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The birds of North and Middle America: A descriptive catalogue of the higher groups, genera, species, and subspecies of birds known to occur in North America, from the Arctic lands to the Isthmus of Panama, the West Indies and other islands of the Caribbean sea, and the Galapagos Archipelago. Parts 9-10
... 23.8). Therefore, after proposing the hybrid hypothesis, Phillips (1991) declared that Ridgway's (1888) description was invalid and re-described the Costa Rican taxon under the name C. m. carrikeri A. R. Phillips, 1991, based on CM P13557, the Costa Rican female examined by Ridgway (1907). At that time, there had been no credible reports of hybridisation between any Catharus species (McCarthy 2006); and even now, 36 years later, the only reports of early generation hybrids come from three closely related migratory species (FitzGerald et al. 2017, Martinsen et al. 2017, Termignoni-Garcia et al. 2022. ...
... Phillips (1991) offered scant evidence in support of the hybrid hypothesis. With respect to the dark ventral plumage, he merely implied, as Ridgway (1907) had done, that all C. ...
... The dark ventral colour of USNM 101765 was emphasised by Ridgway (1888Ridgway ( , 1907 in the original and secondary descriptions of C. fumosus, and later by Phillips (1991: 111), who concluded that it was a hybrid character. However, there are other C. fumosus study skins that are nearly as dark (especially those collected in Panama, as acknowledged by Phillips 1991: 111, e.g., MCZ 137397 and 137398), and the ventral plumage of USNM 101765 is actually darker than that of most C. hellmayri males, not lighter as one would expect from a bird with an intermediate (hybrid) phenotype (Fig. 3). ...
The name Catharus fumosus Ridgway, 1888 has traditionally been placed among the synonyms of Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush C. mexicanus (Bonaparte, 1856) and applied at subspecies rank to the population ranging from Nicaragua to Panama (C. m. fumosus). Recent data support species rank for C. fumosus, but the availability of the name is contested. Allan Phillips claimed that the C. fumosus holotype (USNM 101765) was a hybrid with ‘C. fuscater’ (= C. [f.] hellmayri von Berlepsch, 1902, recently elevated to species), then re-described the Central American taxon under the name C. m. carrikeri A. R. Phillips, 1991. World checklists are now in conflict. Here, I review the relevant history and compare USNM 101765 to a geographically widespread sample of study skins of the putative parental forms, yielding little support for the hybrid hypothesis. This is the fourth in a series of papers concerning historical aspects of Catharus taxonomy and nomenclature.
... The only valid family-group name published for the subfamily that includes the genus under discussion is Rhopoterpeae Ridgway, 1911Ridgway, (1911, a name at the rank of tribe, the suffix of which can be corrected to Rhopoterpini Ridgway, 1911, under the provision of Article 32.5.3.1 (ICZN, 1999: 41). The use of this name, formed from an available generic name, Rhopoterpe Cabanis, 1847, and published before 1931, requires no formal action of any kind. ...
... The only valid family-group name published for the subfamily that includes the genus under discussion is Rhopoterpeae Ridgway, 1911Ridgway, (1911, a name at the rank of tribe, the suffix of which can be corrected to Rhopoterpini Ridgway, 1911, under the provision of Article 32.5.3.1 (ICZN, 1999: 41). The use of this name, formed from an available generic name, Rhopoterpe Cabanis, 1847, and published before 1931, requires no formal action of any kind. ...
... Rhopoterpeae Ridgway, 1911Bull. U. S. Nat. ...
