New bird taxa (1 Viewer)

[Richard Klim]

Martens & Bahr 2011. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 5 – Bericht für 2009 (Documentation of new bird taxa, 5. Report for 2009). Vogelwarte 49(2): 85-104. pdf

One newly-described taxon that I'd missed is Zoothera dauma iriomotensis Nishiumi & Morioka, 2009 - for the previously unnamed population of Scaly Thrush resident on Iriomote-jima (Yaeyama Is).

• Nishiumi & Morioka 2009: A new subspecies of Zoothera dauma (Aves, Turdidae) from Iriomotejima, southern Ryukyus, with comments on Z. d. toratugumi. Bull Natl Mus Nat Sci A 35: 113–124.

Previous reports in this useful series:

• Martens & Bahr 2007. Report 1 (2005). Vogelwarte 45(2): 119-134. pdf
• Martens & Bahr 2008. Report 2 (2006). Vogelwarte 46(2): 95-120. pdf
• Martens & Bahr 2009. Report 3 (2007). Vogelwarte 47(2): 97-117. pdf
• Martens & Bahr 2010. Report 4 (2008) Part 1. Vogelwarte 48(2): 97-117. pdf
• Martens & Bahr 2010. Report 4 (2008) Part 2. Vogelwarte 48(3): 161-179. pdf

 

[Richard Klim]

New taxa 2010

Martens & Bahr 2012. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 6 – Bericht für 2010. Documentation of new bird taxa, part 6. Report for 2010. Vogelwarte 50(3): 177–196. [pdf]

[Includes discussion of Grallaria fenwickorum/urraoensis.]

 

[Richard Klim]

New taxa 2011

Martens & Bahr 2013. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 7 - Bericht für 2011. Documentation of new bird taxa, part 7. Report for 2011. Vogelwarte 51(3): 161–178.

I'd missed Red'kin & Malykh 2011 (Review of northern group subspecies of the Dusky Warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus (Blyth, 1842) with description of new taxon from Sakhalin Island), which concluded that three additional subspecies should be recognised:

• altaicus Suschkin, 1925 (S Siberian mountains & N Mongolia)
• homeyeri Dybowski, 1883 (E Siberia & Kamchatka)
• sachalinensis ssp nov (Sakhalin)

 

[Richard Klim]

New taxa 2012

Martens & Bahr 2014. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 8 - Bericht für 2012. Documentation of new bird taxa, part 8. Report for 2012. Vogelwarte 52(2): 89–110.

 

[Peter Kovalik]

Neodamophila

Martens & Bahr 2014. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 8 - Bericht für 2012. Documentation of new bird taxa, part 8. Report for 2012. Vogelwarte 52(2): 89–110.

Özdikmen, H. 2008. Neodamophila nom. nov., a replacement name for the bird genus Damophila Reichenbach, 1854 (Aves: Apodiformes: Trochilidae). Munis Entomology & Zoology 3 (1): 171-173.

[PDF]

 

[James Jobling]

Damophila is already replaced by Juliamyia Bonaparte, 1854. See H&M4 (2013), vol. 1, p. 131, footnote 1.

 

[l_raty]

"Neodamophila"

Özdikmen, H. 2008. Neodamophila nom. nov., a replacement name for the bird genus Damophila Reichenbach, 1854 (Aves: Apodiformes: Trochilidae). Munis Entomology & Zoology 3 (1): 171-173.

O'Hara JE. 2011.: Cyber nomenclaturalists and the “CESA itch”. Zootaxa 2933: 57–64.



(That being said, hummers are clearly oversplit at the generic level, and this species should most likely not be in a monotypic genus at all.
Holt & Jønsson's recent analysis would place it together with some 50 other species that are currently parted over 12 different genera, in a group that would have to be named Trochilus Linnaeus, 1758.
TiF is somewhat less extreme, but still has it lumped in Chlorestes (5 spp), based on the trees of McGuire et al. 2014 [pdf here].
[And, for what it's worth, barcode data make this a possibility as well. But earlier analyses (eg. McGuire et al. 2009, same link; data in GenBank) contradict the association, as they place the type species of Chlorestes within Chlorostilbon. Unfortunately, the 2014 paper does not address this discrepancy explicitly (the dataset, KJ601785–KJ603160, remains so far unreleased). If I understand things correctly, the "Chlorestes notatus" specimen used in earlier studies was re-identified as a Chlorostilbon lucidus pucherani. Of course the Jetz et al. 2012 trees, used by Holt & Jønsson, were built with sequences gathered from GenBank, hence this species is placed wrongly there as well.])

