Author: Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University

The African rail (Rallus caerulescens) is a handsome bird, with a blueish breast, red legs, eyes and bill, prominent barring on the flanks, chestnut upper parts, and long toes. It also has a characteristic trilling call. This wetland dweller is only found in sub-Saharan Africa, with a concentration in South Africa’s Western Cape province. The species is one of about 140 members worldwide of the Rallidae, the bird family that includes coots, moorhens, gallinules, rails, crakes and flufftails. In southern Africa there are about 15 representatives of the family. African rail. A Oosthuizen / Getty Images In science, a “holotype”…