White-throated Crake Laterallus albigularis Scientific name definitions

The White-throated Crake has occasionally been considered conspecific with the Rufous-sided Crake (Laterallus melanophaius), although most modern commentators have preferred to retain them as separate species, and indeed the present species might prove to be more closely related to Gray-breasted Crake (Laterallus exilis). The White-throated Crake occurs from southeast Honduras to Panama, thence south through western South America to western Ecuador. It overlaps geographically with only one other species of Laterallus, the Ruddy Crake (Laterallus ruber), which is easily separated from the present species by its dark-headed appearance and bright rufous underparts. The White-throated Crake is a generally fairly common but difficult-to-see resident of marshes, damp pastures, overgrown ditches and streamsides, as well as thickets and forest clearings. It has been recorded to at least 1600 m.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Takes insects, spiders, seeds of grasses and sedges, and algae. Recorded feeding on fruits of Conostegia subcrustulata (Melastomataceae) (2 Jiménez-Chaves, J. and Carman, E.M. (2015). Primer registro de frugivoría de Laterallus albigularis (Rallidae). Zeledonia. 19(1): 44. In Spanish. Close ). Although normally confined to dense vegetation, ventures into more open spots to feed at dawn and dusk or in dull, rainy weather.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Very difficult to see and status unclear; considered common over much of its range in 1970s and 1980s, but in 1960s race albigularis was relatively uncommon except in some lowland regions. Recorded in extreme N Peru, near Tumbes, in 2014 (3 Noblecilla Purizaga, F.H. (2015). White-throated Crake Laterallus albigularis: a new species for Peru. Cotinga. 37: 119–120. Close ).