Alauda arvensis subspecies (1 Viewer)

[Norbert R. B.]

As for many lark species, there were also many subspecies described for the Skylark Alauda arvensis, although most of them have to be synonymized, certainly. There are two taxa described in the second half of the last century for which I was unable to get the ODs. Perhaps there are Birdforum contributors who have access to the descriptions of the following taxa:

Alauda arvensis dementjevi Korelov, 1953 Vestnik Akad. nauk Kazakhskoi SSR 1953 (5), p. 114

Alauda arvensis foschii Trischitta, 1962 Il Cacciatore Siciliano 7, p. 25

I would be very interested to get access to the ODs, or if that is not possible, for information on the correct spellings (the first taxon mentioned above is sometimes spelled dementievi) and the type localities. I hope that someone can help; many thanks in advance.

 

[Xenospiza]

Russian language sources always seem to mention "dementjevi", which feels like how the transliteration of Дементьев would be made in German and Dutch (in contrast to French Dementieff).
See e.g. https://zool.kz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/doklady.pdf
Maybe someone well-versed in Russian will come further than me: I only found it mentioned in a scientific index.
Корелов М.Н. О форме казахстанских полевых жаворонков//Вестник АН КазССР, 1953, № 5. С. 113-115.

 

[Paul Clapham]

I found the same thing in my brief Google search. But Russian or not, the formal name in the OD should be in the Latin script, should it not?

 

[mb1848]

Laurent addressed the Italian publication in 2020:
"Trischitta A. 1962. Il Cacciatore Siciliano 7 (3): 25." ("Il Cacciatore Siciliano" [= The Sicilian Hunter] was presumably a local rivista; I do not find it online.)"
Names lacking in the Key .
The Trinacria image on their facebook is scary.
Log in to Facebook .

 

[l_raty]

In my experience, finding old publications of Central Asian academies of science is generally a nightmare.

FWIW :

Вестник АН КазССР

In Russian, this was : Вестник Академии Наук Казахской ССР
In Kazakh, this was: Қазақ ССР Ғылым Академиясының Хабаршысы

Both titles were present on the title page of 1952 issues, e.g. here.

 

[mb1848]

An 1981 publication states "from Apulia , colored more reddish , is unknown to me ."
"Alauda arvensis foschii" - Google Search .

 

[Xenospiza]

I found the same thing in my brief Google search. But Russian or not, the formal name in the OD should be in the Latin script, should it not?

Yes, but transcribing the "soft letter" ь into Latin script is not trivial.

In English, this is done with an i (Georgi Petrovich Dementiev - Wikipedia), in German with a j (but they also use a w instead of a v: Georgi Petrowitsch Dementjew – Wikipedia) and in Finnish with a j (Georgi Dementjev – Wikipedia).

English authors may therefore have misunderstood the j in dementjevi for a typo and "corrected" it to dementievi.

 

[Norbert R. B.]

Yes, but transcribing the "soft letter" ь into Latin script is not trivial.

In English, this is done with an i (Georgi Petrovich Dementiev - Wikipedia), in German with a j (but they also use a w instead of a v: Georgi Petrowitsch Dementjew – Wikipedia) and in Finnish with a j (Georgi Dementjev – Wikipedia).

English authors may therefore have misunderstood the j in dementjevi for a typo and "corrected" it to dementievi.

I assume that dementjevi is the original spelling, as it is so cited by Stepanyan (2003); however, that is not certain until the OD has been checked. Indeed, finding some publications from the former Soviet Union is a challenge!

But some publications from western Europe are also difficult to find, especially concerning hunting magazins or privately published pamphlets; see the case with A. a. foschii. It seems that the paper in Il Cacciatore Siciliano contains some additional new taxa, so it would be even more interesting to see it. Perhaps one of our Italian friends is able to locate an issue of Trischitta's 1962 paper?

Antonino Trischitta was the author of two privately published papers containing the descriptions of new taxa in 1939: "Alcune nuove forme di uccelli italiani", containing 8 new subspecies (Corvus cornix italicus, Upupa epops renzoi, Cuculus canorus sardus, Otus scops vincii, Athene noctua salentina, Falco biarmicus orlandoi, Buteo buteo meridionalis, Coturnix coturnix ragionierii), and "Altre nuove forme di uccelli italiani", containing also 8 new taxa (Serinus canarius flaviserinus, Phylloscopus cullybita [sic] sardus, Sylvia conspicillata extratipica, Saxicola rubetra incerta, Apus melba obscurus, Columba palumbus ghigii, Streptopelia turtur moltonii, Coturnix coturnix parisii).

F. Foschi described a new form of Crested Lark in 1978 in "Gli Uccelli d'Italia" 3: 192-193, but he spelled it Galerida cristata herae laciniae in the headline as well as in the text, which may cause some problems for the availability of this name (?).

 

[l_raty]

F. Foschi described a new form of Crested Lark in 1978 in "Gli Uccelli d'Italia" 3: 192-193, but he spelled it Galerida cristata herae laciniae in the headline as well as in the text, which may cause some problems for the availability of this name (?).

I don't think so.
herae laciniae is the genitive of Hera Lacinia (the Lacinian Hera, Hera of the Lacinium), which refers to a single entity; the name is acceptable under 11.9.5, and must simply be corrected to the single word heraelaciniae under 32.5.2.2.

