Proposal (#366) to South American Classification Committee

 

Resurgir el Gnero Compsospiza

Antecedentes: El gnero Compsospiza fue creado por Berlepsch en 1893 para la especie garleppi de Bolivia. Posteriormente, Hellmayr 1938 pas a este gnero la especie Buarremon baeri (Oustalet 1904) de las montaas de Argentina. Este gnero fue mantenido por autores posteriores para estas dos especies por ms de 30 aos hasta que finalmente Paynter (1970) incluy las dos especies en el gnero Poospiza, sinonimizando as al gnero Compsospiza con Poospiza. Algunos autores posteriores (por ejemplo Ridgely y Tudor 1989, Fjelds y Krabbe 1990, Sibley y Monroe 1990, Stotz et al. 1996, Mazar-Barnett y Pearman 2001) aceptaron este cambio, mientras que otros (Olrog 1978, Narosky e Yzurieta 1987) no lo aceptaron. Yo particularmente, tampoco estuve de acuerdo en unir ambos gneros ya que Compsospiza baeri, a mi modo de ver, no se asemeja a las Poospiza; ms bien recuerda a un Phrygilus (esto especialmente en el campo).

Nueva informacin: anlisis moleculares realizados por Klicka et al. (2007), muestran claramente que existe una buena separacin gentica entre ambos gneros, incluso con una mayor afinidad de Poospiza con Thlypopsis y Hemispingus que con Compsospiza, por lo que la unin de Compsospiza con Poospiza parece incorrecto.

Recomendaciones: yo voto Si a esta propuesta, ya que ambos gneros no slo parecan diferentes como se apreciaba en su hbitat, sino porque ellos estn genticamente muy separados.

Referencias:

Fjelds y Krabbe 1990. Birds of the high Andes.

Hellmayr 1938. Catalogue of the birds of the Americas.

Klicka, J., Burns, K. and Spellmann, G. M. 2007. Defining a monophyletic Cardinalini: A molecular perspective. Mol. Phylo. Evol. 45:1014-1032.

Mazar-Barnett y Pearman. 2001. Annotated check-list of the birds of Argentina.

Narosky e Yzurieta. 1987. Gua para la identificacin de las aves de Argentina y Uruguay.

Olrog, C. C. 1978. Lista y distribucin de las aves argentinas.

Paynter, R. 1970. Check-list of the birds of the world.

Ridgely y Tudor 1989. Birds of South America.

Sibley-Monroe. 19 Classification list of families Birds of the World

Stotz et al. 1996. Neotropical birds

 

Manuel Nores, September 2008

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Comments from Jaramillo: "YES - The "Mountain-Finches" have never seemed that close to true Poospiza to me. I have field experience with both the Bolivian and Argentine species. It is satisfying to have genetic data that confirms that ecological, plumage, and morphological differences that are apparent are indeed due to a lack of close relationship between these two groups. I must say that vocally, Compsospiza is not all that far off from various Poospiza."

Comments from Remsen: "YES. This is another genus erased by a "Peters Checklist" decision by people with little or no familiarity with the taxa involved without any explicit published rationale . On the other hand, as study skins, the two Compsospiza do look like over-sized Poospiza (a predictable consequence of their high elevation range), so I can't really fault Paynter too much for the lump. My minor concerns are that only baeri was sampled, that it's not that far outside the group that contains the three Poospiza sampled, and that the tree itself is based on 2 genes, both mitochondrial. Nonetheless, in the absence of any real reason for the original merger, I vote for restoring Compsospiza until data indicate otherwise."

Comments from Schulenberg: "YES. Given the essential absence of data or arguments for the original lumping, the evidence now is decidedly inclined toward recognition of Compsospiza."

Comments from Pacheco: "YES. O lumping de 1938 no se sustenta diante das evidncias por ora disponveis e, portanto, sou de opinio que Compsospiza deve ser de pronto restabelecido."

Comments from Zimmer: "YES, for reasons stated in the proposal and by others."

Comments from Robbins: "YES, given the apparent genetic distinctiveness of baeri from the other Poospiza that were sampled."