CreatureData

White swamphen

Porphyrio albus (Shaw, 1790)

Status not recordedbirdsExtinct

The white swamphen (Porphyrio albus) is a species in the family Rallidae, order Gruiformes. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the white swamphen

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the white swamphen live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The white swamphen is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Is the white swamphen endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the white swamphen classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderGruiformes
  5. familyRallidae
  6. genusPorphyrio
  7. SpeciesPorphyrio albus (Shaw, 1790)

Synonyms Fulica alba, Porhyrio albus, Porphyrio porphyrio albus, Porphyrio raperi

Other names and names in other languages (33)
  • Lord Howe island swamphenEnglish
  • Lord Howe swamphenEnglish
  • White gallinuleEnglish
  • polla blancaCatalan
  • slípka bělaváCzech
  • Hvid SultanhøneDanish
  • Lord-Howe-PurpurhuhnGerman
  • blanka porfirioEsperanto
  • Calamón blancoSpanish
  • valge-sultantaitEstonian
  • valkosulttaanikanaFinnish
  • Talève de Lord HoweFrench
  • bijela sultankaCroatian
  • Lord Howe-szigeti fúHungarian
  • Pollo sultano di Lord HoweItalian
  • ロードハウセイケイJapanese
  • baltoji sultonvištėLithuanian
  • Lord-HowepurperkoetDutch
  • hvittakaheNorwegian
  • modrzyk małyPolish
  • camão-brancoPortuguese
  • Белая султанкаRussian
  • sultánka maláSlovak
  • Sultanka sa ostrva Lord Hau (izumrla)Serbian
  • vit purpurhönaSwedish
  • Beyaz SazhorozuTurkish
  • султанка білаUkrainian
  • 新不列顛紫水雞Chinese
  • Lord Howe-SumpfhuhnGerman
  • caimão-brancoPortuguese
  • galinhola-brancaPortuguese
  • 新不列颠紫水鸡Chinese
  • 羅豪島白水雞〔白水雞〕Chinese

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the white swamphen

Other species in the same genus Porphyrio.

EN, Endangered
Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri)

Takahē

Porphyrio hochstetteri

Rallidae

CompareWhite swamphen vs Western swamphenWhite swamphen vs TakahēWhite swamphen vs American purple gallinuleWhite swamphen vs Gray-headed swamphen

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Where does the white swamphen live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the white swamphen for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

What kind of animal is the white swamphen?

The white swamphen (Porphyrio albus) belongs to the family Rallidae in the order Gruiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). White swamphen (Porphyrio albus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-swamphen

MLA

“White swamphen (Porphyrio albus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-swamphen.

BibTeX
@misc{white_swamphen_2026,
  title = {White swamphen (Porphyrio albus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-swamphen},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}