In New Zealand, the spotless crake, also known as pūweto, is distributed throughout the mainland. Numbers are few in the South Island with only a handful of isolated communities on the west coast, east coast, and Southland, New Zealand. The distribution in the North Island is spread far wider, but there are still few communities. Most sightings of spotless crake tend to be near the top of the North Island. Nationally important sites include: Awarua-Waituna wetland complex in Southland, New Zealand, Great Barrier Island, Kermadec Islands, Lake Wairarapa, Poor Knights Islands, Tiritiri Matangi Island, and Whangamarino wetland in Waikato.