The genus-group name Myrmornis Hermann, 1783, and the family-group name
Myrmornithinae Sundevall, 1872, are problematic, and both are shown to be other than as currently defined and used. In the case of Myrmornis, Hermann introduced two valid binominal names (Myrmornis campanisona and Myrmornis arada), which are the only available names from which a type species can be selected, but neither corresponds to the accepted type species cited by Peters (1951: 255), where “Fourmilier proprement dit” was cited from Buffon (1778: 473) together with “Le Fourmillier de Cayanne” based on plate 700 fig. 1 in Daubenton, which was
identified with Formicarius torquatus Boddaert, 1783 by Hellmayr in Cory and Hellmayr (1924:321). The use of vernacular names as type species is contrary to Opinion 1 (ICZN, 1907) and Article 12.3 (ICZN, 1999) where they are explicitly excluded from being an indication. In the case of Myrmornithinae Sundevall, 1872, Sundevall used ‘Myrmornis’ (for Formicarius colma Boddaert, 1783) in a manner not consistent with either of the two originally included nominal species, and any use as a family-group name must be seen as an altered concept as dictated by
Article 65.2.1 (ICZN, 1999). In seeking a genus-group name to replace ‘Myrmornis’ it is suggested that Rhopoterpe Cabanis, 1847, which has extensive use as a valid name both before and after 1899, be reinstated as the valid name under the Principle of Priority, Article 23.1 (ICZN, 1999: 24). This action would see Formicarius torquatus changed to Rhopoterpe torquata (Boddaert, 1783), with the available family-group name Rhopoterpinae Ridgway, 1911, replacing the recent use of Myrmornithinae Sundevall, 1872.
... The Snail Kite, Rostrhamus sociabilis (Vieillot), of the Family ACCIP-ITRIDAE, Subfamily MILYINAE (true kites), is a wide-ranging New World species found primarily in lowland freshwater marshes in tropical and subtropical America from Florida, Cuba, and Mexico south to Argentina and Peru (Fig. 1). Except for Cuba and Trinidad, it is absent from the islands of the Caribbean (Friedmann 1950). Hellmayr and Conover (1949) and Friedmann (1950) (4) the Southern Snail Kite , R . ...
... Except for Cuba and Trinidad, it is absent from the islands of the Caribbean (Friedmann 1950). Hellmayr and Conover (1949) and Friedmann (1950) (4) the Southern Snail Kite , R . s . ...
... sociabilis (Vieillot). For descriptions of these see Friedmann (1950). The plumages of the subspecies are the same, and bill, wing, and tarsus measurements overlap considerably (Friedmann 1950). ...
A study of the status, distribution, life history, and ecology of the Snail (Everglade) Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis ptumbeus) was conducted in Florida beginning in the fall of 1967 and completed at the end of December 1980. This paper covers the distributional aspects of the study. Taxonomists have generally recognized four subspecies of Rostrhamus sociabilia, but more recently Amadon (1975) concluded that the birds in Florida and Cuba are inseparable, and he assigned levis of Cuba to plumbeus. This paper follows that opinion. The ranges of the Snail Kite and its subspecies are presented in four range maps based on a thorough review of the literature and information supplied by ornithologists working in or visiting various parts of the Western Hemisphere. The total range in Florida is mapped in detail. The original and present (1968-1980) ranges in Florida are presented. The present range was found to be about 9% of the original. The legal descriptions of localities used by kites during the 1968-1980 period are listed in Appendix 2. Records of the Snail Kite from 1844 through 1980 in the United States cover its occurrenee at 80 localities in Florida, 1 in Georgia, and 3 in Texas. The Florida localities are numbered and shown in Figure 15. The localities are grouped under 12 natural drainage systems, 3 regions, and 6 political divisions. The listing of records is as complete as possible. The range and historical data for Florida were obtained from a review of the literature, a thorough search for preserved material in museum and private collections in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe, field observations throughout the state by the author from the fall of 1967 through the end of December 1980, and the assistance of cooperators. Curated collections that were found to have no kite materials from Florida are listed in Appendix 1. A complete list of preserved Snail Kite material originating from Florida is found in Appendix 3. These include 159 skins and mounts, 148 egg sets, and 1 skeleton. There appears to be no fluid (whole) specimen of the Snail Kite for Florida. Information listed in Appendix 3 includes locality at which the material was collected, date, catalog number, curatorial institution, and sex. The number of skins and egg sets at each curatorial institution are listed in Table 1. Kites have been recorded in 33 Florida counties. During 1968-1980, the most important areas in Florida for the Snail Kite were themarsh on the west side of Lake Okeechobee (Fig. 9) and the eastern and southern sectors of Conservation Area 3A (CA3A) (Fig. 13) Habitats in these two areas should be main- tained to insure their continued suitability for this species.
