Australian Painted Snipe - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The distinctiveness of the Australian Painted-snipe was recognised by John Gould in 1838 when he described and named it Rostratula australis. However, it was subsequently lumped with the Greater Painted-snipe Rostratula benghalensis. More recently it has been shown that the differences between these taxa warrant recognition at the species level. Compared with the Greater Painted-snipe, the Australian Painted-snipe:

• has a longer wing, shorter bill and shorter tarsus
• has a chocolate brown, rather than rufous, head and neck in the female
• has round, rather than flat and visually barred, spots on the tail (female) and upper wing-coverts (male)
• apparently lacks a call