Laterallus

Laterallus is a genus of birds in the rail family Rallidae. These small, relatively short-billed terrestrial rails are found among dense vegetation near water in the Neotropics, although a single species, the black rail, also occurs in the United States.

The genus was erected by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855 with the rufous-sided crake (Laterallus melanophaius) as the type species. The genus name is a portmanteau of Rallus lateralis, a synonym of the binomial name for the rufous-sided crake. The authors of a molecular genetic study published in 2019 proposed that the yellow-breasted crake, the dot-winged crake, and the flightless Inaccessible Island rail should be moved to this genus.

Species
The genus contains 13 species:
 * Black-banded crake, Laterallus fasciatus
 * Rufous-sided crake, Laterallus melanophaius
 * Rusty-flanked crake, Laterallus levraudi
 * Ruddy crake, Laterallus ruber
 * White-throated crake, Laterallus albigularis
 * Grey-breasted crake, Laterallus exilis
 * Yellow-breasted crake, Laterallus flaviventer
 * Black rail, Laterallus jamaicensis
 * Junin crake, Laterallus jamaicensis tuerosi
 * Galapagos crake, Laterallus spilonota
 * Dot-winged crake, Laterallus spiloptera
 * Inaccessible Island rail, Laterallus rogersi
 * Red-and-white crake, Laterallus leucopyrrhus
 * Rufous-faced crake, Laterallus xenopterus