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Yemen endemic subspecies (1 Viewer)

Peter Kovalik

Well-known member
Slovakia
Guy M. Kirwan. 2021. Comments on two Yemen endemic subspecies: Alectoris melanocephala guichardi R. Meinertzhagen, 1951, and Pterocles lichtensteinii ingramsi Bates & Kinnear, 1937. Sandgrouse 43: 263-270.


Summary:
Two taxa of non-passerines are generally accepted as being endemic to the Hadramaut of eastern Yemen: a subspecies (guichardi) of Arabian Partridge Alectoris melanocephala described by Richard Meinertzhagen, and the subspecies ingramsi of Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse Pterocles lichtensteinii described by George Latimer Bates and Norman Kinnear. Re-examination of extensive specimen material from southern Arabia of both species, including the relevant types, indicates the characters used to delimit A. m. guichardi cannot be upheld, being indicative of individual rather than geographic variation. However, P. l. ingramsi should be maintained, being an unusually pale population surrounded by considerably darker and more closely barred birds elsewhere in Arabia (and further afield).
 
Guy M. Kirwan. 2021. Comments on two Yemen endemic subspecies: Alectoris melanocephala guichardi R. Meinertzhagen, 1951, and Pterocles lichtensteinii ingramsi Bates & Kinnear, 1937. Sandgrouse 43: 263-270.


Summary:
Two taxa of non-passerines are generally accepted as being endemic to the Hadramaut of eastern Yemen: a subspecies (guichardi) of Arabian Partridge Alectoris melanocephala described by Richard Meinertzhagen, and the subspecies ingramsi of Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse Pterocles lichtensteinii described by George Latimer Bates and Norman Kinnear. Re-examination of extensive specimen material from southern Arabia of both species, including the relevant types, indicates the characters used to delimit A. m. guichardi cannot be upheld, being indicative of individual rather than geographic variation. However, P. l. ingramsi should be maintained, being an unusually pale population surrounded by considerably darker and more closely barred birds elsewhere in Arabia (and further afield).
Did anyone else notice this from the Introduction? "The following commentary was prepared as part of a review of developments in the taxonomy of Western Palearctic birds for the Howard & Moore checklist edition 5."
 
That's interesting...wondering though when that statement was written. The possibility of a 5th edition last I heard was up in the air, what with one of the principle folks going on to help with the upcoming One True Checklist to Rule Them All.
 
The following recently got added to the Trust for Avian Sytematics future plans page. It's undated but it appeared in archive.org capture of Oct 6 and wasn't there in April.

Projected Database II: the Howard & Moore Checklist exists as a structured database which, in the list pages displayed on this website, appears as discrete taxon-specific lines, it is possible to link each line to a sister database where each taxon has its own titled page within which various lists and tables can be inserted to provide information not in the checklist. Database II is now in the design stage and among it’s sections deveopment priority is being given to synonyms. Every valid name, synonyms included, must be based on a valid description, depiction or indication, and conceptually all names at species-group level have a type or types. The world’s natural history museums are tasked within seeking the types that have not been located and the searching needs to include the many names that are deep in synonymy. Ornithologists do not have the luxury of any Lists of Available Names (LANs) and in this connection there has been no significant work done in the last 30 years except for a work intended to be shaped to become a list of available genus-group names (Bock, 1994). Database II sees the collection and databasing of all such synonyms as a primary goal which logically needs to involve all those who seek to create type catalogues and to seek unlocated types whether in their own museums or elsewhere. Work on Database II is likely to take years of careful work and the database is being designed for use by multiple volunteers, associated with provision of guidance on how to work within the database. Volunteers from the museum community are now invited join the project by sending an e-mail to [email protected]

 
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