... In its first treatment of the group, the AOU (1983) treated them as a single species, and most global authorities have followed this. However, the two have diverged in plumage, morphometrics (especially the 'much larger and relatively deeper' bill of E. n. nana; Ridgway 1916) and genetics (Latta et al. 2010), albeit not very strongly. Based on these differences, del Hoyo & Collar (2014) considered the two taxa to be separate species. ...
... In distinguishing E. astec from E. nana, Souancé (1857) noted the latter's longer tail, darker coloration, larger and entirely pale bill, and the entirely bare cere. The two taxa were considered distinct species by most subsequent authors, including Ridgway (1916), who noted that E. nana had a much larger and relatively deeper bill than all other Eupsittula, although he also noted that its plumage was very similar in coloration to that of E. astec. Cory (1918) considered the two separate species, as did Peters (1937) and Friedmann et al. (1950). ...
... -Sangster et al. (2023) claimed that all four Eupherusa species have 'square' tails, and this formed the basis of their argument that the 'forked' tail of [T.] ridgwayi is a unique autapomorphy that supports its placement in a monotypic genus. However, they apparently overlooked that E. nigriventris has a 'more strongly rounded' tail than other Eupherusa species (Ridgway 1911: 399)-decidedly not square-as demonstrated by Gould & Sharpe's (1887) original plate (Fig. 1), the lone E. nigriventris study skin in my sample (Fig. 2, DMNH 59857) and photos of live birds taken from an appropriate angle (e.g.., Macaulay Library, ML 449382291). Furthermore, within the clade containing Eupherusa and its nearest relatives, the forked tail is not unique to [T.] ridgwayi-both Pirre Hummingbird Goldmania bella and G. violiceps have forked tails-and forked tails also occur in other clades of emeralds, as well as in more distant clades within Trochilidae. ...
... By reducing the colourful variation in Eupherusa tails to 'black', Sangster et al. (2023) gave the false impression that the 'mostly blue' tail of [T.] ridgwayi was a unique autapomorphy that supported the erection of a monotypic genus. This error cannot be attributed solely to a lack of access to study skins of the relevant taxa, because the correct range of tail colour variation in Eupherusa was available in literature (e.g., Elliot 1879, Ridgway 1911, which Sangster et al. (2023) did not cite. ...
Sangster et al. (2023) erected a new genus (Dicranurania) for the Mexican Woodnymph [Thalurania] ridgwayi (Nelson, 1900), which phylogenetic evidence suggests is the most likely sister group of the genus Eupherusa Gould, 1857, and distantly related to (and polyphyletic with) the other species of Thalurania Gould, 1848. Here, with a representative sample of study skins, I demonstrate that their morphological diagnosis of Dicranurania was based on a broad mischaracterisation of Eupherusa phenotypes, which improperly exaggerated the distinctiveness of [T.] ridgwayi. Therefore, I encourage systematists to classify [T.] ridgwayi as a fifth species of Eupherusa, and relegate Dicranurania to its synonymy.
... The phylogeny and generic taxonomy of the puffbirds remains largely unresolved (Rasmussen & Collar 2002). Sclater (1882) and Ridgway (1914) first evaluated intra-familiar relationships using morphological features. Peters (1948) and Cottrell (1968) later lumped 15 species into what is likely a polyphyletic genus, Bucco. ...
