Lynx-BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist (1 Viewer)

If genetic data are not used in the scoring system, I'm struggling to see how Eastern Yellow Wagtail makes the grade, given the extreme similarity between macronyx and thunbergi. Or maybe the treatment of subspecies differs from other taxonomies (in which case why are there not multiple species here under the scoring system?)

To me, this and the split of Greenish Warbler seem particularly at odds with the treatment of the stonechats as a single species.

"Wing-banded Antbird

Southern Wing-banded Antbird Myrmornis torquata
Northern Wing-banded Antbird Myrmornis stictoptera

split. I don't think this is a surprise - is there a SACC proposal? Probably OK on Tobias et al. and more traditional methods!

cheers, a"

"SACC not a proposal but note 55e. Ridgely & Tudor (1994) and Zimmer & Isler (2003) suggested that Myrmornis torquata might consist of more than one species; Cory & Hellmayr (1924) treated the subspecies stictoptera of Central America and western Colombia as a separate species."
"more traditional methods!" Dna of strictoptera in :
http://sites01.lsu.edu/faculty/najames/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2014/10/2014-Evolution.pdf .

I don't think this has been discussed on this thread, but videos of the talks from the last Neotropical Bird Club meeting are now online at the NBC website: http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/nbc-blog/

They include a talk by Nigel Collar on the Lynx-BirdLife taxonomy, one by Thomas Donegan that focuses on related issues, and a fantastic one by Alex Lees that touches upon a great many taxonomic issues

HBW/BLI Checklist :Implications for India

Visited here to check the discussion on splits, as I prepared a dossier for Indian users a few days back. Noticed a few I have missed but also saw some of the splits are yet to be discussed.

Trying to post a link to a Facebook post. If it makes sense, I can copy paste the text also.
Praveen

-----------Edits, it was certainly a bad idea to post a Facebook link from mobile phone---pasting the text here.


Handbook of Birds of the World/Birdlife International - Passerine Taxonomy - Implications for India (37 species)
Black-winged Babbler Turdoides somervillei: Jungle Babbler has been split! The birds found in W. Maharashtra and Goa is now known by this name.
Rufous-crowned Prinia Prinia khasiana: While Black-throated Prinia P. atrogularis was split from Hill Prinia P. superciliaris, here a third split found in hills south and east of Brahmaputra (a.k.a. ‘south Assam hills’) is recognised.
Banasura Laughingthrush Trochalopteron jerdoni: The northern race of Black-chinned Laughingthrush T. cachinnans that occur in Coorg and Wayanad hills is under this species while the nominate carries an older name Nilgiri Laughingthrush.
Travancore Laughingthrush Trochalopteron meridionale: The southern race of Kerala Laughingthrush T. fairbanki that occur in Agashyamalai [=Ashambu] hills is under this species while the nominate carries an older name Palani Laughingthrush.
Siberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus tristis: Considered a full species, different from the extralimital Common Chiffchaff P. collybita.
Southern Nutcracker Nucifraga hemispila: Apart from splitting Large Spotted Nutcracker N. multipunctata, here it is one step further in splitting N. hemispila from the extralimital Northern Nutcracker N. caryocatactes.
Plain Flowerpecker Dicaeum minullum: While splitting this from Nilgiri Flowerpecker D. concolor, the taxonomy is quiet on the status of Andaman Flowerpecker D. [concolor] virescens.
Indian Blackbird Turdus simillimus: While splitting this and Tibetan Blackbird T. maximus from the extralimital Eurasian Blackbird T. merula, some of the strikingly distinct subspecies continue as races of this species.
Chinese Rubythroat Calliope tschebaiewi: This is a recent split for the bird that occurs in Tibetan facies (e.g. Ladakh) from Himalayan Rubythroat C. pectoralis.
Mostly Expected: 28 species
The below list has changes which has been accepted by all (or most) other world taxonomies and hence does not come as a surprise. Regionally occurring parent species in brackets
• Indian Golden Oriole Oriolus kundoo (Eurasian Golden Oriole)
• Malabar Wood-shrike Tephrodornis sylvicola (Large Wood-shrike)
• White-spotted Fantail Rhipidura albogularis (White-throated Fantail)
• Oriental Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone affinis (Indian Paradise-flycatcher)
• Red-tailed Shrike Lanius phoenicuroides (Isabelline Shrike)
• Eastern Short-toed Lark Calandrella dukhunensis (Greater Short-toed Lark)
• Oriental Reed-warbler Acrocephalus orientalis (Great Reed-warbler)
• Himalayan Grasshopper-warbler Locustella kashmirensis (Spotted Grasshopper-warbler)
• Pale Sand Martin Riparia diluta (Collared Sand Martin)
• Square-tailed Bulbul Hypsipetes ganeesa (Black Bulbul)
• Flame-throated Bulbul Pycnonotus gularis (Black-crested Bulbul)
• Andaman Bulbul Brachypodius fuscoflavescens (Black-headed Bulbul)
• Green Warbler Phylloscopus nitidus (Greenish Warbler)
• Two-barred Warbler Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus (Greenish Warbler)
• Red-headed Bushtit Aegithalos iredalei (Black-throated Bushtit)
• Black-browed Bushtit Aegithalos bonvaloti (Rufous-fronted Bushtit)
• Rufous-headed Parrotbill Psittiparus bakeri (White-breasted Parrotbill)
• Brown-crowned Scimitar-babbler Pomatorhinus phayrei (Coral-billed Scimitar-babbler)
• Swamp Grass-babbler Laticilla cinerascens (Rufous-vented Grass-babbler)
• Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch Sitta cinnamoventris (Indian Nuthatch)
• Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii (Alpine Thrush)
• Black-throated Thrush Turdus atrogularis (Rufous-throated Thrush )
• Andaman Shama Kittacincla albiventris (White-rumped Shama)
• Himalayan Bush-robin Tarsiger rufilatus (Orange-flanked Bush-robin)
• Sahyadri Sunbird Aethopyga vigorsii (Crimson Sunbird)
• Chinese White-browed Rosefinch Carpodacus dubius (Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch)
• Southern Hill Myna Gracula indica (Common Hill Myna)
• Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis (Great Grey Shrike)
Extralimital splits which concerns subspecies found in India, parent extralimital species in brackets.
• Andaman Cuckoo-shrike Coracina dobsoni (Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrike)
• House Swallow Hirundo javanica (Pacific Swallow)
• Asian Plain Martin Riparia chinensis (African Plain Martin)
• Eastern Orphean Warbler Sylvia crassirostris (Western Orphean Warbler)
• Mount Victoria Babax Garrulax woodi (Chinese Babax)
• Dusky Thrush Turdus eunomus (Naumann’s Thrush)
• Himalayan Shortwing Brachypteryx cruralis (Javan Shortwing, split from White-browed)
• Blue-winged Leafbird Chloropsis moluccensis (Javan Leafbird)
• Eastern Goldfinch Carduelis caniceps (European Goldfinch)
Other prominent splits elsewhere that did NOT get recognised in HBW/BLI
• Scarlet Minivet Pericrocotus speciosus (Orange Minivet)
• Jungle Crow Corvus levaillantii (Large-billed Crow)
• Hill Swallow Hirundo domicola (House Swallow)
• Himalayan Shrike-babbler Pteruthius ripleyi (White-browed Shrike-babbler)
• Small Whitethroat Sylvia minula (Lesser Whitethroat)
• Hume's Whitethroat Sylvia althaea (Lesser Whitethroat)
• Nilgiri Thrush Zoothera neilgherriensis (Scaly Thrush)
• Malabar Starling Sturnia blythi (Chestnut-tailed Starling)
• Indian Tit Machlolophus aplonotus (Black-lored Tit)

