Latest IOC Diary Updates (4 Viewers)

[mb1848]

Working Group Avian Checklists​

News
There have been several meetings of the WGAC and there is good progress on the development of the world birdlist database. A further positive development is that last month the taxonomic team for Birdlife International became participants in WGAC. Paul Donald is their representative and joins both the Executive and Taxonomic Teams of WGAC.
January 2021
Les Christidis

 

[Andy Adcock]

Apr 21 Post proposed split of Brown-tailed Apalis Apalis flavocincta (including viridiceps) from Yellow-breasted Apalis A. flavida.

Which race occurs in Rwanda, caniceps?

 

[pbjosh]

Working Group Avian Checklists​

News
There have been several meetings of the WGAC and there is good progress on the development of the world birdlist database. A further positive development is that last month the taxonomic team for Birdlife International became participants in WGAC. Paul Donald is their representative and joins both the Executive and Taxonomic Teams of WGAC.
January 2021
Les Christidis

Do we know if these are HBW driven proposals to adopt their splits, or if these have been reconsidered by WGAC/IOC and are posted as proposed splits after already passing a round of consideration?

Perhaps an academic point but I'm curious.

I'm also happy to see these all being considered. And still wishing that W Hemisphere Taxonomy moved more quickly. I have tremendous respect for the folks on SACC/NACC and don't question their principles, but it's a very, very slow process. I frequently wonder if eBird's use of Clements is what maintains their relevance. If eBird used IOC, would SACC/NACC still hold sway?

 

[Mysticete]

I'd have a guess that a lot of this involved looking at skins so with lockdown, maybe some people had more time on their hands to dedicate to it?

As someone who uses museum collections and is friends with people affiliated with them, this is definitely not the case. Many (most?) museum collections have not permitted any access to researchers since the pandemic started, or only recently opened up. I know one curator at a very large and well known museum who hasn't been allowed into his own museum collection in since March, and another one who is also at a fairly large museum who only got partial access a few months back. The former actually doesn't expect his museum to open for visiting researchers until the fall, and probably therealistically 2022. Collections have also faced staff lay-offs furthering problems, and many universities have banned out of state travel for official business for their employees.

I can personally confirm that being stranded in a land-locked state for over a year has derailed or put me behind on a lot of marine mammal research. Although I guess if you have datasets and don't have other complicating factors (like having your spawn stuck at home with you), this is a pretty good time to write up some of those papers.

 

[Mysticete]

Working Group Avian Checklists​

News
There have been several meetings of the WGAC and there is good progress on the development of the world birdlist database. A further positive development is that last month the taxonomic team for Birdlife International became participants in WGAC. Paul Donald is their representative and joins both the Executive and Taxonomic Teams of WGAC.
January 2021
Les Christidis

hhhmm...Birdlife International coming aboard definitely could have spurred these. I guess we will see how widespread the changes are, given that I think Birdlife recognizes some NA species that other checklists don't.

 

[Jacana]

Which race occurs in Rwanda, caniceps?

golzi I think

 

[Andy Adcock]

Thanks Will.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Apr 22 Post proposed splits of Grand Comoro Sunbird Cinnyris moebii and Moheli Sunbird Cinnyris voeltzkowi from Madagascar (Malagasy) Sunbird.


Apr 22 Post proposed split of Arabian Sunbird Cinnyris hellmayri (including kinneari) from Shining Sunbird.

 

[Jacana]

Apr 22 Post proposed split of Red-necked Falcon F. ruficollis (including horsbrughi) from Asian Falco chicquera, renamed Red-headed Falcon.

Apr 22 Post proposed split of Comoros Black Parrot Coracopsis sibilans from Lesser Vasa Parrot.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I think if they split all of the proposed splits I'll go down to below 50% in one fell swoop. My lifelong ambition no longer achieved, and no plans to do much more traveling in the future. Oh well, easy come easy go 😩

Damn Larry, your batting average is taking a hit mate 😱

Seems like a lot of research on island populations is coming to fruition, still curious how they've done the Sulu stuff, perhaps the researchers are locals because as I said, foreigners can't get in.

 

[Andy Adcock]

hhhmm...Birdlife International coming aboard definitely could have spurred these. I guess we will see how widespread the changes are, given that I think Birdlife recognizes some NA species that other checklists don't.

I just had a very, very quick look and it seems to me that a lot of these splits are based on morpholgy and vocals whichs means no DNA / lab work, this must speed things up considerably?

