biology

Rufirallus

Rufirallus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rufirallus rather than just read about it. In short: Rufirallus is a genus of birds in the family Rallidae that are found in South America. Taxonomy The genus Rufirallus was introduced in 1856 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.

Key takeaways

Rufirallus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rufirallus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rufirallus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Rufirallus is a genus of birds in the family Rallidae that are found in South America.

Taxonomy The genus Rufirallus was introduced in 1856 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte. He listed three species in the genus but did not specify which should be considered as the type species. Subsequently the English ornithologists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin designated P. cayanensis (misspelled cayennensis) as the type. This specific name had been introduced by Pieter Boddaert in 1783 and is a junior synonym of Rallus viridis which had been introduced some years earlier in 1776 by the German zoologist Philipp Statius Müller. The genus name combines the Latin rufus meaning "rufous" with the genus Rallus that had been introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the rails. The genus formerly included only two species. The results of a 2023 multilocus molecular phylogentic study of the subfamily Laterallini by Emiliano Depino and collaborators led to a revision of the taxonomy. The genus now contains the following five species:

Rufous-faced crake, Rufirallus xenopterus (formerly in Laterallus) Red-and-white crake, Rufirallus leucopyrrhus (formerly in Laterallus) Black-banded crake, Rufirallus fasciatus (formerly in Laterallus) Ocellated crake, Rufirallus schomburgkii (formerly in monotypic Micropygia) Russet-crowned crake, Rufirallus viridis The genus previous included the chestnut-headed crake but this species is now placed in its own monotypic genus Anurolimnas.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rufirallus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rufirallus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rufirallus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rufirallus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rufirallus

In research: Rufirallus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rufirallus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rufirallus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bird genera, Birds of the Amazon rainforest, Gruiformes stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rufirallus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rufirallus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rufirallus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rufirallus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rufirallus in simple terms?

Rufirallus is a genus of birds in the family Rallidae that are found in South America. Taxonomy The genus Rufirallus was introduced in 1856 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.

Why does Rufirallus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rufirallus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rufirallus.