 

[Richard Klim]

New taxa 2013

Martens & Bahr 2015. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 9 - Bericht für 2013. Documentation of new bird taxa, part 9. Report for 2013. Vogelwarte 53(3): 229–260.

 

[Richard Klim]

New taxa 2013

Martens & Bahr 2015. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 9 - Bericht für 2013. Documentation of new bird taxa, part 9. Report for 2013. Vogelwarte 53(3): 229–260.

Martens & Bahr 2015. [pdf]

(Previous reports also posted by Jochen Martens.)

 

[Richard Klim]

Sci-News.com, 5 Jan 2016: Top New Bird Discoveries of 2015.

 

[Nutcracker]

One newly-described taxon that I'd missed is Zoothera dauma iriomotensis Nishiumi & Morioka, 2009 - for the previously unnamed population of Scaly Thrush resident on Iriomote-jima (Yaeyama Is).

• Nishiumi & Morioka 2009: A new subspecies of Zoothera dauma (Aves, Turdidae) from Iriomotejima, southern Ryukyus, with comments on Z. d. toratugumi. Bull Natl Mus Nat Sci A 35: 113–124.

A few years on . . . IOC still have this as Zoothera dauma iriomotensis, but Z. d. toratugumi has been transferred to split-off Z. aurea as Z. a. toratugumi. Shouldn't iriomotensis follow suit?

 

[Richard Klim]

A few years on . . . IOC still have this as Zoothera dauma iriomotensis, but Z. d. toratugumi has been transferred to split-off Z. aurea as Z. a. toratugumi. Shouldn't iriomotensis follow suit?

Well, H&M4 also assigns iriomotensis and toratugumi to Z [d] dauma and Z [d] aurea respectively; and Brazil 2009 (Birds of East Asia) noted: "Two undescribed taxa (mistakenly ascribed to Z. d. horsfieldi) resident on Iriomote-jima (Yaeyama Is) and Taiwan (rare); these may be referrable to Z. d. dauma."

 

[dnsallen]

Well, H&M4 also assigns iriomotensis and toratugumi to Z [d] dauma and Z [d] aurea respectively; and Brazil 2009 (Birds of East Asia) noted: "Two undescribed taxa (mistakenly ascribed to Z. d. horsfieldi) resident on Iriomote-jima (Yaeyama Is) and Taiwan (rare); these may be referrable to Z. d. dauma."

As far as I am aware no one has recorded the song of iriomotensis. If it is similar to island resident major then it should be included with dauma, but if it makes monotone whistles then aurea/toratugumi is probably more appropriate.

 

[Nutcracker]

Well, H&M4 also assigns iriomotensis and toratugumi to Z [d] dauma and Z [d] aurea respectively; and Brazil 2009 (Birds of East Asia) noted: "Two undescribed taxa (mistakenly ascribed to Z. d. horsfieldi) resident on Iriomote-jima (Yaeyama Is) and Taiwan (rare); these may be referrable to Z. d. dauma."

As far as I am aware no one has recorded the song of iriomotensis. If it is similar to island resident major then it should be included with dauma, but if it makes monotone whistles then aurea/toratugumi is probably more appropriate.

Thanks! :t:

 

[l_raty]

For what it's worth:
There are two barcodes obtained from Iriomote-jima specimens in BOLD: BJNSM032-08 and BJNSM429-10. These are not distinct from barcodes obtained from specimens from mainland Japan and Korea. (While two barcodes from Amami are, as expected, quite distinct.) Caveats:
- I'm uncertain these Iriomote birds are from the local population. (Maybe the only thing that these barcodes are showing is that these two birds were northern migrants. There are pics of the specimens on the BOLD pages linked above: if anyone feels confident enough to suggest a subspecific ID...)
- I've yet to see definite evidence that aurea and dauma have distinct mtDNA. (Or, at least: to see it knowingly. There are sequences of a Zoothera dauma from "India" in GenBank, produced by Sangster et al. 2010 [pdf], that include [a cyt-b] which is 4% away from several typical aurea sequences. If this bird was a nominate dauma, then this is evidence that a difference exists. But if it was from southern India, the implications are much less clear...)

