Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Gruiformes > Rallidae > Gallirallus > Gallirallus australis

Gallirallus australis (Weka)

Synonyms: Rallus australis (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

The weka (also known as Maori hen or woodhen) (Gallirallus australis) is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand, where four subspecies are recognized. Weka are sturdy brown birds, about the size of a chicken. As omnivores, they feed mainly on invertebrates and fruit. Weka usually lay eggs between August and January; both sexes help to incubate.
View Wikipedia Record: Gallirallus australis

Infraspecies

Gallirallus australis australis (Western weka) (Attributes)
Gallirallus australis greyi (North Island weka)
Gallirallus australis hectori (Buff weka) (Attributes)
Gallirallus australis scotti (Stewart Island weka) (Attributes)

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Gallirallus australis

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
3
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
42
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 7.2962
EDGE Score: 3.50209
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  1.931 lbs (876 g)
Female Weight [1]  1.543 lbs (700 g)
Male Weight [1]  2.319 lbs (1.052 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [1]  50.3 %
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Frugivore, Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Ectothermic [2]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [2]  10 %
Diet - Fruit [2]  30 %
Diet - Invertibrates [2]  30 %
Diet - Plants [2]  10 %
Diet - Seeds [2]  10 %
Forages - Understory [2]  20 %
Forages - Ground [2]  60 %
Forages - Water Surface [2]  20 %
Female Maturity [1]  0 years 12 months
Clutch Size [4]  3
Clutches / Year [1]  2
Incubation [3]  27 days
Maximum Longevity [5]  14 years

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Fiordland National Park II 3106115 New Zealand  
Macquarie Island Nature Reserve Ia 233540 Tasmania, Australia  
Mount Richmond Forest Park Conservation Park 465527 New Zealand      
Te Wahipounamu—South West New Zealand World Heritage Site 6424740 New Zealand  

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
New Zealand New Zealand Yes

Prey / Diet

Didymocheton spectabilis[6]
Elaeocarpus pierrei[6]
Hedycarya arborea (Pigeonwood)[6]
Prumnopitys ferruginea (Miro)[6]
Prumnopitys taxifolia (Matai)[6]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Nosopsyllus fasciatus (northern rat flea)[7]
Notiopsylla enciari regula[7]
Pagipsylla galliralli[7]
Parapsyllus nestoris nestoris[7]
Parapsyllus valedictus[7]

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 4Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 5de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 6THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRDS AS BROWSERS, POLLINATORS AND SEED DISPERSERS IN NEW ZEALAND FORESTS, M.N. Clout and J. R. Hay, NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, VOL 12, (SUPPLEMENT) 1989, pp. 27-33
♦ 7International Flea Database
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0