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Howard and Moore 4th edition - Passerines (1 Viewer)

l_raty said:
You must read the review by Olson, 1995. (It starts on p.539.)
Click to expand...

Very interesting. Thank you, Laurent.

Olson:
Unfortunately, in this instance the Teutonic fountain of omniscience has spewed forth a sphagnum opus that is a bog of fatuous and sometimes inexplicable errors that can only be regarded as mire. Because this work is one of the most meretricious and fallacious documents ever produced in the history of zoological nomenclature, a frank caveat lector must be issued lest it be accepted and its myriad errors perpetuated.
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Cruel
 
At first glance, I would say that this case probably falls under:
ICZN said:
40.2. Names replaced before 1961. If, however, a family-group name was replaced before 1961 because of the synonymy of the type genus, the substitute name is to be maintained if it is in prevailing usage.
40.2.1. A name maintained by virtue of this Article retains its own author but takes the priority of the replaced name, of which it is deemed to be the senior synonym.
Click to expand...
Ridgway, 1901, placed Plectrophanes Meyer in the synonymy of Calcarius [here], and called the group Calcarieae [here].
Unless there is another source for "Plectrophenacidae", this name was invented by Bock in 1994, and is unavailable.
If so, Calcariidae being the only available name in use for the group, it should be maintained and treated as taking priority from the date of publication of Plectrophaneae Olphe-Galliard, 1890.
 
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l_raty said:
Yes, I don't think they like each other very much... :smoke:
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Olson complains about Bock not following provisions of the Code re families, and he seems to have a point. However, Olson probably breaches the Code of Ethics provisions in doing so (including the German motto at the end of his piece):

ICZN Code of Ethics:
"5. Intemperate language should not be used in any discussion or writing which involves zoological nomenclature, and all debates should be conducted in a courteous and friendly manner."
 
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ICZN Code of Ethics:
"5. Intemperate language should not be used in any discussion or writing which involves zoological nomenclature, and all debates should be conducted in a courteous and friendly manner."[/QUOTE]

Is this the 1999 code?, or perhaps Olson thought he conducted in a courteous and friendly manner."
 
Storrs's quotation from Schiller (in German) may be translated as, "With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain."
 
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Fred Ruhe said:
Is this the 1999 code?, or perhaps Olson thought he conducted in a courteous and friendly manner."
Click to expand...
This is the 1999 Code. The 1985 Code, which was in force back them, had the same sentence, except that it lacked the words "or writing". (Conclude what you want...)
This was obviously written with an intent to be (very) unfriendly--in fact I have always found it stunning that this text had been published. Walter Bock (in his own words) wanted "the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to adopt formally the presented list of avian family-group names as the official base-line dated 1 January 1994 for all future nomenclatural decisions relating to avian family-group names". Obviously Storrs Olson did not want to see this happen at any cost...
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to communicate here, is that it is (really) preferable to cross-check what is written in this work systematically, and not to accept anything blindly. Without wanting to use Olson's language, the work includes decisions that were deliberately taken at variance with the Code (eg., Bock wrote:
Some workers have argued that family-group names proposed between 1930 and 1961 without an accompanying description do not meet the necessary requirements, hence are not available for the purposes of zoological nomenclature and must be rejected. In my opinion, this conclusion is completely wrong and can result in considerable, needless instability and lack of universality in the use of family-group names.
Click to expand...
...and he went on, deliberately ignoring this requirement and accepting names from that period knowing full well that they lack a description; this subsequently created confusing situations such as that described on the first page of Appendix 2 of the H&M4 preview), and it includes mistakes (some of which are indeed described by Olson, and among which Olphe-Galliard's name may apparently be counted).
This being said, this work has no equivalent so far, and it is certainly extremely useful--as long as you handle it with care.
 
l_raty said:
This is the 1999 Code. The 1985 Code, which was in force back them, had the same sentence, except that it lacked the words "or writing". (Conclude what you want...)
This was obviously written with an intent to be (very) unfriendly--in fact I have always found it stunning that this text had been published. Walter Bock (in his own words) wanted "the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to adopt formally the presented list of avian family-group names as the official base-line dated 1 January 1994 for all future nomenclatural decisions relating to avian family-group names". Obviously Storrs Olson did not want to see this happen at any cost...
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to communicate here, is that it is (really) preferable to cross-check what is written in this work systematically, and not to accept anything blindly. Without wanting to use Olson's language, the work includes decisions that were deliberately taken at variance with the Code (eg., Bock wrote:

