---
title: "Purple Gallinule"
description: "Porphyrio martinica — Vogels. The purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) is a species of swamphen found in the Americas."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/purple-gallinule
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Purple Gallinule

> Porphyrio martinica — Vogels. The purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) is a species of swamphen found in the Americas.

- Scientific name: *Porphyrio martinica*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Meren en rivieren)
- iNaturalist observations: 21331
- Wikidata: [Q27074644](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27074644)
- iNaturalist taxon: [519](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/519)

## Names

- en: Purple Gallinule
- de: Zwergsultanshuhn
- es: Gallineta morada
- fr: Talève violacée
- pt: Frango-d'água-azul
- pl: Sułtanka amerykańska

## Countries with the most observations

US (11708), CO (1661), BR (1461), MX (1329), CR (1097), PA (751), EC (524), PE (229), AR (227), HN (191), NI (190), GT (186)

## Summary

The purple gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) is a species of swamphen found in the Americas. It is in the order Gruiformes, meaning "crane-like", an order which also contains cranes, rails, and crakes. The purple gallinule is a rail species, placing it into the family Rallidae. It is also known locally as the yellow-legged gallinule. The specific name martinica denotes "of Martinique".

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_purple_gallinule

## Photo

![Purple Gallinule](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/purple-gallinule/medium.jpg)

Photo: Dario Taraborelli · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/104388004

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/purple-gallinule?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).