Greater painted-snipe
Rostratula benghalensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
The greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) is a species in the family Rostratulidae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 121 g to 152 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the greater painted-snipe
- Weight
- 121 g – 152 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 50 cm – 55 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 19.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3.2 – 3.88src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 3src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the greater painted-snipe?
Photos of the greater painted-snipe
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the greater painted-snipe live?
Not recorded
What is the greater painted-snipe?
The greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) is a species of wader in the small painted-snipe family Rostratulidae. It widely distributed across Africa and southern Asia and is found in a variety of wetland habitats, including swamps and the edges of larger water bodies such as lakes and rivers. This species is sexually dimorphic with the female being larger and more brightly coloured than the male. The female is normally polyandrous with the males incubating the eggs and caring for the young.
From the Wikipedia article “Greater painted-snipe” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greater_painted-snipe&oldid=1355304194), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the greater painted-snipe endangered?
The greater painted-snipe is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the greater painted-snipe classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyRostratulidae
- genusRostratula
- SpeciesRostratula benghalensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Rallus benghalensis, Rhynchaea capensis, Rhynchaea capensis capensis, Rostratula benghalensis benghalensis, Scolopax caffra, Scolopax capensis
Other names and names in other languages (64)
- GPSNEnglish
- Greater painted snipeEnglish
- Painted snipeEnglish
- GoudsnipAfrikaans
- بكاشينة مزوقةArabic
- شنقب ملون كبيرArabic
- Цветен бекасBulgarian
- Голям цветен бекасBulgarian
- বাংলা রাঙাচ্যাগাBangla
- becadell pintat pàl·lidCatalan
- DasakCebuano
- slučice pestráCzech
- Gïach amryliwWelsh
- Broget RiksesneppeDanish
- BuntschnepfeGerman
- Bunt-GoldschnepfeGerman
- GoldschnepfeGerman
- Azia buntgalinagoEsperanto
- ordinara orgalinagoEsperanto
- Aguatero BegalíSpanish
- Aguatero bengalíSpanish
- prillnerpEstonian
- پاشلک رنگینPersian
- پاشلک شالگردنی بزرگPersian
- kultakurppoFinnish
- Rhynchée peinteFrench
- Naoscach dhathannachIrish
- חרטומית בנגליתHebrew
- guvatszalonkaHungarian
- Berkik-kembang besarIndonesian
- RelluspýtaIcelandic
- Beccaccia dorataItalian
- Beccaccia dorata maggioreItalian
- タマシギJapanese
- 호사도요Korean
- auksuotasis tilvikasLithuanian
- karnevālslokaLatvian
- TatokaMalagasy
- കാളിക്കാടMalayalam
- भेंडलावाMarathi
- रंगीत पाणलावाMarathi
- Burung MeragiMalay
- ရောင်စုံစနိုက်Burmese
- चित्राङ्गडNepali
- riksesnipeNorwegian
- ପାଣି ଗୁଣ୍ଡୁରୀOdia
- złotosłonka bengalskaPolish
- وڈا رنگین سنائپWestern Panjabi
- narceja-pintadaPortuguese
- narceja-pintada-grandePortuguese
- Цветной бекасRussian
- VuonccisvirošNorthern Sami
- slukovec zlatýSlovak
- slokarSlovenian
- Šarena šljukaSerbian
- rallbeckasinSwedish
- மயில் உள்ளான்Tamil
- นกโป่งวิดThai
- BoyalıçullukTurkish
- Eskidünya boyalı su çulluğuTurkish
- мальованець афро-азійськийUkrainian
- Nhát hoa lớnVietnamese
- 彩鷸Chinese
- 彩鹬Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the greater painted-snipe
Other species in the same genus Rostratula.
Australian painted-snipe
Rostratula australis
CompareGreater painted-snipe vs Australian painted-snipeGreater painted-snipe vs Rostratula pulia
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the greater painted-snipe?
An adult greater painted-snipe weighs 121 g – 152 g and has a wingspan of 50 cm – 55 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the greater painted-snipe endangered?
The greater painted-snipe is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the greater painted-snipe?
The greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) belongs to the family Rostratulidae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-painted-snipe
“Greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-painted-snipe.
@misc{greater_painted_snipe_2026,
title = {Greater painted-snipe (Rostratula benghalensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-painted-snipe},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}