White-striped Forest Rail Rallicula leucospila Scientific name definitions

20–23 cm; 2 males weighed 114 and 125 g. Fine white streaks on black upperparts easily separate male from the other Rallina <em>species</em> of New Guinea. Female spotted rather than streaked, and closely resembles female of smaller Chestnut Forest Rail (Rallicula rubra) but has narrow black tail bars and less extensive chestnut on upper mantle; females of Forbes's Forest Rail (Rallicula forbesi) and Mayr's Forest Rail (Rallicula mayri) have extensive unspotted chestnut on upper mantle and latter species is generally darker, duller and more uniform. Immature and juvenile not described.

Closely related to Forbes's Forest Rail and Mayr's Forest Rail. Monotypic.

Mountain ranges of Tamrau, Arfak, Wandammen, and Kumawa, in western New Guinea.

Floor of montane forest interior at 1,000–1,850 m.

In Vogelkop, White-striped Forest Rail gives chuckling notes : ko...ko...ko ; the contact call is a low mewing note. Three vocalizations have been documented in Kumawa Mts (1 Diamond, J., and K. D. Bishop (2015). Avifaunas of the Kumawa and Fakfak Mountains, Indonesian New Guinea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 135(4):292–336. Close ), one of which is not definitely attributable to this species: the simplest call is "a single, quiet, short, pig-like grunt"; the song "a long, fast, ascending, accelerating series of notes, concluding in many rapid sets of notes of which the first note of each set is two whole tones lower in pitch, followed by 2–5 identical notes at the upper pitch, with unpredictable variation between them" (1 Diamond, J., and K. D. Bishop (2015). Avifaunas of the Kumawa and Fakfak Mountains, Indonesian New Guinea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 135(4):292–336. Close ).

Nothing known. Pairs roost in roofed shelters of dried leaves and moss, so the breeding nest may also be domed structure, as in the Chestnut Forest Rail (Rallicula rubra).

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened, and previously, Data Deficient. Although found in three mountain ranges of Vogelkop, and Kumawa Mts, does not occur in intervening Fakfak Mts (1 Diamond, J., and K. D. Bishop (2015). Avifaunas of the Kumawa and Fakfak Mountains, Indonesian New Guinea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 135(4):292–336. Close ). White-striped Forest Rail is shy, secretive, and apparently uncommon in Vogelkop, and noisy and common in Kumawa Mts in 1983 and 2013 (1 Diamond, J., and K. D. Bishop (2015). Avifaunas of the Kumawa and Fakfak Mountains, Indonesian New Guinea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 135(4):292–336. Close ). Little recent information is available on its status, but there is no reason to expect the species to be threatened, as its montane forest habitat is likely to be secure, although local hunting with dogs occurs throughout the Vogelkop.