Steppe Grey Shrike ?

Based on range, pallidirostris now part of L. excubitor, so many N Europe countries loose a species under this taxonomy.

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I am curious to know how you deduced pallidirostris is a part of excubitor ? In the BirdLife checklist, I just see that pallidirostris is Not Recognised, but missing this extra piece of information which you have found. Kindly help.

GMK said:

However, HBW Alive has been updated to reflect current understanding of taxonomy, i.e. two species, one called S. hadorami and the other S. butleri, so their (IUCN’s) overall authority has moved with the times.

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I'm unclear what they regard as "their overall authority"... The Red List species page, in any case, state explicitly:

Taxonomic Source(s): del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

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...which is the printed volume 1 of the Checklist, published 2014 - not HBW Alive, and not something that moves with the times.

GMK said:

I can’t really understand DMW’s post #602 at all. It’s patently incorrect to use the name omanensis, which is a synonym (as admitted even by those who coined the name).

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It is -- but only unless someone turns to the Commission.
It was also once, quite similarly, incorrect to use the name ruficauda Swainson 1838 for what is now known as Ficedula ruficauda, owing to the finding that Swainson's original holotype is a female Niltava unicolor Blyth 1843. Yet, for the better or worse, we still use it. (And it is now 'correct', due to [this].)

It sounds like the tobias scoring system was selectively applied to taxa that were of some taxonomic interest to the folks involved (conservation interests like restricted range endemics, or groups with a lot of recent debate in the literature (fox sparrows). Is that a fair assessment? Hence why some long-mooted splits were supported, but perhaps others were ignored.

lewis20126 said:

Guy

I'll give you to Monday night on that - I realise you might have to contact Josep and / or Nigel if your response needs to draw on as yet unpublished data from a global review of the plain-winged Loxia.

Cheers, a

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My guess is a tone like that is going to ensure that GMK never visits this thread again...

