Rail-babbler

The rail-babbler or Malaysian rail-babbler (Eupetes macrocerus) is a strange, rail-like, brown and pied inhabitant of the floor of primary forest in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra (the nominate subspecies macrocerus), as well as Borneo (ssp. borneensis), distantly related to African crow-like birds. Its population has greatly decreased because much of the lowland primary forest has been cut, and secondary forests usually have too dense a bottom vegetation or do not offer enough shade to be favourable for the species. However, it is locally still common in logged forest or on hill-forest on slopes, and probably not in immediate danger of extinction. The species is poorly known and rarely seen, in no small part due to its shyness.

Taxonomy
Eupetidae is part of a small clade of oscine passerines within a group we call the “basal passerid oscines.” The relationships of the Rail-babbler were long mysterious, with proposed affinities to Timaliidae sensu lato, Cinclosomatidae, or Psophodidae. Molecular phylogenetic evidence indicates that Eupetidae is not at all closely related to any of these groups, but instead is likely sister to Chaetopidae, and these two as a clade are likely sister to Picathartidae and Chaetopidae (Jønsson et al. 2007, Jønsson et al. 2011). The larger relationships of Eupetidae have not been studied explicitly, but those relationships are best indicated by the relationships of the better-studied Picathartidae.

Original name was unjustifiably emended to “macrocercus” and this version has been used extensively; Temminck himself emended name to “macrourus” (in 1835), and this name handwritten may have been misread/miscopied as “macrocerus” in original publication. Two subspecies recognized.

Eupetes macrocerus macrocerus Eupetes macrocerus borneensis
 * Distribution: S Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and N Natuna Is.
 * Distribution: Borneo.

Similar and related species
Unmistakable. Closely related to rockjumpers and rockfowl, and make up the superfamily Picathartoidea.