July 3
This is part 2 of the suboscine revisions (3 to go). All of today's changes are part of the project to incorporate Harvey et al. (2020) into the TiF list. Today focuses on the first part of Tyrannida — all but the tyrant flycatchers, Tyrannidae. Although the family tree has changed a bit, the only change to the linear order of the Tyrannida families is to move Tityridae before Oxyruncidae. We now turn to the individual families. Many genera have been internally reordered. For the most part, I won't mention those changes. What I do mention are species splits and changes at or above the generic level.
What do the stars mean? You'll notice stars on the species trees in this section. If you look closely, there is only one star per genus. It denotes the type species of that genus. I found this handy for deciding how to delimit genera, and decided to keep it. Expect these to show up on more of the pdf lists in the future.
Manakins: The Serra do Mar Tyrant-Manakin,
Neopelma chrysolophum, is not closely related the other
Neopelma. An alternate genus name is not available and I designate it
"Neopelma" until one is available. The change in the tree has allowed me to return to a narrow
Tyranneutes and a broad
Neopelma. Also,
Chloropipo has been repositioned. Other genera have not been affected, other than some internal reordering.
[
Pipridae, Tyrannida I, 3.03]
Cotingas: The clade Gymnoderini, previously considered sister to
Cotinga is now on an independent branch. This lead to some generic shuffling in the subfamily Cotinginae. Also,
Phibalura has switched places with
Phytotoma. Again, there has been some reordering with the genera.
Capuchinbird: The Capuchinbird,
Cephalopterus tricolor, repositioned in the tree. This allows me to return it to the monotypic genus
Perissocephalus. Although the genetic distance between the Capuchinbird and umbrella-birds is small, they are distintive, justifying a separate genus.
[
Cotingidae, Tyrannida I, 3.03]
Schiffornis, Tityras, and Becards: There are no changes at the generic level, but some genera have had internal reordering.
[
Tityridae, Tyrannida I, 3.03]
Royal Flycatchers: Whether the Royal Flycatcher,
Onychorhynchus coronatus, is one species or four has long been disputed. Harvey et al. (2020) sampled one each of all four of them. The closest pair of taxo,
mexicanus and
occidentalis, have been separated for about a million years. In view of this, I think it makes sense to recognize four species in the complex.
- Atlantic Royal Flycatcher, Onychorhynchus swainsoni
- Amazonian Royal Flycatcher, Onychorhynchus coronatus
- Northern Royal Flycatcher, Onychorhynchus mexicanus
- Pacific Royal Flycatcher, Onychorhynchus occidentalis
[
Onychorhynchidae, Tyrannida I, 3.03]
Mionectine Flycatchers and allies: The most obvious changes on the tree are at the generic level.
Ceratotriccus has moved to a new place on the tree, sister to
Poecilotriccus. Needless to say, this involved a change in membership for
Ceratotriccus.
Idoptilon and
Microcochlearius have disappeared into an expanded
Oncostoma and
Hemitriccus, respectively. In exchange, we added
Perissotriccus (2 species removed from
Myiornis) and
Euscarthmornis (4 species that were in
Ceratotriccus in the previous list).
Pipromorphinae — Mionectine flycatchers: Based on Harvey et al. (2020), I've moved the Serra do Mar Tyrannulet,
Phylloscartes difficilis, and Sao Paulo Tyrannulet,
Phylloscartes paulista, to genus
Pogonotriccus.
There are also some splits in the Mionectine flycatchers. The following are based on Harvey et al. (2020), usually with the assistance of the HBW Checklist (i.e., del Hoyo and Collar, 2016).
The Slaty-capped Flycatcher,
Leptopogon superciliaris has been split into
- Western Slaty-capped Flycatcher, Leptopogon tranandinus, including hellmaryi, and if needed, troglodytes for the Darien population.
- Eastern Slaty-capped Flycatcher, Leptopogon superciliaris
- White-bellied Flycatcher, Leptopogon albidiventer
Although
eBird recognizes
L. tranandinus as a species group. They did not give it an English name, so I have given it and
L. superciliaris temporary English names. Harvey et al. (2020) tested
hellmayri and found it 2 million years distant from
L. albidiventer, and more like 3 million from
L. s. superciliaris (
sensu stricto, from Loreto, Peru). I wouldn't have to write this way if they hadn't lumped many of the subspecies.
