December 2024
December 21
Dowitchers: The split between the Asian Dowitcher and the two American dowitchers looks pretty old in Černý and Natale (2022). In fact, figure 6 shows it at about 29 mya, too old for all the dowitchers to be in the same genus. Rescaling using Stiller et al. (2024) dates reduces the age of the dowitcher split, but it is still old, around 22 mya. That's way too old for all three species to be in the same genus. As a result, I moved the Asian Dowitcher to the monotypic genus Pseudoscolopax Blyth, 1859. The Asian Dowitcher is now Pseudoscolopax semipalmatus.
Jack Snipe: We still aren't sure where the Jack Snipe fits it. According to Černý and Natale (2022), DNA embeds it in the dowitchers. Morphology puts it sister to the snipe-woodcock clade, and their total evidence tree (fig. 6) has it a distant relative of the woodcocks. Dufour et al. (2024), using DNA only, have it as basal in Scolopacinae. I've put it sister to the snipe-woodcock clade, but have little confidence in this.
Snipe: The Noble Snipe wasn't originally part of Chubbia, and I think it was a mistake on my part to move it there (I think I just carried it along when I moved Chubbia). I'm returning the Noble Snipe to genus Gallinago, and putting it next to the Puna, Pantanal, Magellanic Snipe (G. andina, paraguaiae, and magellanica). Without genetic data on it, I'm reluctant to assume it is their sister taxon.
It may turn out that the Giant Snipe belongs in Chubbia, but it may not. It looks different, and the RAG-1 evidence also suggests it is not. Because of this, I've placed it in Xylocota, Bonaparte 1839 (the name belongs to the nominate subspecies). The name Homoptilura, G.R. Gray 1840 has also been applied to the Giant Snipe. In fact, both names are based on Buffon's illustration of the type. Since Bonaparte's name was proposed first, it gets the nod. It's rather easy to see the illustration is of a Giant Snipe.
Finally, the two remaining Chubbia are placed sister to the Imperial Snipe, which has generally been considered the third member of the Chubbia group. It looks different enough that I've removed it it from Chubbia. The quesion marks in the tree indicate I'm not where the two remaining Chubbia belong.
Also, I'd like thank BirdForum members for the helpful comments they posted.
[Charadriiformes, Scolopacidae, 3.51]
What figure is he referring to when he talks about Dufour (2024)?