NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Grey-throated Rail
Canirallus oculeus (Hartlaub, 1855)
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 grey-throated rail (Canirallus oculeus) is a species of bird in the family Rallidae, the only member of the genus Canirallus. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
The genus Canirallus was formerly placed in the family Sarothruridae. The genus was moved to Rallidae when a molecular genetic study published in 2019 found that the grey-throated rail was more closely related to Rallidae than it was to Sarothruridae.
This rail is 30 cm (12 in) in length and weighs 266 g (9.4 oz).
Its diet consists of skinks and various invertebrates.
Wikipedia contributors, Grey-throated rail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:12:43.855948+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Canirallus oculeus (Hartlaub, 1855)
- Name authority
- (Hartlaub, 1855)
- Common name
- Grey-throated Rail
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Canirallus
- 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
- genusCanirallus Bonaparte, 1856
- speciesCanirallus oculeus (Hartlaub, 1855)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Canirallus batesi Sharpe, 1900 Sharpe, 1900 | synonym |
| Canirallus oculeus batesi Sharpe, 1900 Sharpe, 1900 | synonym |
| Gallinula oculea Hartlaub, 1855 Hartlaub, 1855 | synonym |
| Canirallus oculeus oculeus (Hartlaub, 1855) (Hartlaub, 1855) | 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=176352 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:QLX3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.