 

[l_raty]

Antonino Trischitta was the author of two privately published papers containing the descriptions of new taxa in 1939: "Alcune nuove forme di uccelli italiani", containing 8 new subspecies (Corvus cornix italicus, Upupa epops renzoi, Cuculus canorus sardus, Otus scops vincii, Athene noctua salentina, Falco biarmicus orlandoi, Buteo buteo meridionalis, Coturnix coturnix ragionierii), and "Altre nuove forme di uccelli italiani", containing also 8 new taxa (Serinus canarius flaviserinus, Phylloscopus cullybita [sic] sardus, Sylvia conspicillata extratipica, Saxicola rubetra incerta, Apus melba obscurus, Columba palumbus ghigii, Streptopelia turtur moltonii, Coturnix coturnix parisii).

We discussed Trischitta's first paper in this thread.

 

[mb1848]

That link missed the mark.
Antonino P. Trischitta (1892-1966) .
Hope that works.

 

[l_raty]

That link missed the mark.
Antonino P. Trischitta (1892-1966) .
Hope that works.

Oops, thanks Mark -- I was to too fast and did not check it, indeed.
Original corrected too now.

 

[mb1848]

Birds of the World in the Crested Lark discussion: "ash-gray birds from eastern Calabria named “heraelaciniae"

 

[l_raty]

I assume that dementjevi is the original spelling, as it is so cited by Stepanyan (2003); however, that is not certain until the OD has been checked.

Still not the OD, but perhaps one step closer than a 2003 citation by Stepanyan :
Мстислав Николаевич Корелов (Mstislav Nikolaevich Korelov) himself, in the third volume of Птицы Казахстана (Birds of Kazakhstan, 1970; this can be downloaded in .djvu format here) where he authored the Alaudidae chapter (starting on p.194), wrote the name (on p. 196) "A. a. dementjevi Korelov".

 

[mb1848]

SNAB 12 says: Footnote 27, "We believe that the type may be in Almaty..."
I cannot read the DjVu file so was wondering if it might be searched for Алматы ?

 

[l_raty]

SNAB 12 says: Footnote 27, "We believe that the type may be in Almaty..."
I cannot read the DjVu file so was wondering if it might be searched for Алматы ?

Types are not discussed in this book. This is what Korelov wrote in 1970 about subspecies of Alauda arvensis in Kazakhstan :

Подвиды. Образует 16 подвидов, в Казахстане — два. Всю северную часть ареала от Волжско-Уральского междуречья на западе до Алтая на востоке населяет более темный и крупный сибирский полевой жаворонок A. a. dulcivox Brooks. Юго-восточные горные районы населяет азиатский нагорно-полевой A. a. dementjevi Korelov. Он гнездится в степях предгорий, а местами и равнин юга, и в нагорных степях (2500—3000 м). Следует иметь в виду, что популяции степей высокогорий в наиболее северных хребтах Тянь-Шаня (Терскей и Кунгей Алатау) и в северо-восточной части Джунгарского Алатау несколько темнее типичных A. a. dementjevi, чем приближаются к A. a. dulcivox, но все же заметно светлее его.
В самых восточных районах (южные отроги Алтая и Зайсанская котловина), может встречаться на пролете алтайский полевой жаворонок A. a. alticola Suschkin, который населяет Юго-Восточный Алтай. Ближайшие районы его гнездования — Чуйская степь и Чулышманское плато. В коллекции Зоологического музея Московского университета находятся два экземпляра с признаками этого подвида, добытые у Зайсана В. А. Хахловым 3 и 8 апреля 1914 г.

 

[Norbert R. B.]

Types are not discussed in this book. This is what Korelov wrote in 1970 about subspecies of Alauda arvensis in Kazakhstan :

I cannot read DjVu, too. But thank you very much for providing the text of the Skylark chapter from Birds of Kasakhstan, Laurent. As far as I can see, Korelov is outlining the distribution of the two subspecies of A. arvensis he is recognizing in the country, but not their type localities. Contacting the Natural History Museum in Almaty may be an option to get more information. I will try to find an address.

 

[Xenospiza]

Not helping you much, but this article notes that dementjevi was described by Koralov for the population in the Tienshan, although A. arvensis almasyi Keve has priority:
https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/ANNA_69_0225-0283.pdf (page 262).

 

[mb1848]

A. arvensis almasyi Keve has priority

A 2013 Russian publication agrees and discusses almasyi types.
Туркестанская нагорная форма полевогожаворонка Alauda arvensis: систематическоеположение и номенклатура

 

[Norbert R. B.]

An 1981 publication states "from Apulia , colored more reddish , is unknown to me ."
"Alauda arvensis foschii" - Google Search .

The paper you refer to is from 1983 (Eck, S.: Katalog der ornithologischen Sammlung Dr. Udo Bährmanns (2. Fortsetzung). Zool. Abhandl. Staatl. Mus. Tierk. Dresden 39: 1-38).
With the kind help of G. Aimassi, I've got access to the paper by Trischitta (1962) in Il Cacciatore Siciliano. There he described a new form of magpie and, in a short papragraph at the end of the paper, mentions the Skylarks from Salento in S Italy. Trischitta used a nomenclature invented by himself to name the new magpie and the new lark:
Zochoavi'passeriades corvi'pica pica foschii
Zochoavi'passeriades alaudi'alanda [sic] arvensis foschii

After translating the text on the lark and discussing it with G. Aimassi, Giorgio and I agree that the new lark form is conditional proposed. Thus, it has no nomenclatural standing as conditional naming is no longer acceptable after 1960 (ICZN 1999, Art. 15.1).
This is an example why I think it is important to study ODs, even if it is likely that they regard synonymous names. I am also not sure if Trischitta's nomenclature is compatible with the Code (ICZN 1999), and I assume that he published his new taxa in a hunting magazine because scientific journals declined to accept his eccentric nomenclature.