Proposal
(246) to South American Classification Committee
Eliminate
Kalinowski's Tinamou Nothoprocta kalinowskii from the list of South
American species
Background: Nothoprocta kalinowskii is known from
only three specimens. It was described by Berlepsch and Stolzmann (1901) from a
site (Licamachay) believed to be near Cuzco, that is to say, in an intermontane
valley in south central Peru. In subsequent years, the type, which was in
Warsaw, was seen by, or drew comments from, few if any ornithologists. Hellmayr
and Conover (1942) suggested (apparently without having seen the type) that kalinowskii
was "probably a race of" the widespread Ornate Tinamou Nothoprocta
ornata, of which there was no representative in the department of Cuzco.
Decades later, Meyer de Schauensee (1966) reported a second
specimen was in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History,
collected at a site in the western Andes of northern Peru. Meyer de Schauensee
repeated the suggestion that kalinowskii may be a subspecies of ornata,
although the new specimen placed the only two sites for kalinowskii at
opposite ends of the distribution of Nothoprocta ornata branickii. It is
not known who identified this specimen as kalinowskii (although it
probably was Maria Koepcke), or on what basis. Regardless, the AMNH specimen
became the modern "template" for what kalinowskii was (rather
than the type, which was difficult to access). More recently, Vasconcelas
(2002) reported a third specimen, similar to the AMNH specimen and from the
same part of Peru.
It's not that unusual for a species to be known from only a few
specimens, or to have disjunct distributions. But no other Peruvian species has
a distribution similar to that reported for Nothoprocta kalinowskii.
Furthermore, as mentioned above, the reported distribution of kalinowskii
lies in two pockets at the northern end of, and just to the southeastern end
of, the distribution of Nothoprocta ornata branickii. This distribution
is difficult to reconcile with literature suggestions that kalinowskii might
be a distinct subspecies of ornata.
Recent evidence: Krabbe and Schulenberg (2005)
reported on "A mystery solved: the identity and distribution of
Kalinowski's Tinamou Nothoprocta kalinowskii" (pdf available from
TSS or from Remsen). Krabbe visited Warsaw and studied the type of kalinowskii.
Krabbe and Schulenberg review the slight reported differences between kalinowskii
and branickii, and variation within branickii, and conclude that kalinowskii
is "merely an extreme individual variant" of branickii (see
the comparative photographs in Krabbe and Schulenberg; our use of the adjective
"extreme" makes the type of kalinowskii sound more different
from run-of-the-mill branickii than it really is). Therefore, kalinowskii
is a junior synonym of branickii (described by Taczanowski in 1874), and
not a separate taxon.
Furthermore, Krabbe and Schulenberg were able to retrace the route
of Jean Kalinowski, the collector of the type of Kalinowski's Tinamou. The
exact location of "Licamachay" remains undetermined, but clearly it
was farther west than Cuzco, and likely not disjunct from or parapatric to the
distribution of branickii.
Krabbe and Schulenberg also discuss the two specimens, reportedly kalinowskii,
from the western Andes. These two specimens differ in some (subtle) ways from
topotypical branickii (and from the type of kalinowskii). The limited evidence suggests that these specimens
may represent no more than the end point of a cline in variation at the
northern edge of the range of branickii.
Recommendation: A "yes" vote on this proposal -
which is what I recommend - would be a vote to accept the conclusions of Krabbe
and Schulenberg to "demote" kalinowskii from species to junior
synonym of Nothoprocta ornata branickii.
References:
Berlepsch,
H. and Stolzmann, J. 1901. Descriptions
d'oiseaux nouveaux du Pérou central recueillis par le voyageur Polonais Jean
Kalinowski. Ornis 11: 191-195.
Hellmayr,
C. E. and Conover, H. B. 1942. Catalogue of birds of the Americas, Part I,
number 1. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. Ser. 13 (Publ. 514).
Krabbe, N.,
and T.S. Schulenberg. 2005. A mystery solved: the identity and distribution of
Kalinowski's Tinamou Nothoprocta
kalinowskii. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 125: 253-260.
Meyer de
Schauensee, R. 1966. The species of birds of South America and their
distribution. Narberth, Pennsylvania; Livingston Publishing Company.
Vasconcelos,
M. F. 2002. A newly discovered specimen of Kalinowski's Tinamou Nothoprocta kalinowskii from the Andean
Pacific slope of Peru. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 122:
216-218.
Tom Schulenberg,
October 2006
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments from Remsen: "YES. Clearly,
burden-of-proof now falls on anyone claiming that kalinowskii is a
species-level taxon."
Comments from Robbins: "YES. Krabbe and Schulenberg
have shown that "kalinowskii" should be considered a synonym
of Nothoprocta ornata branickii."
Comments from Stiles: "YES. The arguments of
K&S are convincing, and clear up most satisfactorily the status of this
doubtful "taxon."
Comments from Jaramillo: "YES - Certainly does
clarify a mystery."
Comments from Nores: "YES. Los argumentos de Krabbe and Schulenberg son bastante convincentes,
teniendo en cuenta los pocos ejemplares existentes. De todos modos, pienso que
el problema no está totalmente resuelto y merece estudios específicos de campo
para determinar si realmente la especie existe o no.
Comments from Pacheco: "YES. Os argumentos de Krabbe & Schulenberg são
satisfatórios para desconsiderar o até então enigmático Nothoprocta
kalinowskii como táxon válido."