Proposal (295x) to South American Classification Committee

 

 

Change English name of T. nudigenis

 

 

Now that Proposal 295 passed to change English name of Turdus nudigenis to something besides Bare-eyed, we are presented with the following choices:

 

A. "Yellow-eyed"

Reason in favour: this was the more widely used of the three available new names in the 1990s and early 2000s. Reasons against: (i) the name is misleading - it is the bare skin, not eye, that is yellow, and the iris is brown, not yellow; see, e.g. the following photograph: http://www.avesphoto.com/WEBSITE/TT/species/THUBEY-1.htm; (ii) more recent authors have sought to avoid using this name.

 

B. "Spectacled"

Reasons in favour: (i) this is arguably the best descriptively of the two alternative names: (ii) following its adoption in Handbook of the Birds of the World, this name could be regarded as a standard. Reasons against: (i) it is a novel name; (ii) it is not as widely used as "Yellow-eyed"; (iii) the "spectacles" don't join in the middle; thus, one would be referring here to some class of spectacles with a transparent or very thin nose bridge.

 

C. "American Bare-eyed"

Gill & Wright (2006) have recently adopted "American Bare-eyed Thrush" as a further possible name for this species. Reasons in favour: (i) it retains the existing and formerly used "Bare-eyed" moniker; (ii) following its adoption by the IOC, this name could be regarded as a standard. Reasons against: (i) the name incorrectly suggests sister species status for T. nudigenis and T. tephronotus; (ii) it is a long name.

 

D. "Naked-eyed"

This was the name used by Ridgway (1907), but it has seen little use since, although arguably the best descriptive name (and fairly close to translation of scientific name, "naked cheeked") given that 'Bare-eyed" is "preoccupied."

 

 

My suggested order would be (1.) Spectacled, (2.) Naked-eyed, (3.) American Bare-eyed, (4.) Yellow-eyed.  Naked-eyed is best ignoring history and recent publications; but as IOC (American), Handbook of the Birds of the World (Spectacled) and the Helm Thrush guide (Yellow-eyed) all use different names, the adoption of a fourth standard (Naked-eyed) is destabilising; so, I would plump for the best of the recently used names (Spectacled) in the hope that IOC and Helm can change in future editions.  The other two alternatives are awful names, so the order is a little academic. However, I prefer phylogenetic inaccuracy over morphological inaccuracy for English names, seeing as the vernacular is most of use in the field rather than the lab."

 

References: All on SACC page.

 

Voting procedure: Please rank the four choices from 1 to 4 (best to worst), and we'll see where we stand after that initial round.

 

Thomas Donegan (with minor modifications by Remsen), 18 July and 30 Oct. 2007

 

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Stiles rankings: "As in my vote on the original version, I would rank "Spectacled" first with rather minimal enthusiasm, "Naked-eyed" second (had it been used more, I'd put it first, but it seems too much like an exhumation..). FAR down the list would be "American Bare-eyed" which implies a nonexistent sister-group relationship, and at the absolute bottom would be "Yellow-eyed", which is simply wrong and outrightly misleading."

 

1. Spectacled. 2. Naked-eyed. 3. American Bare-eyed. 4. Yellow-eyed

 

Remsen rankings: "I like "Naked-eyed" best -- unique and reasonably accurate -- and has historical precedence, albeit, as stated by that Twistwing-loving Gary, it's an exhumation. But yet another example of why no one should have tried to improve on Ridgway. "Spectacled" would be second, but less accurate. "Yellow-eyed" third; inaccurate, yes, but better than "American Bare-eyed", which I simply cannot stand because of the clunkiness and implied relationship, erroneously, to an African species."

 

1. Naked-eyed. 2. Spectacled. 3. Yellow-eyed. 4. American Bare-eyed.

 

Schulenberg rankings:

1. Spectacled.

"As an aside, I don't understand the idea that "American Bare-eyed" would suggest a (spurious) sister-species relationship. There are plenty of other species for which we're stuck with an ungainly "American," for no reason other than to distinguish it from some Old World species with the same stem name: American Black Duck, American White Pelican, American Pygmy Kingfisher, American Tree Sparrow. I'm not aware that anyone is lulled into thinking that the modifier "American" suggests any kind of sister-species relationship in these cases. (No "horror stories," anecdotal or otherwise, along such lines were presented as part of this proposal.) Why should it do so in the case of this Turdus?"

 

Robbins rankings:

1. Spectacled
2. Yellow-eyed
3. Naked-eyed
4. Am. Bare-eyed -- just too long

 

Jaramillo rankings:

1) Spectacled
2) Naked-eyed
3) Yellow-eyed
4) American Bare-eyed

 

Stotz rankings:

1. Spectacled
2. Naked-eyed
3. Yellow-eyed
4. American Bare-eyed

 

Zimmer rankings:

1. Naked-eyed
2. Spectacled
3. American Bare-eyed
4. Yellow-eyed

 

Ranking summary = Spectacled wins and was the favorite in 5 of 7 rankings.

 

Therefore, this proposal, 295 X becomes a proposal to change the name of T. nudigenis to "Spectacled Thrush." Just in case those who ranked Spectacled have had a change of opinion, we reopen the issue with a YES or NO vote to adopt Spectacled.

 

Van Remsen, June 2008

 

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Comments from Stiles: "YES (I agree that Naked-eyed is a better name, but in the sacred interests of "stability"… at least "Spectacled" has had some use recently). At least we can dispose of "Yellow-eyed" and "American Bare-eyed".