Charadriiformes (3 Viewers)

[THE_FERN]

The Return of the Hanuman Plover

THE HANUMAN PLOVER, a small whitish shorebird named after a Hindu god, has been reinstated as a distinct species after being lumped with the Kentish plover for almost a century. This remarkable discovery was made possible by DNA sequencing, which revealed subtle but significant differences between the two groups. The Hanuman plover (Charadrius seebohmi) lives in Sri Lanka and southern lndia, where it breeds on sandy beaches and salt pans. It was first described as a separate species in 1880 but was later merged with the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) in the 1930s, as both species were considered to be too sim ilar to tell apart. However, recent advances in molecular techniques have allowed scientists to revisit the taxonomic status of the Hanuman plover and confirm that it is indeed a valid species.

https://www.internationalornithology.org/PDF/IOU_flutter_5-3.pdf

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.13220

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Proposal (976) to SACC

Recognize new genus Hesperoburhinus

PASSED (28 September 2023)

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

PASSED (28 September 2023)

Naturally

 

[albertonykus]

Forsdick, N.J., A. Alexander, L. Brown, R.F. Maloney, T.E. Steeves, and M. Knapp (2024)
Maintenance of mitogenomic diversity despite recent population decline in a critically endangered Aotearoa New Zealand bird
Conservation Genetics (advance online publication)
doi: 10.1007/s10592-024-01661-3

Mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) represent a relatively cost-effective tool for comparing diversity between contemporary and historical populations to assess impacts of past population processes, or the outcomes of conservation management. The Aotearoa New Zealand endemic kakī| black stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) is a critically endangered wading bird. Anthropogenic impacts contributed to kakī declining to ~ 23 individuals in 1981 and promoted interspecific hybridisation with their more common congener, the poaka| pied stilt (H. leucocephalus). Conservation management of kakī has resulted in the population increasing to 169 wild adults at the end of the 2023–2024 breeding season. Here we use mitogenomes to enable comparisons of diversity between contemporary and historical (pre-1960s) stilts, and to understand the impacts of past interspecific hybridisation. We assemble a mitogenome for kakī and use this as a reference to facilitate downstream comparisons of mitochondrial diversity among kakī and poaka across a period of population decline and subsequent conservation management for kakī. Mitogenome haplotype data provides no evidence of introgression from poaka into kakī despite past hybridisation. This contributes to the behavioural, ecological, morphological and genetic evidence that conservation action has maintained the species integrity of this Critically Endangered bird. Furthermore, these results indicate that mitochondrial diversity has been maintained in kakī across a period of species decline and subsequent conservation management.

 

[Taphrospilus]

Bartramia Lesson, RP 1831 versus Morinella Bechstein, 1812

Actually I do not understand 100% why not Morinella longicauda Bechstein, 1812

When Bechstein introduced Tringa longicauda bd.4:t.2 (1812) - Johann Lathams allgemeine Uebersicht der Vögel - Biodiversity Heritage Library he wrote on the next page:

Anm. Da sich dieser Vogel so sehr durch seine eigene Gestalt auszeichnet, so hält Herr Mayer dafür (Taschenbuch II S. 382), daß man so gut wie beim Kiebitz eine besondere Gattung Morinella daraus machen könnte. ….Dieser Vogel würde dann Halsbands-Morinelle (Morinellla collaris) heissen.

Mayer to find here: Th.1-3 (1810-1822) - Taschenbuch der deutschen Vögelkunde, oder, Kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands - Biodiversity Heritage Library Arenaria interpres morinella (Linnaeus, 1766) In fact he used Morinella (footnote next page)

Is the story according the code the following?
1) Even if Bechstein wrote his remark in context with Tringa longicauda he attributed the genus to Arenaria interpres interpres (Linnaeus, 1758) based on Mayer
2) The valid genus for this species is Arenaria Brisson, 1760
3) Therefore Morinella is a synonym to Arenaria and can't be used for Bartramia longicauda

Is this interpretation correct?

 

[l_raty]

Morinella was established by Meyer in 1810 for Tringa interpres Linnaeus 1875 alone, which Meyer (at the end of this footnote) suggested to rename Morinella collaris. The type of Morinella Meyer 1810 is thus, by monotypy, Morinella collaris Meyer 1810 = Tringa interpres Linnaeus 1758, which is the turnstone. The name can not be used for a group that would exclude this species.

In his 1812 Anmerkung, Bechstein referred to Meyer's footnote, which he merely paraphrased, citing characters that match turnstone better than upland sandpiper (bill shape, thick and short legs, short neck, etc.), and ending with a suggestion to change the name of the bird into precisely that which Meyer had offered for turnstone. There can be little doubt that this Anmerkung ended up where it is by accident, and was actually intended to be associated to the preceding species, which was indeed Tringa interpres Linnaeus.

If you insist that the Anmerkung must nevertheless be accepted as concerning Tringa longicauda, you might possibly construe it as having resulted in the creation of a genus-group name Morinella Bechstein 1812 (nec Meyer 1810) -- type, by monotypy, Morinella collaris Bechstein 1812 (nec Meyer 1810) = Tringa longicauda Bechstein 1812. But this name would then be a junior homonym of Morinella Meyer 1810, and a junior homonym cannot be used as the valid name of anything.