On the description year and type locality of Horned Guan (2 Viewers)

[ElChivizcoyo]

Hello, reading about the incredible Horned Guan I found some inconsistences on the description dates of this bird.

Both Avibase and Birds of the World indicates that this bird was described in 1844 (no specific locality given, just labeled as Guatemala)

But searching more about the type locality, Salvin (1860) states that the Guan type locality is Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala. But also the date of collection of this bird is placed in 1848, four years after the presumed year of description.

The original description is in the 3rd volume of Robert Gray's "The Genera of birds" that was published on 1849, not in 1844 (that is the publishing date of the first volume of "the Genera...")

So, is this a mistake that has been unnoticed? or there is a prior publication that I am not aware of? thank you in advance for helping clear this mistery.

Sources:
Salvin, 1860 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1860.tb06034.x
3rd volume of The Genera... v.3 (1844-1849) - The genera of birds - Biodiversity Heritage Library

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

• The Key has the generic name Oreophasis dated 1844 (coined at the same time, in the same publication).

• Zoonomen lists the species as (my blue bolds):

• Oreophasis derbianus Gray,GR 1844 Gen.Birds Pt2 p.[485] pl.CXXI, pl.121 no.3

... with the following comment:

The Genera of Birds : comprising their generic characters ... and an extensive list of species.

Gray, GR [1808-72]​

Mitchell, DW, illustrator.​

1844-49​

London​

3vols. 4to​

Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans.​

An extremely complex publishing history, issued in 50 parts without respect to the final arrangement.
The dates for the individual parts extend from May 22, 1844 to June 1849.
What is known of the history is summarized in Zimmer. [*]

• Richmond Card here: "... July 1944, ... Type locality: Guatemala"

Hopefully of some use/help?

Björn

PS. It's always tricky when a publication series originally (as in this case) was issued in 50 parts/leaflets (with illustrations), ending up being bound in far less (two or three) later Books/volumes.

---

* Zimmer, J. T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Chicago: Field Museum Of Natural History (here).

 

[mb1848]

I agree with Bjorn: "It's always tricky when a publication series originally (as in this case) was issued in 50 parts/leaflets (with illustrations), ending up being bound in far less (two or three) later Books/volumes."
But page 485 of the Genera of Birds in the BHL has it at the beggining of volume III. That page is dated on the bottom July 1844.
v.3 (1844-1849) - The genera of birds - Biodiversity Heritage Library .
Sclater may have been discussing the date of his skin of this bird?

 

[l_raty]

Oreophasis was also listed in 1845 by Andreas Wagner in a report covering ornithological publications of the year 1844, as having appeared in the third part ("n. 3") of Gray's Genera of Birds: Jahrg.11:Bd.1-2 (1845) - Archiv für Naturgeschichte - Biodiversity Heritage Library
Part 3 of the Genera of Bird was listed by Zimmer 1926 (v.16:pt.1 (1926) - Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library ... - Biodiversity Heritage Library ; also cited by Björn above) as having been received by the Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. on 19 Jul 1844.

All three volumes of Gray's work (not just the 3rd volume) have title a page dated to "1849"; these title pages were certainly issued simultaneously at the closure of the publication process.