---
title: "Australasian Swamphen"
description: "Porphyrio melanotus — Aves. The Australasian swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus), commonly known as the pūkeko in New Zealand, is a striking and socially complex bird found in Oceania, including eastern Indonesia (the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands), Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pt/animal/australasian-swamphen
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Australasian Swamphen

> Porphyrio melanotus — Aves. The Australasian swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus), commonly known as the pūkeko in New Zealand, is a striking and socially complex bird found in Oceania, including eastern Indonesia (the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands), Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia.

- Scientific name: *Porphyrio melanotus*
- Category: `birds` (Aves)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lagos e rios)
- iNaturalist observations: 33606
- Wikidata: [Q27074640](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27074640)
- iNaturalist taxon: [418530](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/418530)

## Names

- en: Australasian Swamphen
- de: Australisches Purpurhuhn
- es: Calamón pukeko
- fr: Talève australe
- nl: Australische Purperkoet
- pl: Modrzyk ciemny

## Countries with the most observations

AU (24680), NZ (7389), NC (105), PG (39), NF (19), SB (18), ID (17), TO (14), FJ (12), AS (11), WS (11), VU (4)

## Summary

The Australasian swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus), commonly known as the pūkeko in New Zealand, is a striking and socially complex bird found in Oceania, including eastern Indonesia (the Moluccas, Aru and Kai Islands), Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia. A member of the rail family, it is part of the diverse order Gruiformes, which includes species with similar characteristics such as cranes and other rail species. Within the Australasian swamphen species, five recognised subspecies exist, with P. m. melanotus being the most common and widely distributed in New Zealand. They display phenotypic characteristics…

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

## Photo

![Australasian Swamphen](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/australasian-swamphen/medium.jpg)

Photo: mikoikoi · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/373780538

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/australasian-swamphen?lang=pt` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).