The only one I noted with genetics mentioned, was Red-necked Falcon but as I said, it was a very quick look.

Proposed Splits/Lumps – IOC World Bird List

 

[MJB]

I just had a very, very quick look and it seems to me that a lot of these splits are based on morpholgy and vocals whichs means no DNA / lab work, this must speed things up considerably?

The only one I noted with genetics mentioned, was Red-necked Falcon but as I said, it was a very quick look.

Proposed Splits/Lumps – IOC World Bird List

Fuchs et al 2015: multiple molecular techniques demonstrate that F. chicquera belongs to the Hierofalcon and Peregrine/Barbary Falcon clade. This may be the molecular evidence referred to: it's certainly in the IOC Reference List.
MJB
Fuchs, J, JA Johnson and DP Mindell. 2015. Rapid diversification of falcons (Aves: Falconidae) due to expansion of open habitats in the Late Miocene. Mol. Phyl Evol. 82: 166-182.

 

[TomDerutter]

I just had a very, very quick look and it seems to me that a lot of these splits are based on morpholgy and vocals whichs means no DNA / lab work, this must speed things up considerably?

All these proposals are accepted splits by birdlife based on the Tobias criteria - which is indeed based on morphology & vocals, not genetics.
I see on a lot of the proposals that other research is also quoted, so I guess they're taking in consideration all available data.

I like to think of the Tobias criteria as setting a baseline in the absence of extensive DNA-research (instead of simply following what a researcher 100 years ago thought it was - based on morphology only, probably not even using vocals)

 

[exilipes]

A lot of effort to post all these BirdLife proposed splits - only another 300 or so to go!

I’m guessing the associated proposed lumps won’t be so popular

 

[Mysticete]

A lot of effort to post all these BirdLife proposed splits - only another 300 or so to go!

I’m guessing the associated proposed lumps won’t be so popular

Oh, I doubt Birdlife lumps will make it on the list, or very few will at any rate...

 

[viator]

Apr 23 Post proposed splits of African Green Bee-eater Merops viridissimus and Arabian Green Bee-eater Merops cyanophrys from Asian Green Bee-eater Merops orientalis.

Apr 23 Post relisting of Kai Coucal as a proposed split from Pheasant Coucal.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Apr 23 Post proposed splits of African Green Bee-eater Merops viridissimus and Arabian Green Bee-eater Merops cyanophrys from Asian Green Bee-eater Merops orientalis.

Apr 23 Post relisting of Kai Coucal as a proposed split from Pheasant Coucal.

Two more for me, presuming Arabian is the one that most of us have seen in Israel?

 

[viator]

Two more for me, presuming Arabian is the one that most of us have seen in Israel?

Yes Arabian in Israel. Not been there but I saw in the UAE

 

[jurek]

Damn Larry, your batting average is taking a hit mate 😱

That is why I count the total with the species list I used when visiting the area. Besides, it seems illogical to me to pay attention to an armchair tick. My experience of seeing a bird does not change when they split it from subspecies to species. I heard so many weary birders saying Aaargh when a tour leader said: look at these [insert a drab or common bird] because they may be split in future.

Besides, these splits will not last, they will give up to more and more splits in a neverending spiral. In 5-10 years time somebody will write an article like: Tobias criteria are standard of ornithology [regardless whether they would really be], we propose better criteria [which would split even more species].

 

[DMW]

That is why I count the total with the species list I used when visiting the area. Besides, it seems illogical to me to pay attention to an armchair tick. My experience of seeing a bird does not change when they split it from subspecies to species. I heard so many weary birders saying Aaargh when a tour leader said: look at these [insert a drab or common bird] because they may be split in future.

Besides, these splits will not last, they will give up to more and more splits in a neverending spiral. In 5-10 years time somebody will write an article like: Tobias criteria are standard of ornithology [regardless whether they would really be], we propose better criteria [which would split even more species].

That's a bit of a reductionist view. When I first visited the Sundaic region, Bornean/Sumatran Ground-Cuckoo and Javan/Sumatran Cochoa were respectively lumped, despite the manifest differences. It's only relatively recently that vocalisations, ecology and behaviour have been elucidated for many taxa, and I think there's probably a fairly broad concensus that tropical avifaunas had overly conservative species limits.

I do agree that there is currently a ratchet effect at work which can lead to over-splitting, and I think that at some point birders might consider creating a sort of "checklist taxonomy" that re-lumps certain superspecies, for example treat the N Atlantic Pterodromas as a single species "tick".