Porphyrio porphyrio madagascariensis ( Latham, 1801 )

Hume, Julian Pender, 2019, Systematics, morphology and ecology of rails (Aves: Rallidae) of the Mascarene Islands, with one new species, Zootaxa 4626 (1), pp. 1-107 : 51-52

African Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio madagascariensis ( Latham, 1801)

Gallinula porphyrio Latham, 1801 , p.lxviii.

Porphyrio smaragdonotus Oustalet, 1897, p.98

Porphyrio porphyrio Carié, 1916, p.247

Porphyrio madagascariensis, Vinson, 1868, p.628 ; E. Newton, 1888, p.552; Peters, 1934, p.207; Rountree et al. 1952

Porphyrio porphyrio madagascariensis Safford & Hawkins, 2013, p.369 ; Dickinson & Remsen, 2013, p.160; del Hoyo & Collar, 2014, pp.352

Remarks: Porphyrio swamphens are wide-ranging birds that have reached isolated islands and island archipelagos on a number of occasions. Two species have been recorded in the Mascarenes as rare or accidental vagrants, but neither species has ever naturally become established. The African Swamphen Porphyrio p. madagascariensis has a wide distribution, being found in Egypt, Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar ( Safford & Hawkins 2013). A specimen held at UMZC was collected on Mauritius and sent by Edward Newton to his brother, Alfred, at Cam- bridge in 1861, and considered identical to the Madagascar species (A. Newton 1861a). E. Newton considered the species as possibly resident, but later thought it was possibly introduced (E. Newton 1888); However, most authors considered it exotic (see Rountree et al. 1952), as Milbert (1812) noted that some had been introduced from Madagascar, and shipments of birds were introduced in the 1860s, after which the species became well established (A. Newton 1861b; Meinertzhagen 1912; Carié 1916). It declined during the 20th century due to the active drainage of wetlands on Mauritius to combat malaria ( Cheke & Hume 2008), and seemingly disappeared completely by the 1950s ( Safford & Basque 2007; Safford & Hawkins 2013). A single subsequent record in 1976 indicates that it is an extremely rare vagrant, although Safford & Hawkins (2013) suggest that a tiny residue of the introduced birds may have survived.

The African Swamphen was also occasionally reported on Réunion, with a flock of captive birds breeding on a lake in the Jardin du Roi in Saint-Denis ( Sganzin 1840; Cheke & Hume 2008), and it also occurred on the Étang de St-Paul ( Coquerel 1864); these latter-named birds may have been introduced birds or vagrants ( Safford & Hawkins 2013). The population has since died out ( Cheke & Hume 2008).