Cercococcyx lemaireae & Buccanodon dowsetti Boesman & Collar 2019 (1 Viewer)

Boesman P, Collar NJ. 2019. Two undescribed species of bird from West Africa. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Cl., 139: 147-159.

Summary.—Taxonomically undifferentiated western and eastern populations of Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx mechowi and Yellow-spotted Barbet Buccanodon duchaillui are known to have very different voices. The cuckoo has two song types, a melodious three-note whistle and a plaintive whinnying in West Africa west of the Bakossi Mountains in Cameroon, and a much less melodious, higher-pitched three-note whistle and a much faster whinnying in Central Africa east of the Bakossi Mountains. The barbet has an accelerating song of some 6‒11 hoots west of the Dahomey Gap and a rapid rolling purr to the east. Even though in plumage and morphometrics there is no unambiguous diagnostic distinction between these two vocal groups, analysis of their vocalisations demonstrates a high degree of differentiation. We consider the western groups as species, naming the cuckoo for Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire and the barbet for Robert Dowsett.

Paper: https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v139i2.2019.a7
Full issue: https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v139i2.2019.a12

Unfortunately, no pictures of both available

Photograph of the cuckoo from Ghana
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nikbo...hotolist-22x2hyq-SYwSjE-2e1LoW9-RysFTP-BPnwCm

Photograph of the barbet from Sierra Leone
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mja43...ist-BV8SLU-bnSzVx-6MraaD-BX9Zva-pJqCpo-xCFKT9

A nice touch to name them after these well known African bird experts, though I wonder how they will view the split given how conservative they tend to be?

sicklebill said:

A nice touch to name them after these well known African bird experts, though I wonder how they will view the split given how conservative they tend to be?

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The precondition that they set in 2015 to the possibility of naming the cuckoo ([here], penultimate sentence of the text) is in any case currently not met.

l_raty said:

.... We consider the western groups as species, naming the cuckoo for Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire and the barbet for Robert Dowsett.

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sicklebill said:

..., though I wonder how they will view the split given how conservative they tend to be?

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The abstract states they were named for (i.e., on behalf of, not in honour of); they must have asked the authors to name the birds for them.

So, in layman's terms:

PB "Cor, Nige, these sound well different."
NC "Then they must be different species. Get yer ruler out Peter."
PB "They look exactly the same. Maybe we should do some of that clever DNA stuff."
NC "I'll overlook that comment, just never mention the D-word ever again in my presence."
PB "Sorry Nige, I don't know what came over me."
NC "I'll set my Tobias Machine to 'Species' and run the numbers."
PB "Gee Nige, it worked"
NC "It always does, Peter; it always does. I'll let you be first author."
PB "Mint"

DMW said:

So, in layman's terms:

PB "Cor, Nige, these sound well different."
NC "Then they must be different species. Get yer ruler out Peter."
PB "They look exactly the same. Maybe we should do some of that clever DNA stuff."
NC "I'll overlook that comment, just never mention the D-word ever again in my presence."
PB "Sorry Nige, I don't know what came over me."
NC "I'll set my Tobias Machine to 'Species' and run the numbers."
PB "Gee Nige, it worked"
NC "It always does, Peter; it always does. I'll let you be first author."
PB "Mint"

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It looks more like that conversation was between FD-L and RD, finishing:
FD-L "This is going to be controversial, how can we get them named without being considered jerks?"
RD "That's easy, I'll ask PB and NC to name them for us, then they can take the flak"

The abstract states they were named for (i.e., on behalf of, not in honour of); they must have asked the authors to name the birds for them.

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Or the authors were less grammatically astute than you

Niels

l_raty said:

Boesman P, Collar NJ. 2019. Two undescribed species of bird from West Africa. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Cl., 139: 147-159.

Summary.—Taxonomically undifferentiated western and eastern populations of Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx mechowi and Yellow-spotted Barbet Buccanodon duchaillui are known to have very different voices. The cuckoo has two song types, a melodious three-note whistle and a plaintive whinnying in West Africa west of the Bakossi Mountains in Cameroon, and a much less melodious, higher-pitched three-note whistle and a much faster whinnying in Central Africa east of the Bakossi Mountains. The barbet has an accelerating song of some 6‒11 hoots west of the Dahomey Gap and a rapid rolling purr to the east. Even though in plumage and morphometrics there is no unambiguous diagnostic distinction between these two vocal groups, analysis of their vocalisations demonstrates a high degree of differentiation. We consider the western groups as species, naming the cuckoo for Françoise Dowsett-Lemaire and the barbet for Robert Dowsett.

Paper: https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v139i2.2019.a7
Full issue: https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v139i2.2019.a12

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IOC Updates Diary Nov 8

Post proposed new species Whistling? Long-tailed Cuckoo

Post proposed new species Western Yellow-spotted Barbet

BirdLife Taxonomy: Yellow-spotted Barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui) is being split: assessment of newly recognised taxa.

Following a taxonomic reassessment, Yellow-spotted Barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui) has been split into Eastern Yellow-spotted Barbet (B. duchaillui), and Western Yellow-spotted Barbet (B. dowsetti) (see Boesman and Collar, 2019). The newly-split Eastern Yellow-spotted Barbet has a range extending from south-west Nigeria, through the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya. Western Yellow-spotted Barbet ranges from Sierra Leone to southern Ghana, but is now absent from Togo and Benin (Boesman and Collar, 2019).

The exact habitat requirements for the newly-split Western Yellow-spotted Barbet have not been investigated, but it is very likely to be similar to Eastern Yellow-spotted Barbet and require lowland and montane forests (del Hoyo et al., 2002). The high forest dependency of these species may make them vulnerable to forest loss. The population size of the pre-split species is unknown, but it is described as relatively common to common (del Hoyo et al., 2002).

The pre-split species was previously listed as Least Concern (BirdLife International 2020). However, following the taxonomic split, new range sizes suggest that both species warrant a thorough reassessment. We have therefore reassessed both species against each criterion here.

The cuckoo as well: Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo (Cercococcyx mechowi) is being split