Mysticete said:

My guess is a tone like that is going to ensure that GMK never visits this thread again...

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Needs to be read with the previous post - the time limit refers to a generous donation to Birdlife's work if Guy gives an answer in the requested time.

paintedstork said:

I am curious to know how you deduced pallidirostris is a part of excubitor ? In the BirdLife checklist, I just see that pallidirostris is Not Recognised, but missing this extra piece of information which you have found. Kindly help.

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The checklist includes only the species of "great grey shrikes" that I listed in my post [here]. (Plus L. somalicus, which genetic data have made part of the complex, but which is usually not treated as such.)

As you note, Steppe GS is not recognised as a species on its own.
It certainly won't to be treated as a race of Loggerhead Shrike, Chinese GS or Giant GS.
It is not part of Southern GS or Northern GS because the breeding ranges given for these two species on their respective IUCN pages (L. meridionalis: "southern France and the Iberian Peninsula"; L. borealis: "Alaska, northern and central Canada", plus "central and eastern Russia, northwest Mongolia, central and eastern Siberia and Sakhalin and southern Kuril Islands of Japan") do not include (most of) the breeding range of pallidirostris.

Thus it has to be part of L. excubitor (i.e., Great GS).

(Which is in accordance with genetic data anyway.)

Nutcracker said:

Two in IOC (or am I just missing some humour here?!)

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Yes... I was being flippant, alluding to the fact that Omani Owl is found in mountainous areas in the Middle East, rather than deserts.

Thank you very much for the explanation.
I suspected it was a deduction, but just in case ssp assignment has been documented somewhere, I was curious to search.

mb1848 said:

"Wing-banded Antbird

Southern Wing-banded Antbird Myrmornis torquata
Northern Wing-banded Antbird Myrmornis stictoptera

split. I don't think this is a surprise - is there a SACC proposal? Probably OK on Tobias et al. and more traditional methods!

cheers, a"

"SACC not a proposal but note 55e. Ridgely & Tudor (1994) and Zimmer & Isler (2003) suggested that Myrmornis torquata might consist of more than one species; Cory & Hellmayr (1924) treated the subspecies stictoptera of Central America and western Colombia as a separate species."
"more traditional methods!" Dna of strictoptera in :
http://sites01.lsu.edu/faculty/najames/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2014/10/2014-Evolution.pdf .

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Mark, thanks - I'm sure all checklists will eventually agree on this (re)split - vocals are very different as well, so I am sure this would get through SACC, when somebody finds time to do the proposal.

cheers, alan

lewis20126 said:

Nuthatch

Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea
Siberian Nuthatch Sitta arctica

Split, previously proposed (or included within?) other checklists but I'd be interested to see how arctica gets 7 points compared to the other white-bellied boreal form(s)

cheers, a

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Does it get points for migrating? When all other forms are remarkably sedentary?

bitterntwisted said:

Does it get points for migrating? When all other forms are remarkably sedentary?

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I suspect not; after all there are many species in which some populations are resident and some populations are migratory. However in a striking reversal of this point, several resident tropical representatives of northern migratory species have been separated relatively recently, eg Sumba Brown Flycatcher, Hispaniolan Crossbill as two very different examples. There are other criteria for separating these, but their isolation and sedentary nature were early clues for separating them. I haven't checked that both examples are in this new checklist.

cheers, alan

Tobias et al. summary

If anyone wants an overview then this is worth a read:

http://www.hbw.com/taxonomic-scoring-system

cheers, alan

Madanga

Link to graphic: http://www.artdatabanken.se/media/2053/madanga-and-amaurocichla-info-hemsida.pdf

I could not find reference to this paper (long or short form) in the BLI / Lynx references, in the downloadable zip file:

Alström, P., Jønsson, K., Fjeldså, J., Ödeen, A., Ericson, P.G.P. & Irestedt, M.2015. Dramatic niche shifts and morphological change in two insular bird species. Royal Society Open Science. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140364

cheers, a

New Zealand Dotterel

Northern New Zealand Dotterel Charadrius aquilonius
Southern Red-breasted Plover Charadrius obscurus

Split: A split has been mooted by others previously so be interesting to see the rationale here. Can anyone explain the new English names to me? It seems odd that one is called a Dotterel and one is called a Plover.

cheers, alan

Kentish Plover types

Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus
White-faced Plover Charadrius dealbatus
Snowy Plover Charadrius nivosus
Javan Plover Charadrius javanicus

I'd be interested to see the rationale here - does anyone who has seen them (breeding) in China still think that "White-faced Plover" is a species? Perhaps the birds in Fuzhou are not "White-faced PLovers"..but then, where are they?

cheers, alan

Sandplovers

Lesser Sandplover Charadrius mongolus
Greater Sandplover Charadrius leschenaultii

No split of Lesser (Lesser / Mongolian). Surprising perhaps?

cheers, a