Parus major Rearrangement Proposed - About Time! (1 Viewer)

Parus major - Great Tit

Races: major, newtoni, excelsus, corsus, mallorcae, ecki, niethammeri, aphrodite, terraesanctae, karelini, blanfordi.

Parus cinereus - Cinereous Tit

Races: cinereus, intermedius, caschmirensis, decolorans, ziaratensis, mahrattarum, stupae, nipalensis, vauriei, templorum, commixtus, nigriloris, hainanus, ambiguus, sarawacensis.

Parus minor - Japanese Tit

Races: minor, tibetanus, nubicolus, sbsp.inn., kagoshimae, dagaletensis, amamiensis, okinawae

Been a long time coming. Is this particular treatment to be published?

I bet it's based on Kvist L et al, 2003. Evolution and genetic structure of the great tit (Parus major) complex. Proc R Soc London B 270:1447.
However: “According to the phylogenetic species concept, all the subspecies groups
[note: including bokharensis, which is very closely related to major] could be considered as separate species, but if the definition of the biological species concept is strictly followed, none of the subspecies groups is a true species because hybridization still occurs.” (not that I'd endorse that view)

JH,
I followed up a note sent through the OB List-server, here: http://www.worldbirdinfo.net/Bird/tabid/55/bid/20559/Default.aspx

Look at the citations link, though not of help for me as it just says New Combination March 12 (?) - I don't know if this is supposed to intend by "pers. comm." or what! Perhaps, the response is buried somewhere in that Paridae Review .pdf that I think I sent also to you, but I have not had the time to find the file and relook at it.

Yes, you're right – from the review: “Here we treat the Great Tit as a superspecies, Parus [major], which includes three allospecies, each of which requires species rank under the Biological Species Concept (Mayr, 1942): Parus [major] major, the Northern Great Tit, including the bokharensis group, Parus [major] minor, the Eastern Great Tit, and Parus [major] cinereus, the Southern Great Tit.”
Those English names are a bit too rigorous for me, but I will not be tempted to make a joke about German authors...