Editing Common moorhen (section)

==Taxonomy==
The common moorhen was [[Species description|formally described]] in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it in the [[genus]] ''[[Fulica (genus)|Fulica]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Fulica chloropus''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=152 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727059 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts  | page=203 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483016 }}</ref> The common moorhen is now one of five extant species placed in the genus ''[[Gallinula]]'' that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]].<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=December 2023 | title=Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/flufftails/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=14 August 2024}}</ref> The genus name is from [[Latin]] ''gallinula'' meaning "little hen" or "little chicken". The specific epithet ''chloropus'' combines the [[Ancient Greek]] ''khlōros'' [[wikt:χλωρός|χλωρός]] meaning "green" and ''pous'' ([[wikt:πούς|πούς]]) meaning "foot".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n170/mode/1up 170], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n103/mode/1up 103]}}</ref>

The closely related [[common gallinule]] ''G. galeata'' of the [[New World]], and the [[tristan moorhen]] ''G. nesiotis'' and [[gough moorhen]] ''G. comeri'' of the [[Tristan da Cunha]] archipelago, formerly often regarded as conspecific, are now treated as a separate species by all the ornithological authorities,<ref name="Hoyo">{{cite book | last=Hoyo | first=Josep del | title=All the birds of the world | publisher=Lynx edicions | publication-place=Barcelona | date=2020 | isbn=978-84-16728-37-4 | page=184}}</ref> following the discovery of significant genetic differences in addition to differences in the structure of the red bill shield and vocal differences.<ref name="Groenenberg">{{cite journal | last=Groenenberg | first=Dick S. J. | last2=Beintema | first2=Albert J. | last3=Dekker | first3=René W. R. J. | last4=Gittenberger | first4=Edmund | title=Ancient DNA Elucidates the Controversy about the Flightless Island Hens (Gallinula sp.) of Tristan da Cunha | journal=PLoS ONE | volume=3 | issue=3 | date=2008-03-19 | issn=1932-6203 | pmid=18350170 | pmc=2266797 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0001835 | doi-access=free | page=e1835}}</ref><ref name="Constantine">{{cite book | last=Constantine | first=Mark | last2=Approach | first2=Sound | title=The Sound Approach to Birding | publisher=The Sound Approach | publication-place=Poole, Dorset | date=2006 | isbn=978-90-810933-1-6 | page=}}</ref><ref name=Chesser /> The final species in the genus, the [[dusky moorhen]] ''G. tenebrosa'' of [[Australasia]], has also been considered conspecific by some authors in the past.<ref name="hbw"/>

The name ''mor-hen'' has been recorded in [[English language|English]] since the 13th century.<ref name=PDBBN/> The word ''moor'' here is in its old sense meaning [[marsh]];<ref name=PDBBN/> the species is not usually found in what is now called [[moorland]]. Another old name, waterhen, is more descriptive of the bird's [[habitat]].<ref name=PDBBN/> A "watercock" is not a male "waterhen" but the rail species ''[[Gallicrex cinerea]]'', not closely related to the common moorhen. "Water rail" usually refers to ''[[Rallus aquaticus]]'', again not closely related.

Five [[subspecies]] are currently accepted:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''G. c. chloropus'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758) – Europe and north Africa to Japan and southeast Asia
* ''G. c. meridionalis'' ([[Christian Ludwig Brehm|Brehm, CL]], 1831) – Africa south of the Sahara and [[Saint Helena]] (tropical southeast Atlantic Ocean)
* ''G. c. pyrrhorrhoa'' [[Alfred Newton|Newton, A]], 1861 – [[Comoros]], [[Madagascar]], [[Réunion]] and [[Mauritius]] (west, central [[Mascarene Islands]]) 
* ''G. c. orientalis'' [[Thomas Horsfield|Horsfield]], 1821 – [[Granitic Seychelles|Inner Islands]] (northeast Seychelles), Andamans, [[Malay Peninsula]], Greater and [[Lesser Sunda Islands]], [[Sulawesi]] region and Philippines
* ''G. c. guami'' [[Ernst Hartert|Hartert, EJO]], 1917 – north [[Mariana Islands]] and [[Guam]] (west [[Micronesia]])