Inaccessible Island Rail

SCI Name:  Atlantisia rogersi
Protonym:  Atlantisia rogersi Bull.Br.Orn.Club 43 p.175
Taxonomy:  Gruiformes / Rallidae / Atlantisia
Taxonomy Code:  inirai1
Type Locality:  Inaccessible Island.
Author:  Lowe, PR
Publish Year:  1923
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

ATLANTISIA
(Rallidae; Ϯ Inaccesible Rail A. rogersi) Gr. myth. Atlantis, the celebrated vanished island, traditionally located in the Atlantic Ocean, but having its origin in the destruction of Thera (Santorini), in the Greek Cyclades, by volcanic eruption in c. 1629BC; "Atlantisia, gen. nov.   Characters. Bill shorter than head, slender, compressed; upper mandible decurved; gonys upcurved, so that bill viewed laterally has a dertrum-like ending very similar to what obtains in a plover or pigeon.  Nasal grooves extending beyond middle of bill. Nostrils linear, basal, parallel with lower edge of upper mandible, overhung by operculum.  Culmen decidedly shorter than middle toe with claw.  No frontal shield.  Tarsus shorter than middle toe with claw; hind toe with claw half as long as tarsus; tarsus and toes distinctly slender.  Wings little developed, apparently incapable of sustaining flight; primaries soft-vaned, weak; hamuli present, but apparently not functioning; first primary shortest; secondaries still less developed; coverts very long, nearly as long as secondaries.  Rectrices—central, as long as middle toe with claw; all rectrices weak and loose vaned; rami discontinuous. Oil-gland tufted.  Coloration. Ralline.  Type, Atlantisia rogersi.  Distribution. Inaccessible Island, S. Atlantic.   Atlantisia rogersi, sp. nov.  ... Named in honour of the Rev. H. M. C. Rogers, Resident Chaplain on Tristan d'Acunha.  ...  It will be noticed that this diminutive flightless Rail, Atlantisia rogersi, has not even a generic affinity with Porphyriornis nesiotis." (Lowe 1923); "Atlantisia Lowe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl., xliii, p. 174, 1923.  type by original designation, A. rogersi Lowe." (W. Sclater, 1924, Syst. Av. Aethiop., I, p. 104).  Recent work indicates that this genus should be included in Laterallus.

rogersi
● Charles Henry Rogers (1888-1977) US ornithologist, conservationist, Curator of Princeton Mus. (subsp. Aerodramus brevirostris, subsp. Yuhina flavicollis).
● John Porter Rogers (1873-1941) Australian ornithologist, gold prospector, collector (syn. Anas gracilis, subsp. Anas superciliosa, subsp. Anthus novaeseelandiae, subsp. Butorides striata, subsp. Calidris canutus, syn. Calidris falcinellus, syn. Caprimulgus macrurus schlegelii, syn. Chalcites osculans, subsp. Chalcophaps indica, syn. Chlidonias hybrida javanicus, syn. Cincloramphus cruralis, syn. Circus assimilis, syn. Daphoenositta chrysoptera leucoptera, syn. Eulabeornis castaneoventris, syn. Gavicalis virescens forresti, subsp. Gerygone olivacea, syn. Limicola falcinellus sibirica, subsp. Malurus lamberti, syn. Myiagra nana, syn. Nettapus pulchellus, syn. Onychoprion anaethetus, syn. Pardalotus striatus substriatus, syn. Petrochelidon nigricans neglecta, syn. Plegadis falcinellus, subsp. Podargus papuensis, syn. Polytelis alexandrae, syn. Poodytes carteri, syn. Smicrornis brevirostris flavescens, syn. Sula leucogaster plotus, syn. Synoicus ypsilophorus australis).
● Revd. Henry Martyn Rogers (1879-1926) British missionary, resident chaplain on Tristan d’Acunha 1922-1925 (Atlantisia).
● H. E. Rogers (fl. 1928) British animal and bird dealer based in Liverpool (syn. Casuarius bennetti westermanni).
● Charles Gilbert Rogers (1864-1937) British civil administrator with Imperial Forestry Commission in India and Burma 1888-1919, naturalist, collector (subsp. Cyornis rubeculoides).
● Dr David Banks Rogers (1868-1954) US anthropologist, archaeologist (‡Phalacrocorax).