Gallinula

Moorhens are medium-sized water birds in the genus Gallinula, Latin for 'little hen', in the rail family Rallidae. The genus currently includes seven species, of which one is extinct, and two others probably are. Three species formerly included in Gallinula have been found to have enough differences to be placed in two separate but closely related genera, Paragallinula, and Tribonyx, the two native hens of Australia; Tribonyx differs visually by shorter, thicker and stubbier toes and bills, and longer tails that lack the white signal pattern of typical moorhens. The moorhens are also close relatives of the coots (Fulica), but the swamphens (Porphyrio), formerly also thought to be close relatives, are now known to be less closely related.

Gallinula

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
moorhenPBDB
Sits inside
RallidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 60 occurrencesMiocene — about 4 of 60 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 13 of 60 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 29 of 60 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 38 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

60 occurrences of Gallinula on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

60 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

Upper Kalibeng — 7.37°S, 111.32°EToshima Sand — 34.62°N, 137.22°ESondé — 8.00°S, 114.00°EAbbas — 15.40°N, 42.53°EAbbas — 16.75°N, 41.73°ETogopi — 5.50°N, 117.00°EMalua — 16.25°S, 167.50°ENagura Gravel — 24.43°N, 124.23°EKlasaman — 0.88°S, 131.25°EHillgrove — 45.13°S, 170.97°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°ETamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WWicomico — 29.60°N, 82.42°WHagerman — 42.79°N, 114.95°W

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The named rock units Gallinula has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 38 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Gallinula and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Gallinula and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,418 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 51 sites for Gallinula, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

41 references

Each of the 60 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 29 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Gallinula

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Gallinula chloropus · l-jz:JZ:115

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itRallidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brisson 1760