973. These skeletons consist of bones which were smaller than the bones of Aphanocrex podarces. Due to the peculiar shape of the carpometacarpus Olson named this species Porzana astrictocarpus.
Olson proceeded on the assumption that the Saint Helena crake was a derivative of the Baillon's crake (Zapornia pusilla), which is widespread in Europe and Africa. As there were no predators on Saint Helena, it had lost its ability to fly. However, when Saint Helena was colonised around 1502, the settlers brought a lot of mammals to the island, leading to the out-competition and eventual extinction of the Saint Helena crake.
Wikipedia contributors, Saint Helena crake; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:05:19.794745+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Zapornia astrictocarpus (Olson, 1973)
- Name authority
- (Olson, 1973)
- Common name
- St Helena Rail
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Zapornia
- Extinction status
- Recorded extinct
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
- genusZapornia Leach, 1816
- speciesZapornia astrictocarpus (Olson, 1973)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Zapornia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black-tailed CrakeZapornia bicolor (Walden, 1872) | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black CrakeZapornia flavirostra (Swainson, 1837) | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kosrae CrakeZapornia monasa (Kittlitz, 1858) | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| Sakalava RailZapornia olivieri (G. Grandidier & Berlioz, 1929) | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Laysan RailZapornia palmeri (Frohawk, 1892) | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| Little CrakeZapornia parva (Scopoli, 1769) | RallidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Band-bellied CrakeZapornia paykullii (Ljungh, 1813) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Porzana astrictocarpus Olson, 1973 Olson, 1973 | synonym |
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=1244236 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:CPPDD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.