taxonomy question (1 Viewer)

I just managed to get a picture of the Masked Yellowthroat (Geothlypis aequinoctialis) but know that from sometime ago it is being discuse about the split of this specie.

As far as I know, the split of this Geophlypis is not being recognized and is still pending for more genetics analisys.

Many different Ornithologist are working on this split but there is no final decision on giving a "YES" to the split of this Geothlypis. All the web pages that talk about the split does says that there is need for more studies to finally aprove the split of the races.

Does anyone have some more new information that confirm that the split was allowed and that right now they are consider the 4 different species based on locations as the plumages of all this birds are almost the same?

Chiriqui Yellowthroat Geothlypis chiriquensis
sw Costa Rica; w Panama

Black-lored Yellowthroat Geothlypis auricularis
w Ecuador to; c Peru: s to Ica (all nominate, on Pacific slope), upper Río Marañón valley (peruviana)

Southern Yellowthroat Geothlypis velata
se Peru; n,e Bolivia; s Brazil: from Mato Grosso, Goiás, s Piauí & Bahia s; Paraguay; Uruguay; n Argentina: s to San Luis, Córdoba & n Buenos Aires

And the original Masked Yellowthroat Geothlypis aequinoctialis
northern South America: Colombia, Venezuela

Regards,

Alejandro

BirdsPeru said:

I just managed to get a picture of the Masked Yellowthroat (Geothlypis aequinoctialis) but know that from sometime ago it is being discuse about the split of this specie.

As far as I know, the split of this Geophlypis is not being recognized and is still pending for more genetics analisys.

Many different Ornithologist are working on this split but there is no final decision on giving a "YES" to the split of this Geothlypis. All the web pages that talk about the split does says that there is need for more studies to finally aprove the split of the races.

Does anyone have some more new information that confirm that the split was allowed and that right now they are consider the 4 different species based on locations as the plumages of all this birds are almost the same?

Chiriqui Yellowthroat Geothlypis chiriquensis
sw Costa Rica; w Panama

Black-lored Yellowthroat Geothlypis auricularis
w Ecuador to; c Peru: s to Ica (all nominate, on Pacific slope), upper Río Marañón valley (peruviana)

Southern Yellowthroat Geothlypis velata
se Peru; n,e Bolivia; s Brazil: from Mato Grosso, Goiás, s Piauí & Bahia s; Paraguay; Uruguay; n Argentina: s to San Luis, Córdoba & n Buenos Aires

And the original Masked Yellowthroat Geothlypis aequinoctialis
northern South America: Colombia, Venezuela

Regards,

Alejandro

Click to expand...

Alejandro,

Here is a link to the South American Checklist Committee deliberations.
http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline11.html

Scroll down to citation #14 below the parulidae for a discussion of the yellowthroat situation.

Chris

Hi Alejandro,
You must state "allowed by whom". I presume that you want to follow the SACC Baseline list, that influences the A.O.U., and hence the Clements list usually. The split is already allowed by the "de facto" Sibley-Monroe update site www.ornitaxa.com.

The SACC position is still that which you have described above, i.e., waiting on further developments - so there is no new information apparently. I also saw the posting through birdingperu yahoo list-server and though Gunnar got the names mixed up a bit he is still right - still has been proposed for splitting, but it has been proposed for splitting since 1992 with the Escalante-Pliego paper, and it has not been deemed sufficient for the SACC group to date. The fact that other greater neotropical ornithological lights, e.g., Dan Lane or Jon Fjeldsaa have not chimed in on this mean to me that there is probably not known to them if there is other information to date. I am sure probably someone is working on the genus, but until they near publishing something probably not much will leak out. We will just have to wait and see therefore. Patience, and more patience - this is required for avian phylogenetical changes both in nomenclature and in taxonomy.

Hi Chris,
I see we were writing at the same time, so I might as well paste this in as it was already in my cursor.

14. Escalante-Pliego (1992) considered auricularis (with peruviana) of western Peru and Ecuador and the velata subspecies group of southern South America as separate species from Geothlypis aequinoctialis, as they had been treated by (REF - fide Meyer de Schauensee 1966 - trace). Ridgely & Tudor (1989) pointed out that auricularis (with peruviana) differs in plumage from other aequinoctialis at least as much as do taxa of Geothlypis yellowthroats treated as full species in Middle America. Ridgely & Greenfield (2001) followed Escalante-Pliego (1992) in treating auricularis, velata, and Central American chiriquensis as separate species from aequinoctialis, but see Wetmore et al. (1984). SACC Proposal to elevate auricularis and velata to species rank did not pass due to insufficient published data. Ridgely & Greenfield (2001) also suggested that vocal differences between auricularis and the subspecies peruviana indicated that peruviana should also be recognized as a separate species. We note that North American G. trichas shows remarkable geographic variation in song (BNA REF), and so we urge caution in comparing vocalizations among localities without taking into account potential geographic variation from across the range of any Geothlypis species complex.

Thanks Steve and Chris for the information, seems everything is still the same since long time ago.

Alejandro