Proposal (108) to South American Classification Committee

Change English name of Leptotila megalura

Effect on South American CL: This proposal would change the English name of a species on our list from a "Meyer de Schauensee" name ("Large-tailed Dove") to a "Goodwin-HBW" name ("White-faced Dove").

Background: Meyer de Schauensee (1966, 1970) used the name "Large-tailed Dove" for Leptotila megalura, and this has been followed by essentially all literature, except for Goodwin (1983), who used "White-faced Dove." Baptista et al. (1997) also followed this. Gibbs et al. (2001) Mazar Barnett & Pearman (2001) invented yet another name, "Yungas Dove," which is probably the "best" of the three.

Analysis: Although "Large-tailed" is presumably useless in the field, it is accurate and has 30+ years of historical momentum. It is used in Olrog (1984), Narosky & Yzurieta (1987), Remsen & Traylor (1989), De la Peña & Rumboll (1998), and Hennessey et al. (2003).

Recommendation: I vote NO on this proposal. I see no point in using a new name. [If someone wants to do another proposal to change to "Yungas Dove," go ahead.]

Literature Cited:

BAPTISTA, L. F., P. W. TRAIL, AND H. M. HORBLIT. 1997. Family Columbidae (pigeons and doves). Pp. 60-243 in "Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 4. Sandgrouse to cuckoos." (J. del Hoyo et al., eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

DE LA PEÑA, M. R., AND M. RUMBOLL. 1998. Birds of Southern South America and Antarctica. . Harper Collins.

GIBBS, D., E. BARNES, AND J. COX. 2001. Pigeons and doves. Yale University Press, New Haven.

GOODWIN, D. 1983. Pigeons and doves of the world, 3rd ed. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, New York.

HENNESSEY, A. B, S. K. HERZOG, AND F. SAGOT. 2003. Lista anotada de las Aves de Bolivia. Asociación Armonía/Birdlife International, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

MAZAR BARNETT, J., AND M. PEARMAN. 2001. Annotated checklist of the birds of Argentina. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

MEYER DE SCHAUENSEE, R. 1966. The species of birds of South America and their distribution. Livingston Publishing Co., Narberth, Pennsylvania.

MEYER DE SCHAUENSEE, R. 1970. A guide to the birds of South America. Livingston Publishing Co., Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.

NAROSKY, T., AND D. YZURIETA. 1993. Birds of Argentina & Uruguay. A Field Guide. Asociación Ornitologica Del Plata, Buenos Aires.

OLROG, C. C. 1984. Las Aves Argentinas. Administración Parques Nacionales, Buenos Aires.

Van Remsen, March 2004

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Comments from Stiles: "NO. Once again, if we start to get into the business of tinkering with English names, substituting every time a slightly better one comes along, we'll never finish. The old, accepted name isn´t inaccurate, so I see no reason to change it."

Comments from Nores: "NO, el nombre es apropiado y de alguna utilidad en el campo."

Comments from Jaramillo: "NO. No reason to do this, particularly since White-faced Dove is not really a useful name either. Now if the choice had been Yungas Dove, I do think I would have jumped at that one. I do not feel strongly enough to write a proposal for this, and given my general concern with name stability, I think I would just be falling into the trap of trying to improve English names and get into the tinkering that Gary mentions."

Comments from Zimmer: "NO. For reasons outlined in my votes on #106 and #107."