The Inaccessible Island rail, or Inaccessible rail (Laterallus rogersi), is a small bird species of the rail family, Rallidae. Endemic to Inaccessible Island in the Tristan Archipelago in the isolated south Atlantic, it is the smallest extant flightless bird in the world. The species was formally described by physician Percy Lowe in 1923 but had first come to the attention of scientists 50 years earlier. The Inaccessible Island rail's taxonomic affinities and origin were a long-standing mystery; in 2018 its closest relative was identified as the South American dot-winged crake, and it was decided that both species are best classified in the genus Laterallus. The Inaccessible Island rail has brown plumage, black bill and feet, and adults have a red eye. It occupies most habitats on Inaccessible Island, from the beaches to the central plateau, feeding on a variety of small invertebrates and also some plant matter. Pairs are territorial and monogamous, with both parents being responsible for incubating the eggs and raising the chicks. Its adaptations to living on a tiny island at high densities include low base metabolic rates, small clutch sizes, and flightlessness. Unlike many other oceanic islands, Inaccessible Island has remained free from introduced predators, allowing this species to flourish while many other flightless birds, particularly flightless rails, have gone extinct. The species is nevertheless considered vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), due to its single small population, which would be threatened by the accidental introduction of mammalian predators such as rats or cats.
Discovery Although the Inaccessible Island rail may have been known to the Tristan Islanders who visited the island annually to hunt seals, the species first came to the attention of scientists during the Challenger expedition of 1872–1876. When the expedition visited the island in October 1873, Sir Charles Wyville Thomson learned of the species and recorded observations made by two German brothers, the Stoltenhoffs, who had been living on the island for the last two years. Thomson was unable to collect a specimen. Another attempt was made to collect a specimen by Lord Crawford on his yacht Valhalla in 1905. A final attempt was made during the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition, which passed by in April 1922 on its way back to Britain. This visit also failed, but members of the expedition left collecting material with a Rev. H. M. C. Rogers, then chaplain on Tristan da Cunha. The following year two study skins arrived in the Natural History Museum, London, followed soon after by another skin and a specimen in spirits. Physician Percy Lowe was then able to use the skins to describe the species. He did so, briefly, at a meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, in 1923.
Evolution and taxonomy
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