... One notable exception is Nystalus, which is the only genus within the Bucconinae known to nest in the ground (Rasmussen & Collar 2002, Greeney et al. 2004. Interestingly, along with Bucco, Nystalus shares the lack of a bifid bill with members of the Malacoptilinae (Ridgway 1914, Rasmussen & Collar 2002. This suggests that Nystalus may be better placed with the malacoptilines or, as suggested by a phylogeny based on nuclear genes (Witt 2004), as basal to other puffbirds along with Bucco. ...
The Brown nunlet (N. brunnea) is one of six species of small puffbirds in the genus Nonnula. Here, we describe a nest of Brown Nunlet from Amazonian Ecuador. The nests' architecture iverges from that of other bucconids, built neither in a subterranean burrow nor in a termitarium, but rather is a flattened, dome-shaped structure composed of leaf litter above a shallow depression. Structural integrity of the leafy dome is created with carefully placed sticks and the inner chamber is entered through a short tunnel. We also provide observations that clarify uncertainties in nest placement of White-chested Puffbird (Malacoptila fusca) and observations on the breeding of other Bucconidae in Amazonian Ecuador.
... T he genus Myiarchus comprises numerous notoriously similar-looking species of medium-size to fairly large flycatchers inhabiting a variety of scrubby and wooded habitats throughout much of the New World. Nutting's Flycatcher Myiarchus nuttingi, described in 1882 (type specimen from northwest Costa Rica), has experienced a vexed taxonomic history: at times it has been lumped with Ash-throated Flycatcher M. cinerascens (e.g., van Rossem 1936); at other times it has included the brachyurus taxon of Brown-crested Flycatcher M. tyrannulus (e.g., Ridgway 1907); and in recent years it has been treated as its own species, comprising three subspecies: inquietus throughout much of Mexico; flavidior from eastern Oaxaca, Mexico, south at least to Nicaragua; and nominate nuttingi, reported from eastern Oaxaca, Mexico, south to northwest Costa Rica (Lanyon 1961). Hereafter, nuttingi refers to the subspecies, not the species as a whole. ...
... Recent fieldwork in Mexico and Central America, along with study of sound recordings (discussed below), leads us to wonder whether inquietus and nuttingi might also represent cryptic species. The main plumage difference between them is a broad dark stripe bordering the shaft of the outer rectrices on inquietus (similar to flavidior) versus a greatly reduced dark distal area on nuttingi (Ridgway 1907;Figs. 2-10). ...
We treat the identification and taxonomy of Nutting's Flycatcher Myiarchus nuttingi, which we believe comprises at least two, possibly three species.
... To facilitate field and in-hand identifications, we are providing here additional descriptive information to supplement the meticulous descriptions provided earlier by Ridgway (1919) and Godfrey (1966). In general, C. mauri is more heavily streaked between the neck and breast and on the sides and flanks. ...
... When both the culmen length and the distance from the distal corner of the nostril to the tip of the bill are used simultaneously (Figures 1 and 2), there is almost no overlap between males (or females) of the two species. The confidence limits for individual values of culmen length given in Table 1 are in fact more conservative than Ridgway's (1919) measurements, which have been used by various other authors. Brodkorb (1967) states that C. pusilla has a culmen length about equal to or shorter than middle toe with claw, whereas C. mauri has a culmen length greater than middle toe with claw. ...
... Remarkably, this has largely escaped attention in field guides and other references, which either fail to mention differences in iris colour among Lesser Roadrunner populations, or incorrectly characterise the iris as similar to that of Greater Roadrunner in either written descriptions or colour plates (e.g., Howell & Webb 1995, Payne 1997, Vallely & Dyer 2018. The iris colour in adult Lesser Roadrunner has been described as yellow to brown, with a silvery-whitish ring around the pupil (Ridgway 1916, Dickey & van Rossem 1938, Payne 2005. ...