 

[dnsallen]

For what it's worth:
There are two barcodes obtained from Iriomote-jima specimens in BOLD: BJNSM032-08 and BJNSM429-10. These are not distinct from barcodes obtained from specimens from mainland Japan and Korea. (While two barcodes from Amami are, as expected, quite distinct.) Caveats:
- I'm uncertain these Iriomote birds are from the local population. (Maybe the only thing that these barcodes are showing is that these two birds were northern migrants. There are pics of the specimens on the BOLD pages linked above: if anyone feels confident enough to suggest a subspecific ID...)
- I've yet to see definite evidence that aurea and dauma have distinct mtDNA. (Or, at least: to see it knowingly. There are sequences of a Zoothera dauma from "India" in GenBank, produced by Sangster et al. 2010 [pdf], that include [a cyt-b] which is 4% away from several typical aurea sequences. If this bird was a nominate dauma, then this is evidence that a difference exists. But if it was from southern India, the implications are much less clear...)

Very interesting. From the rusty colour tone these 2 specimens look like iriomotensis. It is disappointing that the mtDNA is not different from aurea. How do major and dauma compare? - their songs are rather similar.

 

[l_raty]

How do major and dauma compare? - their songs are rather similar.

From Amami, there are only barcodes so far as I know. In BOLD, these form a cluster (BOLD:AAB0979) separate from other Japanese and Korean samples, which all cluster together (BOLD:AAB0976); the uncorrected distance between the clusters is given on BOLD as 3.13%.
As I wrote above, I know of no definite sequences of nominate Z. d. dauma, but a cytochrome b of Z. dauma from "India" in GenBank (HM633394 is distinct from the 4 other Z. dauma in the database (KT340629 [Park et al. unpublished, presumably Korea, labelled Z. d. aurea], EU154684 [Nylander et al. 2008, China, labelled Z. d. aurea], KJ456516 [Price et al. 2014, China:Hebei, aurea group based on locality], AY752368 [Klicka et al. 2005, Philippines: Sibuyan, aurea group based on locality]); uncorrected distances are 3.5%, 3.8%, 4.0%, 3.7%. If this Indian bird was a dauma (and not a neilgherriensis), then the distance between aurea and dauma appears quite comparable to that between aurea and major.

This is compatible with a distance between dauma and major based on these two genes falling somewhere between zero and 3-4% -- that's about all you can say. (You can of course not compute a distance between the cox1 sequence of a taxon and the cyt-b sequence of another.)

 

[dnsallen]

From Amami, there are only barcodes so far as I know. In BOLD, these form a cluster (BOLD:AAB0979) separate from other Japanese and Korean samples, which all cluster together (BOLD:AAB0976); the uncorrected distance between the clusters is given on BOLD as 3.13%.
As I wrote above, I know of no definite sequences of nominate Z. d. dauma, but a cytochrome b of Z. dauma from "India" in GenBank (HM633394 is distinct from the 4 other Z. dauma in the database (KT340629 [Park et al. unpublished, presumably Korea, labelled Z. d. aurea], EU154684 [Nylander et al. 2008, China, labelled Z. d. aurea], KJ456516 [Price et al. 2014, China:Hebei, aurea group based on locality], AY752368 [Klicka et al. 2005, Philippines: Sibuyan, aurea group based on locality]); uncorrected distances are 3.5%, 3.8%, 4.0%, 3.7%. If this Indian bird was a dauma (and not a neilgherriensis), then the distance between aurea and dauma appears quite comparable to that between aurea and major.


This is compatible with a distance between dauma and major based on these two genes falling somewhere between zero and 3-4% -- that's about all you can say. (You can of course not compute a distance between the cox1 sequence of a taxon and the cyt-b sequence of another.)

Thanks for this. The Indian dauma sample was deposited by Sangster, Alstrom et al so I very much doubt it wold have been neilgherriensis without comment to that effect.
The species/species group clearly needs a wide-ranging genetic study, but simply finding the species in its breeding areas when there are no migrants present is hard enough, let enough getting a wide range of samples.

Here is a link to photos of aurea (upper 2) and (putatively) iriomotensis (lower 2).
http://bird-muromi.sakura.ne.jp/zukan/suzume/toratsugumi/toratsugumi.html
The species is known as 'Tiger Thrush' Toratsugumi トラツグミ in Japanese, and the Iriomote subspecies is 'Little Tiger Thrush' Ko-toratsugumi コトラツグミ

 

[Richard Klim]

Btw, OSJ 2012 treats toratugumi as a synonym of aurea (despite its Japanese authorship), and Brazil 2009 describes it as a "questionable taxon".

 

[l_raty]

Martens, Bahr. 2016. Dokumentation neuer Vogel-Taxa, 10 - Bericht für 2014. Vogelwarte 54(3):195-230.
[pdf here] [pdf full issue]