Peter Kovalik
Well-known member
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).
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).