Mayr G. (2006) A rail (Aves, Rallidae) from the early Oligocene of Germany. ARDEA 94 (1): 23-31

A partial skeleton of a medium-sized fossil rail is described from the early Oligocene of Hofheim-Wallau in Germany and tentatively assigned to Belgirallus oligocaenus Mayr & Smith 2001. It is the earliest substantial fossil record of Rallidae and for the first time provides information on the limb proportions of Paleogene rails. Based on foot morphology, the fossil specimen can be assigned to the Rallinae, i.e. a clade including all Rallidae except the Nkulengu Rail Himantornis haematopus. Although it is not possible to further assign it to any subclade within Rallinae, the fossil provides an early Oligocene minimum age for the divergence between H. haematopus and Rallinae.