HBW / BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v9 (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kovalik]

HBW-BirdLife Version 9.0 (October 2024)

available to download here

 

[Peter Kovalik]

They missed this: The scientific name Anthus lutescens is changed to Anthus chii but nominate subspecies has a name Anthus chii lutescens.

 

[kweetal]

They missed this: The scientific name Anthus lutescens is changed to Anthus chii but nominate subspecies has a name Anthus chii lutescens.

Another error that could've been easily caught by simple, automated checks - apparently HBW/BirdLife do not do such checks, or at least it has forgotten this one.

 

[awiner]

Anyone found a list of changes in this release? The taxonomic notes seems to reference all species with any info, not just those with new information.

 

[Paul Clapham]

Anyone found a list of changes in this release? The taxonomic notes seems to reference all species with any info, not just those with new information.

There are no taxonomic changes in this release (except for Anthus chii as mentioned by kweetal). There's a good number of fiddly English name changes (e.g "Brush-finch" becomes "Brushfinch" and "Blue-flycatcher" becomes "Blue Flycatcher"). This is from my research.

However it's quite likely that the Red List status of some species has changed. (That's what BirdLife is all about.) I only look at which forms are extinct, and there are a few species (Hawaiian birds) whose status has changed to EX.

 

[njlarsen]

I only look at which forms are extinct, and there are a few species (Hawaiian birds) whose status has changed to EX.

Which is sad ...
Niels

 

[kweetal]

Anyone found a list of changes in this release? The taxonomic notes seems to reference all species with any info, not just those with new information.

Does this help?
Two lists: one list of v9.0 "Scientific name" with v8.1 "Scientific name" subtracted, and vice versa.

  Comparison   |       Scientific name        |    Common name    | Seq.  | Subsp. Seq.
---------------+------------------------------+-------------------+-------+-------------
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Tyto prigoginei              | Itombwe Owl       |  2720 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene jacquinoti            | West Solomons Owl |  2774 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene jacquinoti eichhorni  |                   |  2774 |           1
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene jacquinoti mono       |                   |  2774 |           2
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene jacquinoti jacquinoti |                   |  2774 |           3
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene jacquinoti floridae   |                   |  2774 |           4
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene granti                | Guadalcanal Owl   |  2775 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene malaitae              | Malaita Owl       |  2776 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Athene roseoaxillaris        | Makira Owl        |  2777 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Gymnasio nudipes             | Puerto Rican Owl  |  2909 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Gymnasio nudipes nudipes     |                   |  2909 |           1
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Gymnasio nudipes newtoni     |                   |  2909 |           2
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Strigops habroptilus         | Kakapo            |  4081 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Anthus chii                  | Yellowish Pipit   | 10001 |           0
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Anthus chii parvus           |                   | 10001 |           1
 9.0 minus 8.1 | Anthus chii lutescens        |                   | 10001 |           2
(16 rows)

  Comparison   |       Scientific name       |       Common name        | Seq.  | Subsp. Seq.
---------------+-----------------------------+--------------------------+-------+-------------
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Phodilus prigoginei         | Congo Bay-owl            |  2720 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox jacquinoti            | West Solomons Boobook    |  2770 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox jacquinoti eichhorni  |                          |  2770 |           1
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox jacquinoti mono       |                          |  2770 |           2
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox jacquinoti jacquinoti |                          |  2770 |           3
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox jacquinoti floridae   |                          |  2770 |           4
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox granti                | Guadalcanal Boobook      |  2771 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox malaitae              | Malaita Boobook          |  2772 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Ninox roseoaxillaris        | Makira Boobook           |  2773 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Megascops nudipes           | Puerto Rican Screech-owl |  2907 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Megascops nudipes nudipes   |                          |  2907 |           1
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Megascops nudipes newtoni   |                          |  2907 |           2
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Strigops habroptila         | Kakapo                   |  4081 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Anthus lutescens            | Yellowish Pipit          | 10001 |           0
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Anthus lutescens parvus     |                          | 10001 |           1
 8.1 minus 9.0 | Anthus lutescens lutescens  |                          | 10001 |           2
(16 rows)

(I haven't corrected the chii name yet. I suppose Anthus chii lutescens should be Anthus chii chii)

 

[AlexJB497]

We made no species-level changes this year, just some generic changes and English name changes (along with Red List status updates according to the 2024 IUCN Red List update).

But see: Data Zone - BirdLife International

"Over the next few years, BirdLife, along with Cornell and others, will be aligning fully with AviList (i.e. using it as the taxonomic basis for our work) so that in future the species displayed in Birds of the World (and used in eBird) will largely match those on the BirdLife DataZone and the IUCN Red List. However, this alignment will take some time because every taxonomic change requires considerable further work, particularly in assessing the IUCN Red List status of newly ‘split’, ‘lumped’ or revised species. BirdLife will continue to make the list of bird species assessed in each annual Red List update available in spreadsheet format."

While IOC and Cornell/eBird have moved quickly with this alignment, as noted above BirdLife will take longer. But over the next couple of years expect to see more changes/alignment from our end.

Cheers

Alex

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

generic changes

Do you have any examples?

 

[AlexJB497]

Not many of them, but e.g., Phodilus prigoginei to Tyto, Ninox granti (etc.) to Athene.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

Not many of them, but e.g., Phodilus prigoginei to Tyto, Ninox granti (etc.) to Athene.

They have not yet divided Accipiter

 

[AlexJB497]

No (not yet).

 

[jts1882]

Do they ever make taxonomic updates before they have new conservation assessments?

If not, the updates for "Accipiter" could take a while.

 

[AlexJB497]

We can make genus changes (and English common name changes) without completing a new IUCN Red List assessment, yes. But we can't make species-level changes (i.e. splits, lumps and moving subspecies from one species to another) without completing a new assesment, no.

We are currently concentrating on completing IUCN Red List assessments for this comprehensive update (2016-2025) but will likely be making taxonomic changes at a much faster pace once that is finished.

 

[jts1882]

We can make genus changes (and English common name changes) without completing a new IUCN Red List assessment, yes. But we can't make species-level changes (i.e. splits, lumps and moving subspecies from one species to another) without completing a new assesment, no.

We are currently concentrating on completing IUCN Red List assessments for this comprehensive update (2016-2025) but will likely be making taxonomic changes at a much faster pace once that is finished.

Thanks for that answer. It makes sense that you can make changes that don't involve species delimitations. Does that mean the taxonomy section in the red list assessments page gets updated or is the change only on the birdlife pages and the checklist?

 

[AlexJB497]

The two occur simultaneously. I.e. we don't/can't change anything on the BirdLife pages/list without also changing the IUCN Red List pages (they both pull data from the same database).