History and status of Lewin’s Rail Lewinia pectoralis clelandi in south-western Australia

Abstract

Lewin’s Rail Lewinia pectoralis is a species found in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Lesser Sundas and Timor. An enigmatic south-western Australian subspecies L. p. clelandi was described by Matthews in 1911 but is now considered extinct. Because of the paucity of information on this subspecies, we aimed to document all known specimens and present data on contemporary searches. In total, just seven specimen skins were collected between 1866 and 1918, with no definitive evidence of the subspecies’ survival subsequently. Two putative eggs are also known. A preliminary but extensive assessment of presumed suitable wetlands in the previously known range of occurrence of this subspecies was conducted and concurrent brief surveys failed to detect any Lewin’s Rails.