All modern avian world taxonomies currently treat Lesser Roadrunner Geococcyx velox as monotypic. Since its description in 1836, however, five subspecies have been described based on tail pattern and underparts colour. These features were later found to be subject to individual and seasonal variation, and in the late 1990s the species was reclassified as monotypic. Here we present a previously
overlooked diagnosable character that separates three geographic populations. We evaluated 1,400 photos archived in Macaulay Library and found consistent differences in iris colour, and no evidence of clinal connectivity, suggestive of divergence. We describe sectoral heterochromia for populations of Lesser Roadrunner in Yucatán and Honduras east to Nicaragua, a potential adaptation to foraging in tropical open habitats.
... Also, as with other species of Heliodoxa (cf. Ridgway 1911), juveniles of leadbeateri have prominent buffy to rufous borders to the malar stripe, which are visible even through binoculars. I stored the retrices in envelopes at ambient temperature and preserved the blood in 1.5 mL tubes with 99% ethanol until analysis. ...
Los colibríes dependen de los azúcares del néctar para suplir su elevada demanda metabólica, pero la mayoría de los néctares son extremadamente pobres en nitrógeno. Como consecuencia, estas aves deben consumir también artrópodos para satisfacer sus necesidades proteicas. En muchas especies de colibríes, los machos y las hembras utilizan los recursos florales en forma diferente. Propuse que los sexos también podrían diferir en el consumo de artrópodos, porque las hembras tienen mayores demandas de nitrógeno durante la época reproductiva. Empleé isótopos δ15N de plumas y sangre para demostrar que las hembras se alimentan en niveles tróficos más altos que los machos y que los adultos lo hacen en niveles más altos que los juveniles. Las hembras capturadas durante la temporada reproductiva también se alimentaron en niveles tróficos más altos que las capturadas fuera de la época de cría, aunque el tamaño de las muestras fue pequeño. También encontré un leve pero inesperado aumento en los valores de δ15N en las plumas con elevación en una especie.
... Adult and subadult males weigh between 4.1 and 4.8 kg, while females weigh between 5.8 and 7.6 kg [47][48][49], with females being 21-85% heavier than males. Furthermore, adult males have wings measuring 543-580 mm, while females have wings measuring 583-610 mm [50]. Harpy Eagles are found in Neotropical forests from southern Mexico to northeastern Argentina and eastern Brazil [51][52][53]. ...
The primary (PSR), secondary (SSR) and adult (ASR) sex ratios of sexually reproducing organisms influence their life histories. Species exhibiting reversed sexual size dimorphism (RSD) may imply a higher cost of female production or lower female survival, thus generating biases in PSR, SSR and/or ASR towards males. The Harpy Eagle is the world's largest eagle exhibiting RSD. This species is found in the Neotropical region and is currently threatened with extinction. We used molecular markers to determine the sex of 309 Harpy Eagles spanning different life stages—eaglets, subadults and adults—from 1904 to 2021 within the Amazon Rainforest and Atlantic Forest. Sex ratios for all life stages revealed a female-biased deviation across all periods and regions. Our results suggest that the population bias towards females is an evolutionary ecological pattern of this species, and SSR and ASR likely emerged from the PSR. This natural bias towards females may be compensated by an earlier sexual maturation age of males, implying a longer reproductive lifespan and a higher proportion of sexually active males. A better understanding of the Harpy Eagle's life history can contribute to understanding sex-role evolution and enable more appropriate conservation strategies for the species.
Columbidae (the pigeon and dove family) are a speciose clade of non-passerine birds with a near global distribution. Recently, Young et al. (2024) undertook an evaluation of the systematics and nomenclature of the Dodo and its sister species the Rodrigues Solitaire. Therein, they also investigated the validity of columbid family-group names. Since publication, we have been made aware of corrections to that survey of columbid family-group names. As such, this erratum is a nomenclatural addendum to Young et al. (2024) and should be consulted alongside the original publication.
