The American coot was first described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789.
A member of the family Rallidae, it has three subspecies in addition to the nominate: Fulica americana alai, F. a. caribaea, and F. a. ardesiaca.
These subspecies, however, are sometimes considered to be their own separate species.
Including these 'subspecies', there are 11 members of the genus Fulica distributed across the globe.

Coot fossils from the Middle Pleistocene of California have been described as Fulica hesterna but cannot be separated from the present-day American coot.
However, the Pleistocene coot Fulica shufeldti (formerly F. minor), famously known as part of the Fossil Lake fauna, quite possibly was a paleosubspecies of the American coot (as Fulica americana shufeldti) as they only differed marginally in size and proportions from living birds.
Thus, it seems that the modern-type American coots evolved during the mid-late Pleistocene, a few hundred thousand years ago.

The American coot's genus name, Fulica, is a direct borrowing of the Latin word for "coot".
The specific epithet americana means "America".
The American coot was first described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. A member of the family Rallidae, it has three subspecies in addition to the nominate: Fulica americana alai, F. a. caribaea, and F. a. ardesiaca. These subspecies, however, are sometimes considered to be their own separate species. Including these 'subspecies', there are 11 members of the genus Fulica distributed across the globe.
Coot fossils from the Middle Pleistocene of California have been described as Fulica hesterna but cannot be separated from the present-day American coot. However, the Pleistocene coot Fulica shufeldti (formerly F. minor), famously known as part of the Fossil Lake fauna, quite possibly was a paleosubspecies of the American coot (as Fulica americana shufeldti) as they only differed marginally in size and proportions from living birds. Thus, it seems that the modern-type American coots evolved during the mid-late Pleistocene, a few hundred thousand years ago.
The American coot's genus name, Fulica, is a direct borrowing of the Latin word for "coot". The specific epithet americana means "America".
American coot