The Olive-striped Flycatcher,
Mionectes olivaceus has been split into
- Olive-streaked Flycatcher, Mionectes olivaceus
- Western Olive-striped Flycatcher, Mionectes galbinus
- Eastern Olive-striped Flycatcher, Mionectes venezuelensis
The English names are from the HBW Checklist (volume 2, del Hoyo and Collar, 2016).
Finally, the Junin Flycatcher,
Pipromorpha peruana has been split from McConnell's Flycatcher,
Pipromorpha macconnelli.
[
Pipromorphinae, Tyrannida I, 3.03]
Rhynchocyclinae — Flatbills Everyone knows
Tolmomyias is a mess. Harvey et al. (2020) sampled some of them, but I'm not ready for a full reorganization. I do recognize two splits based on Harvey et al. (2020), and the IOC and HBW Checklists.
- The Yellow-margined Flycatcher / Yellow-margined Flatbill, Tolmomyias assimilisis split into
- Yellow-winged Flycatcher / Yellow-margined Flatbill, Tolmomyias flavotectus (monotypic)
- Zimmer's Flatbill, Tolmomyias assimilis.
This separates the most divergent known Tolmomyias (flavotectus) as a separate species.
- The Yellow-breasted Flycatcher, Tolmomyias flaviventrisis split into
- Ochre-lored Flatbill, Tolmomyias flaviventris, including aurulentus and dissors
- Olive-faced Flatbill, Tolmomyias viridiceps, including subsimilis and zimmeri.
Well,
Tolmomyias is still a mess, but perhaps slightly less so. For one, the position of
T. sulphurescens on the tree represents the nominate subspecies. They don't all belong there. At the very least,
T.s. cinericeps, sometimes called Gray-headed Flatbill, is sister to Gray-crowned Flatbill,
Tolmomyias poliocephalus. I don't have any idea whether other subspecies group with it or not, so I'm not splitting it at this time.
[
Rhynchocyclinae, Tyrannida I, 3.03]
Triccinae — Genus Changes: A number of genera in the Triccinae subfamily have been realigned based on Harvey et al. (2020). Here is a summary:
- Two species have moved from Poecilotriccus to Ceratotriccus.
- Black-and-white Tody-Flycatcher (Ceratotriccus capitalis
- White-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher (Ceratotriccus albifacies
- The Boat-billed Tody-Tyrant, Microcochlearius josephinae, has been returned to Hemitriccus.
- The following have been transferred back to Hemitriccus from Ceratotriccus:
- Buff-throated Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus rufigularis,
- Black-throated Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus granadensis,
- Cinnamon-breasted Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus cinnamomeipectus,
- Kaempfer's Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus kaempferi,
- Eye-ringed Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus orbitatus,
- Buff-breasted Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus mirandae.
- The following have been transferred to Euscarthmornis from Ceratotriccus:
- Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus margaritaceiventer,
- Hangnest Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus nidipendulus,
- Stripe-necked Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus striaticollis,
- Johannes's Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus iohannis.
- Two species have been transferred to Perissotriccus from Myiornis:
- Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, Myiornis atricapillus,
- Short-tailed Pygmy-Tyrant, Myiornis ecaudatus.
- Two species have been transferred to Myiornis from Ceratotriccus:
- Zimmer's Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus minimus,
- Pelzeln's Tody-Tyrant, Ceratotriccus inornatus.
- Three species have been transferred to Oncostoma from Idioptilon and Poecilotriccus:
- Buff-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher, Poecilotriccus senex,
- White-eyed Tody-Tyrant, Idioptilon zosterops,
- White-bellied Tody-Tyrant, Idioptilon griseipectum.
There was substantial genetic distance (almost 3 million years) in the various Eared Pygmy-Tyrants,
Myiornis auricularis, and White-bellied Pygmy-Tyrants,
Myiornis albiventris tested by Harvey et al. (2020). Further,
albiventris was nested within the
auricularis clade. I've not made any changes based on this.
[
Triccinae, Tyrannida I, 3.03]
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