...and he went on, deliberately ignoring this requirement and accepting names from that period knowing full well that they lack a description; this subsequently created confusing situations such as that described on the first page of Appendix 2 of the H&M4 preview), and it includes mistakes (some of which are indeed described by Olson, and among which Olphe-Galliard's name may apparently be counted).
This being said, this work has no equivalent so far, and it is certainly extremely useful--as long as you handle it with care.
Click to expand...

Taken in isolation, Storrs Olsson's words have the aura of being carefully considered and weighed, but perhaps commit the sin of being accurate? Does this demerit qualify as 'intemperance'?
MJB:eek!:
 
The rule in scientific publication should be "play the ball, not the man". There are various failures of that rule here, which are distasteful, detract from the other good points made, breach the code and should not be publishable. This was 20 years ago now, but it is an example of how not to conduct a review or discussion of a controversy, which those engaged in present controversies would do well to consider also:

"Unfortunately, in this instance the Teutonic fountain of omniscience
has spewed forth a sphagnum opus" [sarcasm, perhaps racism]

"It hardly seems possible that the mere concatenation of carelessness
and ignorance, each of which is manifest, could produce
such a treasury of blunders." [accusation of ignorance for another author]

"Mit der Dummheit Kampfen Gotter selbst vergebens. Shiller" [ = suggestion that the author is an idiot].

"Bock is the last person with grounds for casting aspersions on other people's proofreading" [unnecessary personal attack]

Criticism is all good, and it perhaps makes for interesting reading from a shadenfreude perspective for those who enjoy that sort of thing, but this sort of approach is totally unnecessary.
 
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Yemen & Warsangli Redpolls?

First surprise (presumably just a formatting error)...
LINARIA ... For recognition based on molecular evidence see Zuccon et al. (2012).
  • Linaria flavirostris, Linaria cannabina
ACANTHIS ... For renewed recognition based on molecular evidence see Zuccon et al. (2012).
  • Acanthis flammea, Acanthis hornemanni, Acanthis yemenensis Yemen Linnet, Acanthis johannis Warsangli Linnet
Click to expand...
Zuccon et al 2012...
Carduelis cannabina (Linnaeus, 1758) and C. flavirostris (Linnaeus, 1758) form a monophyletic lineage for which we propose to resurrect the genus name Linaria Bechstein, 1802 (type species Fringilla cannabina Linnaeus, 1758, gender feminine). The same clade has been recovered by Arnaiz-Villena et al. (1999, 2001), Yang et al. (2006) and Nguembock et al. (2009). Although not included in any molecular analysis, we suggest that Carduelis johannis (S. Clarke, 1919) and C. yemenensis (Ogilvie-Grant, 1913) also belong in this group, on grounds of plumage similarity to Carduelis cannabina.
Click to expand...
 
Holarctic aspects

Peter will no doubt soon include H&M4 Vol 2 in his very useful comparison of IOC with other world lists (hopefully now a slightly easier task given the helpful provision of an Excel spreadsheet version of the basic H&M checklist on the accompanying CD-ROM).