The Dodo and its extinct sister species, the Solitaire, are iconic exemplars of the destructive capabilities of humanity. These secondarily terrestrial columbids became extinct within a century of their first encounter with humanity. Their rapid extinction, with little material retained in natural history collections, led 18th and some early 19th century naturalists to believe that these aberrant birds were mythological. This meant that the nomenclatural publications in which their scientific nomina were established were based on accounts written before the species became extinct. As such, no type specimens were designated for either the Dodo or the Solitaire. Our in-depth historical overview of both species and associated family-group nomina found that the nominal authority of the Dodo-based family group is not what is reported in the literature. Moreover, our detailed review of the family-group nomina based on columbid genera ensures that the current columbid family-group systematization is valid. Changing nomenclatural norms between the 19th and 20th centuries had a profound impact on Dodo nomenclature; so much so that the Dodo is an example of how pervasive nomenclatural ‘ripples’ can be and a warning for our current world of multiple nomenclatural codes.
The identity of the bird described from Paraguay by Félix de Azara as No. 372 Ypacahá del Pardo is confirmed as the immature plumage of the Spotted Rail Pardirallus maculatus maculatus (Boddaert, 1783). This description is the basis for the name Rallus rytirhynchos Vieillot, 1819 which is thus a junior subjective synonym and an available name. Rallus rytirhynchos Vieillot, 1819 is the type species of the genus Ortygonax Heine, 1890. Ortygonax Heine, 1890 is a junior subjective synonym of Pardirallus Bonaparte, 1856 and is also available for application.
KEYWORDS
Ortygonax; Pardirallus maculatus ; Pardirallus nigricans ; Pardirallus sanguinolentus ; Rallidae
The Western Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) is indeed difficult. This species, as recently reconstrued, occupies an enormous range, from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico to the Canadian Rockies, and from Southeastern Alaska to the Los Cabos municipitality of Baja California del Sur.
Wherever there is a shady ledge on which to build a nest, and moss to build it with, this olive-drab Empidonax is likely to be found. The birds in each of those great north-south swathes behave like good species, but the complete range is now, in recent millennia at least, shaped like a horseshoe, not parallel bars. In the broad area of contact from northern California to Alberta, the unsuitable habitat of the intervening cold and hot deserts to the south is replaced by cooler mountain ranges; stepping stones whereby the products of two independent evolutionary experiments are able to meet and reconstitute their ancestral species, or not, as though the whole affair was arranged by Ernst Mayr to test his theory of speciation.
Recent research, as yet to be published, suggests that the eastern bird, formerly known as Cordilleran Flycatcher (Empidonax occidentalis) from 1989 until 2023, has invaded a large inland area formerly occupied by the erstwhile Pacific-coast Flycatcher (E. difficilis, sensu strictu). In that area, the preponderance of coastal mitochondrial DNA in birds with more-interior nuclear DNA suggests that the coastal population got there first, but that invading Cordilleran Flycatcher, which have been shown to be more aggressive, reduced the participation of Pacific-coast Flycatcher males in breeding, leaving the signature of their former mates in the maternally-inherited mitochondria of the hybrid offspring. No one knows how this will end. But for the persistence of the late Ned K. Johnson in proving the two forms had successfully completed Mayr’s path to species status, and the equal persistence of his successors at replicating his famously intensive studies, Western Flycatcher would remain what it was to the world in 1980, a common but inconspicuous little bird, best known as the easiest North American member of the genus Empidonax to identify by sight. The taxonomic split championed by Johnson made the two sister species impossible to identify by sight, and vocalizations turned out to be undependable because of a continuous spectrum of variation from the norm of one “species” to the other. The confusion led to research that elucidated a story as complex as those of the Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) and Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus). For now, all three are safely lumped, but each story shows that there is more in a name than meets the eye. Meanwhile, another genealogical question has arisen in southern Mexico that threatens the well-established split of Western Flycatcher from its sister-species, Yellowish Flycatcher (Empidonax flavescens) . Much more work is needed on this situation, which has major implications for historical biogeography.
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