Yep; but remember Zink et al. (2009; Mol. Phyl. Evol. 52: 769–773) had a Kazakhstan specimen embedded in stejnegeri - that's why I raised this possibility :t:
But 50 of them?
Yep; but remember Zink et al. (2009; Mol. Phyl. Evol. 52: 769–773) had a Kazakhstan specimen embedded in stejnegeri - that's why I raised this possibility :t:
True; I hadn't realised there were that many in the samples!But 50 of them?
Now in press in Mol Ecol. [abstract & suppl info]Van Doren, Campagna, Helm, Illera, Lovette & Liedvogel (2017). Correlated patterns of genetic diversity and differentiation across an avian family. Pre-Print, posted January 2, 2017
(Thanks Daniel. The link is not correct, however -- it points to the abstract of Zink et al 2009.)Opaev A., Red'kin Y., Kalinin E. & Golovina M., 2018. Species limits in Northern Eurasian taxa of the Common Stonechats, Saxicola torquatus complex (Aves: Passeriformes, Muscicapidae). Vertebr. Zool. 68 (3): 199-211.
(Thanks Daniel. The link is not correct, however -- it points to the abstract of Zink et al 2009.)
It's not really a matter of priority. The central issue is which taxon ("southern" or "northern" Caspian Stonechat) the name variegatus Gmelin 1774 applies to.Laurent,
What's your view on the taxonomic argument therein that on priority grounds Svensson should have named the hemprichii population variegatus?
MJB
(More or less: "Inhabits the highlands of Armenia (Kurdistan, Urmia) to the border of Mesopotamia, as well as, apparently, parts of East Transcaucasia, where also transitions to variegata already occur. Incidentally, only one specimen from 20 May 1896 from Şamaxı can be regarded as a doubtless breeding bird; the others (from Tbilisi and Sakataly) were collected in March.")Bewohnt das Hochland von Armenien (Kurdistan, Urmia) bis zur Grenze vom Mesopotamien, ausserdem, augenscheinlich, Teile von Ost-Transkaukasien, wo auch schon Ubergänge zu variegata vorkommen. Übrigens, kann nur ein Stück vom 20. V. 1896 aus Schemacha als zweifelloser Brutvogel angesehen werden; die übrigen (von Tiflis un Sakataly) sind in März erbeutet.
It seems doubtful to me that Stegmann really intended to make Şamaxı the only place where his new taxon was demonstrably breeding; rather, he presumably intended to indicate Şamaxı as the only locality in East Transcaucasia he could report and where his taxon would unquestionably have bred (breeding birds from this area being otherwise what he called "variegata"; and all the other birds attributable to his "armenica" and collected in said area having in fact been possible migrants).The second reason to believe Gmelin's bird is the SCT is rather surprisingly found in Stegmann (1935), where it is stated that the only certain breeder of the SCT found by that author was one collected on 20 May 1896 in Samaxi ('Schemacha'), in other words the place where Gmelin first found his bird! How Stegmann wrote this without noticing the apparent contradiction is hard to understand. After all, he accepted Gmelin's bird as being the NCT with type locality in Samaxi, then goes on to name the SCT and can only report one breeding locality for it, Samaxi. We have reasons to believe that the specimen mentioned by Stegmann is in the Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg. Confirmation of its presence there and its identity would naturally be of interest, but a request regarding this has met with no success.
Štegman called the bird Saxicola torqnata armenica. If you search copy two with armenica Google Books gives you four lines of the OD on page 47.
https://books.google.com/books?id=zwNPAAAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=armenica .
...then comes the habitat statement I already quoted in post #68 above.Saxicola torquata armenica subsp. nova.Ähnelt in der Färbung am meisten der S. maura. Die weissen Flecken an Halsseiten und Schultern sing gross und der Bürzel ungefleckt, aber die Steuerfedern nur an der Wurzel, oder hochstens bis zu 1/4 ihrer Lange weiss. Unterseite etwas intensiver gefärbt, als bei maura, aber blasser, als robusta. Sehr gross: Flügellänge ♂♂ 70—75.6 mm. Beschrieben nach 19 exemplaren.
Typus: ♂ ad. 1. IX. 1914, Dorf Adschafana, Kurdistan.
Thus Stegmann was indeed uncertain that this form bred in East Transcaucasia. (But he clearly considered Gmelin's description to match the autumn plumage of this taxon.)Saxicola torquata variegata Gmel. (S. t. maura auctorum)Viel heller. Bei den Männchen sind die weissen Flecken an Schultern und Halsseiten viel grösser, Bürzel und Oberschwanzdecken weiss, ganz ohne dunkle Flecken, der rostrote Ton der Unterseite gewöhnlich nur auf die Brust beschränkt. Die Steuerfedern sind (ausser dem mittleren Paare) gewöhnlich von der Wurzel bis zur Mitte weiss, zuweilen weniger, oft aber sogar bis zu 2/3 ihrer Länge! Die Weibchen sind auf der Oberseite heller und haben einen fast rein weissen Bürzel. Der Flügel ist spitzer (Flügel-formel immer II>VII), die Flügelspitze länger. Flüglellänge ♂♂ 66—72 mm. Im ganzen 60 Exemplare untersucht.
Terra typica: Schemacha (Ost-Transkaukasien); das Herbstkleid richtig beschrieben.
Bewohnt den Kaukasus östlich der Grusinischen Strasse und die Steppen am nordlichen Kaspi-See, nach Norden und Osten bis Gurjev. Aus dem östlischen Transkaukasien stammen nur Stücke vom Marz und September, so dass es ungewiss ist, ob diese Form dort brütet.