But, in the meantime, a few splits and lumps relevant to the Holarctic region not (yet) adopted by other mainstream world checklists...
  • Lanius (sphenocercus) giganteus – Giant Grey Shrike [Olsson et al 2010, Panov 2011]
  • Lanius (excubitor) borealis – Northern Shrike [Olsson et al 2010 etc]
  • Lanius (excubitor) meridionalis ss – Iberian Grey Shrike [monotypic]
  • Terpsiphone (paradisi) incei – Amur Paradise-flycatcher [no explanation, presumably Fabre et al 2012]
  • Passer (moabiticus) yatii – Afghan Sparrow [Kirwan 2004. Ayé et al 2012 suggested that 'Sistan Scrub Sparrow' would be a more suitable name]
  • Leucosticte (tephrocotis) atrata – Black (Gray-crowned) Rosy Finch – lumped [Drovetski et al 2009]
  • Leucosticte (tephrocotis) australis – Brown-capped (Gray-crowned) Rosy Finch – lumped [Drovetski et al 2009]
  • Phylloscopus (sindianus) lorenzii – Mountain Chiffchaff [Stepanyan 1990. P sindianus (ex-Mountain Chiffchaff) renamed Kashmir Chiffchaff]
  • Horornis (diphone) canturians – Manchurian Bush Warbler, incl borealis [contra Alström et al 2011]
  • Curruca (cantillans) inornata – Western Subalpine Warbler [Svensson 2013]
  • Turdus (merula) mandarinus – Eastern Blackbird, incl sowerbyi [Nylander et al 2008. Curiously positioned between T nudigenis and T ludoviciae]
I suspect that many ordinary birders will be less than enthusiastic about the generic rearrangements of (eg) Emberiza, Phylloscopus/Seicercus, Sylvia... ;)

And, hot on the heels of HBW/BirdLife, the further widespread independent tinkering with common names is very disheartening. (But I doubt that many will use H&M as a primary source of common names.)
 
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Richard Klim said:
I suspect that many ordinary birders will be less than enthusiastic about the generic rearrangements of (eg) Emberiza, Phylloscopus/Seicercus, Sylvia... ;)
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Nonmonophyly of Phylloscopus was ignored till now (with the exception of Boyd's TiF checklist) so I'm curious about how they resolved it.
 
Phylloscopidae

Peter Kovalik said:
Nonmonophyly of Phylloscopus was ignored till now (with the exception of Boyd's TiF checklist) so I'm curious about how they resolved it.
Click to expand...
  • Rhadina: orientalis, bonelli, sibilatrix

  • Abrornis: yunnanensis, subviridis, inornata, humei, chloronotus, forresti, kansuensis, proregulus, pulchra, maculipennis

  • Phylloscopus: fuscatus, fuligiventer, subaffinis, trochilus, ibericus, collybita, canariensis, lorenzii, sindianus, neglectus, tytleri, occisinensis, griseolus, affinis, armandii, schwarzi

  • Seicercus: affinis, poliogenys, burkii, tephrocephalus, omeiensis, soror, valentini, whistleri, cebuensis, olivaceus, coronatus, ijimae, umbrovirens, budongoensis, herberti, laetus, laurae, ruficapilla, castaniceps, grammiceps, montis, emeiensis, nitidus, trochiloides, plumbeitarsus, borealis, examinandus, xanthodryas, borealoides, tenellipes, magnirostris, calciatilis, cantator, ricketti, claudiae, reguloides, occipitalis, goodsoni, trivirgatus, sarasinorum, maforensis, makirensis, presbytes, amoenus, ogilviegranti, hainanus, xanthoschistos, klossi
 
Richard Klim said:
  • Rhadina: orientalis, bonelli, sibilatrix

  • Abrornis: yunnanensis, subviridis, inornata, humei, chloronotus, forresti, kansuensis, proregulus, pulchra, maculipennis

  • Phylloscopus: fuscatus, fuligiventer, subaffinis, trochilus, ibericus, collybita, canariensis, lorenzii, sindianus, neglectus, tytleri, occisinensis, griseolus, affinis, armandii, schwarzi

  • Seicercus: affinis, poliogenys, burkii, tephrocephalus, omeiensis, soror, valentini, whistleri, cebuensis, olivaceus, coronatus, ijimae, umbrovirens, budongoensis, herberti, laetus, laurae, ruficapilla, castaniceps, grammiceps, montis, emeiensis, nitidus, trochiloides, plumbeitarsus, borealis, examinandus, xanthodryas, borealoides, tenellipes, magnirostris, calciatilis, cantator, ricketti, claudiae, reguloides, occipitalis, goodsoni, trivirgatus, sarasinorum, maforensis, makirensis, presbytes, amoenus, ogilviegranti, hainanus, xanthoschistos, klossi
Click to expand...

Richard, thank you so much. B :)
 
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