Аннотация:The ‘Vulnerable’ Swinhoe’s Rail Coturnicops exquisitus is believed to occur in only two regions
in Russia’s Far East and China’s Heilongjiang province, separated by more than 1,000 km. Recent
observations suggest that the Amur region, situated between the two known populations, might
be inhabited by this secretive species as well. As the species is rather similar in appearance and
field characteristics to its Nearctic sister taxon, the Yellow Rail C. noveboracensis, and almost all
field records relate to flushed individuals in flight, we aimed to complement the field observations
by genetic evidence. Samples were obtained from four individuals and one eggshell and their
mitochondrial cytochrome b genes were amplified and sequenced. The genetic analyses unequivocally
confirmed that swab samples and eggshell were attributable to Swinhoe’s Rail, thus constituting
the first known breeding record of this species for 110 years. It is therefore likely that the
individuals observed in the field also belonged to this species. It seems possible that Swinhoe’s
Rail is more widely distributed in the Amur region and was overlooked in the past, possibly due
to a misleading description of its calls in the literature.