<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laysan rail</span>

Laysan rail

<p>The <b>Laysan rail</b> or <b>Laysan crake</b> (<i><b>Zapornia palmeri</b></i>) was a flightless bird endemic to the <a href="/en/Northwestern_Hawaiian_Islands" title="Northwestern Hawaiian Islands" class="wl">Northwest Hawaiian Island</a> of <a href="/en/Laysan" title="Laysan" class="wl">Laysan</a>. This small island was and still is an important <a href="/en/Seabird" title="Seabird" class="wl">seabird</a> colony, and sustained a number of <a href="/en/Endemism" title="Endemism" class="wl">endemic</a> species, including the rail. It became <a href="/en/Extinct" title="Extinct" class="mw-redirect wl">extinct</a> due to <a href="/en/Habitat_loss" title="Habitat loss" class="mw-redirect wl">habitat loss</a> by <a href="/en/Domestic_rabbit" title="Domestic rabbit" class="wl">domestic rabbits</a>, and ultimately <a href="/en/World_War_II" title="World War II" class="wl">World War II</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Extinct species of bird</div>
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</span><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Laysan rail, Conservation status, Scientific ...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox biota mobile-collapse-element" style="text-align: left; width: 200px; font-size: 100%">
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<th colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(235,235,210)" class="notheme">Laysan rail</th></tr>
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<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:XxLaysanRail.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:XxLaysanRail.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/XxLaysanRail.jpg/220px-XxLaysanRail.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="800" data-file-height="1010" data-file-type="bitmap" height="278" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/XxLaysanRail.jpg/330px-XxLaysanRail.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/XxLaysanRail.jpg/440px-XxLaysanRail.jpg 2x" alt="XxLaysanRail.jpg"></a></span></td></tr>
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<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-size: 88%">1913 photograph of live specimen by <a href="/en/Alfred_Marshall_Bailey" title="Alfred Marshall Bailey" class="wl">Alfred M. Bailey</a></td></tr>


<tr style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(235,235,210)" class="notheme">
<th colspan="2"><div style="text-align: center"><a href="/en/Conservation_status" title="Conservation status" class="wl">Conservation status</a></div></th></tr>
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<td colspan="2"><div style="text-align: center"><span class="mw-default-size"><span><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Status_iucn3.1_EX.svg/220px-Status_iucn3.1_EX.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="137" data-file-type="drawing" height="59" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Status_iucn3.1_EX.svg/330px-Status_iucn3.1_EX.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Status_iucn3.1_EX.svg/440px-Status_iucn3.1_EX.svg.png 2x" alt="Status_iucn3.1_EX.svg"></span></span><br><a href="/en/Extinction" title="Extinction" class="wl">Extinct</a><span>&nbsp;</span>(1944) <small><span>&nbsp;</span>(<a href="/en/IUCN_Red_List" title="IUCN Red List" class="wl">IUCN 3.1</a>)<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-iucn_status_12_November_2021_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-iucn_status_12_November_2021-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></small></div></td></tr>

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<th colspan="2" style="min-width:15em; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(235,235,210)" class="notheme"><a href="/en/Taxonomy_(biology)" title="Taxonomy (biology)" class="wl">Scientific classification</a> <span class="plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; float:right; padding-right:0.4em; margin-left:-3em;"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/Template:Taxonomy/Zapornia" title="edit" class="image wl"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Red_Pencil_Icon.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="16" data-file-height="16" data-file-type="bitmap" height="16" width="16" alt="Red_Pencil_Icon.png"></a></span></span></th></tr>
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<td>Kingdom:</td>
<td><a href="/en/Animal" title="Animal" class="wl">Animalia</a></td></tr>
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<td>Phylum:</td>
<td><a href="/en/Chordate" title="Chordate" class="wl">Chordata</a></td></tr>
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<td>Class:</td>
<td><a href="/en/Bird" title="Bird" class="wl">Aves</a></td></tr>
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<td>Order:</td>
<td><a href="/en/Gruiformes" title="Gruiformes" class="wl">Gruiformes</a></td></tr>
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<td>Family:</td>
<td><a href="/en/Rail_(bird)" title="Rail (bird)" class="wl">Rallidae</a></td></tr>
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<td>Genus:</td>
<td><a href="/en/Zapornia" title="Zapornia" class="wl"><i>Zapornia</i></a></td></tr>
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<td>Species:</td>
<td><div style="display:inline" class="species"><span>†</span><i><b>Z.<span>&nbsp;</span>palmeri</b></i></div></td></tr>








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<th colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(235,235,210)" class="notheme"><a href="/en/Binomial_nomenclature" title="Binomial nomenclature" class="wl">Binomial name</a></th></tr>
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<td colspan="2" style="text-align: center"><b><span class="binomial"><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span>†</span></span><i>Zapornia palmeri</i></span></b><br><div style="font-size: 85%;">(<a href="/en/Frederick_William_Frohawk" title="Frederick William Frohawk" class="wl">Frohawk</a>, 1892)</div></td></tr>
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<th colspan="2" style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(235,235,210)" class="notheme"><a href="/en/Synonym_(taxonomy)" title="Synonym (taxonomy)" class="wl">Synonyms</a></th></tr>
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<td colspan="2" style="text-align: left">
<p><i>Porzana palmeri</i><br>
<i>Porzanula palmeri</i></p></td></tr>


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The Laysan rail or Laysan crake was a flightless bird endemic to the Northwest Hawaiian Island of Laysan. This small island was and still is an important seabird colony, and sustained a number of endemic species, including the rail. It became extinct due to habitat loss by domestic rabbits, and ultimately World War II. 