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Richard Klim

Richard Klim

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Howell 2012. Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America: A Photographic Guide. Princeton University Press.

The Amazon preview reveals the taxonomy followed (see Contents). The splits of Oceanodroma [leucorhoa] cheimomnestes Ainley's Storm-Petrel and O [l] socorroensis Townsend's Storm-Petrel are to be expected (following Howell et al 2010). Other splits of interest include O [l] chapmani Chapman's Storm-Petrel, O [castro] bangsi Darwin's Storm-Petrel and Diomedea [exulans] gibsoni Gibson's Albatross.

[John Boyd (TiF) provisionally treats bangsi (and kumagae) as sspp of Oceanodroma (Thalobata) [castro] cryptoleucura 'Pacific Storm-Petrel'.]
​
The preview includes the sections on phylogeny and taxonomy, and much else. It looks to be an impressive work - I've just placed my order!
 
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Richard Klim said:
Amazon preview reveals the taxonomy followed (see Contents). The splits of Oceanodroma [leucorhoa] cheimomnestes Ainley's Storm-Petrel and O [l] socorroensis Townsend's Storm-Petrel are to be expected. Other splits of interest include O [l] chapmani Chapman's Storm-Petrel, O [castro] bangsi Darwin's Storm-Petrel and Diomedea [exulans] gibsoni Gibson's Albatross.
Click to expand...

It appears from the index that Steve Howell hasn't formally put these forward, nor accepted them, as splits as he uses square brackets, representing species rank uncertainty (unless, that is, he says something different in another section). For these, he follows other authors, quoting references.

For Darwin's Storm-Petrel he says ‘As a measure of nomenclatural convenience, I propose here the name Darwin’s Storm-Petrel for the Galapagos population’ and 'should convey ready geographic association'. I don't think Band-rumped has been recorded along the Western Seaboard - if it has, then I'm unsure how the Hawaiian birds would be separated from 'Darwin's' - as it is there's much uncertainty in sorting the Atlantic 'Band-rumped's' in the field (and I'm fascinated to read how Steve has covered those also).
 
TonyPym said:
It appears from the index that Steve Howell hasn't formally put these forward, nor accepted them, as splits as he uses square brackets, representing species rank uncertainty...
Click to expand...
Well, Steve clearly considers that they merit splitting. eg, from Howell 2010...
...two taxa breeding on islets off Mexico's Guadalupe Island (soccoroensis and cheimomnestes), treated herein as full species, with English names Townsend's Storm-Petrel and Ainley's Storm-Petrel, respectively.

In a forthcoming identification guide to North American petrels, albatrosses, and storm-petrels, Howell (in prep.) will treat the Guadalupe Island taxa as full species, using the English names Townsend's Storm-Petrel for the summer-breeding O. [leucorhoa] socorroensis and Ainley's Storm-Petrel for the winter-breeding O. [leucorhoa] cheimomnestes.

Townsend's Storm-Petrel (O. socorroensis) breeds on...

Ainley's Storm-Petrel (O. cheimomnestes) breeds on...
Click to expand...
TonyPym said:
I don't think Band-rumped has been recorded along the Western Seaboard...
Click to expand...
Note that for the purposes of the book, 'North America' continues south to Panama. Howell & Webb 1995 states that O castro is an offshore Pacific visitor to Mexico, perhaps irregularly/seasonally fairly common (Apr-Aug?) to waters around Islas Revillagigedo, although with only one documented (photographed) record.
 
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I think the use of brackets is more so that birders who might not be aware of these splits or follow checklists that have not yet endorsed these splits, can easily know what group of petrels Howell is referring to.
 
Richard Klim said:
Well, Steve clearly considers that they merit splitting. eg, from Howell 2010....
Click to expand...

Hi Richard
Here, in Steve Howell's new book, it uses Ainley’s (Leach’s) Storm-Petrel and Townsend’s (Leach’s) Storm-Petrel in the main index, text, photo plates and the main taxonomy section, with Oceanodroma [leucorhoa] cheimomnestes, as an example, for the first….so I would read these to mean of ‘uncertain species status’ (if I hadn’t read the earlier article!) I cannot, at present, access the Ainley’s detailed pages, though I do have a review copy on its way to me so if this is clarified I’ll let you know.

Richard Klim said:
Note that for the purposes of the book, 'North America' continues south to Panama. Howell & Webb 1995 states that O castro is an offshore Pacific visitor to Mexico, perhaps irregularly/seasonally fairly common (Apr-Aug?) to waters around Islas Revillagigedo, although with only one documented (photographed) record.
Click to expand...

Since amended by Howell,1996 (A Checklist of the Birds of Mexico). Also, in the new book it says probably a rare offshore visitor to Panama, and continues ‘….but no well-documented records from Mexico’ and ‘reports off Baja…are unsubstantiated’. In fact, the only record for the region, covered by the book, is a specimen dated 1898 taken off Costa Rica.

Mysticete said:
I think the use of brackets is more so that birders who might not be aware of these splits or follow checklists that have not yet endorsed these splits, can easily know what group of petrels Howell is referring to.
Click to expand...
Doesn't the use, like this, go against the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, Article 6 ("Interpolated names'')?
 
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Probably 'splitting' hairs (and I'm certainly no expert!), but square brackets generally indicate aggregates of closely-related species (eg, allospecies), with the superspecies name bracketed; whereas uncertain species status is more often indicated by enclosing the parent species name in curved brackets.

Re O [castro] bangsi off the North Pacific coast, perhaps occurrence is just hypothetical?

Looking forward to seeing the book...
 
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mb1848 said:
What do the brackets mean then in his "Grant's [Band-rumped] Storm Petrel Oceanodroma castro undescribed"??
http://books.google.com/books?id=ok...KcE&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Grant&f=false .
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I was referring to the use of brackets within scientific names, where square brackets are often used to clarify the origin/derivation of splits not yet widely adopted within the ornithological community (as Morgan noted earlier). Steve Howell has used the same approach within the vernacular names.

My understanding is that Robb & Mullarney (2008), and Steve Howell, recognise Grant's Storm Petrel as a valid species, albeit undescribed. Hence the description on the Contents page as "Oceanodroma [castro] undescribed", consistent with the other elevated forms. Also, on p369, "In the ne Atlantic, at least four species-level taxa in the Band-rumped Storm-Petrel complex breed on various islands: the widespread winter-breeding Grant's Storm-Petrel (which has yet to be described formally),..."
 
Howell 2012

Reviewed by Rick Wright on The ABA Blog: Howell: Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America.

Confirming one of Rick's observations, the preview includes examples of 'Trinidade' Petrel, and 'Trinidad' Petrel, but sadly no Trindade Petrels. Also, an interesting point about hasitata (which Jobling 2010 attributes to haesitatus).

[Still awaiting my copy. Latest estimate from Amazon UK: 3-10 Feb 2012.]
 
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Classic. It seems that Rick Wright can't spell Trindade either, as he says "The name of the island Trinidade is inconsistently spelled...".

Sadly, most non-Brazilians, or at least English-speaking non-Brazilians, just can't seem to get their heads around the fact that this island has absolutely bugger all to do with an island just off Venezuela. That i just keeps slipping in there.

One bird magazine "editor" even had the audacity to tell me once that "Trinidade" was a legitimate alternative spelling.

Do any of these people actually ever refer to source like the "Times Atlas"?
 

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