Ficedula hypoleuca sibirica / tomensis (1 Viewer)

[Gonçalo Elias]

According to IOC and Clements / BOW, the Siberian race of the European Pied Flycatcher is Ficedula hypoleuca sibirica.

However, the HANDBOOK OF WESTERN PALEARCTIC BIRDS (Shirihai and Svensson) uses tomensis instead of sibirica, and at the end of the text there is a taxonomic note saying this:

The name of the W Siberian race, often known as sibirica Khakhlov, 1915, was changed to tomensis in 1916 when the Pied Flycatcher was placed in Muscicapa. The Code stipulates (Art. 59.3) that such changes made before 1961 stand irrespective of whether preoccupation has later been removed due to change of genus.

 

[Paul Clapham]

Howard and Moore Fourth Edition has this to say in a footnote re tomensis:

"This name was a primary homonym when first proposed, and a replacement name was proposed; see Watson et al. (1986). In that context Art. 57.2 of the Code... requires its retention."

Appendix 2 mentions that this is based on advice from an ICZN commissioner and continues:

"There is little doubt that overwhelming, but not exclusive, use of Khakhlov's name sibirica in Russia, and its restoration by Vaurie (1959), ensured that the latter name has been in prevailing usage but that does not provide a valid basis on which to retain it without an application to the Commission and a favourable decision."

 

[l_raty]

The justification in H&M4 is correct, that in Shirihai & Svensson is not.

Muscicapa atricapilla sibirica Khakhlov ('Chachlov') 1915 5th-6th (1914-1915) - Ornitologicheskiĭ vi͡estnik - Biodiversity Heritage Library
is a junior primary homonym (= identical species-group name originally proposed in combination with the same genus-group name) of
Muscicapa sibirica Gmelin 1789 v. 1, pt. 2 - Caroli a Linné ... Systema naturae per regna tria naturae - Biodiversity Heritage Library

(I.e., sibirica Khakhlov was not "changed to tomensis in 1916 when the Pied Flycatcher was placed in Muscicapa." Kakhlov placed the Pied Flycatcher, and his sibirica, in Muscicapa from the start.)

Junior primary homonyms are permanently invalid as per ICZN 57.2. (The original combination is not something that can be 'undone' by moving the species-group taxon to another genus.) None of the possible exceptions applies in the present case -- the senior primary homonym is in universal use, hence certainly does not meet the conditions to be made a nomen oblitum, which means the junior homonym can certainly not be made a nomen protectum either; no ruling of the Commission under the Plenary Powers has made the junior primary homonym valid despite it being a junior primary homonym; there is no "adopted Part of the List of Available Names in Zoology" for bird names that might include the junior, but not the senior primary homonym. (Note that, actually, even if sibirica Khakhlov had not been replaced, it would still be mandatory, now, to either replace it, or ask the Commission to conserve it. Maintaining the use of a junior primary homonym, when the senior homonym is in use, without the case having been referred to the Commission, and in the absence of an adopted LAN -- as done in the present case in the IOC and Clements list -- is always in violation of the Code.)

(ICZN 59.3 is about secondary homonyms (identical species-group name originally proposed in combination with different genus-group names, and subsequently moved into the same genus as a result of taxonomic reappraisal). This does not apply to the present case at all.)