Proposal (643) to South American Classification Committee
Recognize Scytalopus gonzagai as a valid
species
Effect on South American CL: This
proposal would add a recently described species to our main list.
Maurício, Belmonte-Lopes, Pacheco,
Silveira, Whitney & Bornschein (2014) recently described a new species of
tapaculo, Scytalopus gonzagai from
Bahia, Brazil. The new species is known from only 5 localities distributed in 2
distinct mountain ranges, 1 on the eastern slopes of the Planalto da Conquista,
between the municipalities of Boa Nova and Iguaí, and another in the Serra das
Lontras, ~100 km to the southeast and only 37 km from the coast.
Scytalopus
gonzagai is unambiguously distinguished from its closest relatives by 4
suites of characters: (1) morphometrics–body proportions, (2) plumage color,
(3) vocalizations, and (4) genetics. Using each of these character sets,
separately or in combination, one can distinguish with 100% confidence the new
species from its sister lineages.
Because the new species is a fully
diagnosable entity with diagnostic character states that are constant over a
considerable geographic area, it fulfills the requirements of the Phylogenetic
Species Concept (PSC) to be recognized as valid. However, evaluating it under
the framework of the Biological Species Concept (BSC) is more difficult because
the new species is allopatric relative to S.
speluncae, thus avoiding any direct assessment of reproductive isolation or
cohesion. Using the “degree of differentiation criterion”, in which one must to
consider the amount of phenotypic differentiation among sympatric species of
the same genus or species-group (Silva and Straube 1996), we selected an
example of sympatry among Brazilian Scytalopus
to calibrate our comparisons. It is now well-known that the songs of all
species in the S. speluncae group are
very similar, differing only in pace or in a few parameters such as note
frequency and length (Bornschein et al.
1998, 2007; Maurício 2005).
Songs of S. iraiensis and southern S.
speluncae differ diagnostically only in frequency – the former having lower
pitched notes – and in the modulation of a few “warming” notes of the beginning
of the song of the former; they also differ in habitat preferences (the former
lives in dense tall-grass in marshes, rarely entering forest cover; the latter
inhabits forest, and locally tall-grass in high altitude fields), in contact
calls and some plumage characters (gray shading of the underparts); in terms of
size, they overlap broadly in all measurements (Bornschein et al. 1998, 2007;
Maurício 2005). Despite being not radically distinct from each other, S. iraiensis and southern S. speluncae maintain their phenotypic
and genetic integrity along their largely sympatric ranges, with no signs of
hybridization (Bornschein et al. 1998, 2007; Mata et al. 2009; Whitney et al.
2010; GNM and MRB, pers. obs.).
Recommendation: I recommend a "YES" vote on
accepting this tapaculo as a new biological species to our list. As the differences between S.
gonzagai sp. nov. and both southern and northern S. speluncae in terms of song (pace and note shape) and plumage/
proportions (barring pattern and bill/wing and tail/wing relationships) are
similar or greater in magnitude to those observed between S. iraiensis and [sympatric] southern S. speluncae, we argue that, if eventually coming into secondary
contact with S. speluncae, the new
species would maintain its identity as a reproductively isolated unit; in other
words, S. gonzagai sp. nov.
would be more appropriately ranked as a species – instead of a subspecies – under
the BSC.
Literature
Cited:
BORNSCHEIN, M. R., G. N. MAURÍCIO,
R. BELMONTE-LOPES, H. MATA AND S. L. BONATTO. 2007. Diamantina Tapaculo, a new Scytalopus endemic to
the Chapada Diamantina, northeastern Brazil (Passeriformes: Rhinocryptidae).
Rev. Bras. Orn. 15(2): 151-174.
BORNSCHEIN, M. R., B. L. REINERT
& M. PICHORIM 1998. Descrição, ecologia e conservação de um novo Scytalopus (Rhinocryptidae) do sul do
Brasil, com comentários sobre a morfologia da família. Ararajuba 6: 3–36.
MATA, H., C. S. FONTANA, G.N.
MAURÍCIO, M.R. BORNSCHEIN, M.F. VASCONCELOS & S. L. BONATTO 2009. Molecular
phylogeny and biogeography of the eastern tapaculos (Aves: Rhinocryptidae: Scytalopus, Eleoscytalopus): Cryptic
diversification in Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Molecular Phylogenetics and
Evolution 53: 450–462.
MAURÍCIO, G.N. 2005. Taxonomy of
southern populations in the Scytalopus
speluncae group, with description of a new species and remarks on the
systematics and biogeography of the complex (Passeriformes: Rhinocryptidae).
Ararajuba 13: 7–28.
MAURÍCIO, G.N., R. BELMONTE-LOPES,
J. F. PACHECO, L.F. SILVEIRA, B. M. WHITNEY & M.R. BONSCHEIN. 2014.
Taxonomy of ‘‘Mouse-colored Tapaculos’’ (II): An endangered new species from
the montane Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, Brazil (Passeriformes: Rhinocryptidae:
Scytalopus). Auk 131. DOI:
10.1642/AUK-14-16.1
SILVA, J.M.C. & F.C. STRAUBE
1996. Systematics and biogeography of Scaled Woodcreepers (Aves:
Dendrocolaptidae). Stud. Neotrop. Fauna Environ. 31: 3–10.
WHITNEY, B. M., M.F. VASCONCELOS,
L.F. SILVEIRA, & J.F. PACHECO 2010. Scytalopus
petrophilus (Rock Tapaculo): A new species from Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 18: 73–88.
José
Fernando Pacheco, Giovanni Maurício & Marcos Ricardo Bornschein, September
2014
Note
from Remsen on English name: The original paper
used the English name “Bahian Mouse-colored Tapaculo” as the recommended
English name. However, this would
conflict with general principles of English names in that there is already a
species “Mouse-colored Tapaculo” (S.
speluncae) without a modifier, and thus the traditional name Mouse-colored
Tapaculo would require a modifier if “Bahian Mouse-colored Tapaculo” were
adopted. (This is not the Brazilian
authors’ fault! – the Auk was asleep
at the wheel on this.). So, we will need
a separate proposal on English names.
The name “Bahia Tapaculo is preoccupied by Eleoscytalopus psychopompus, so
use of “Bahian” even in a compound name would create confusion.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments from Stiles: “YES, there seems no question that gonzagai is a fully diagnosable species
– and given the very similar plumages of several species of Colombian Scytalopus that are vocally and
genetically quite distinct, I see no problem with regard to the BSC in
recognizing it as a species.”
Comments
from Jaramillo: “YES
– given the controversy regarding Scytalopus
from this part of the world, I was prepared for something a bit more complex.
However, it seems to be a relatively straightforward decision. This is a new
taxon, although there is a level of subjectivity to the consideration as a
species or subspecies. However, currently I see that the decision to consider
this as a species is based on the comparison taxa, which are considered species,
and so this is the correct course of action.”
Comments from Remsen: “YES, based on
vocal differences and comparisons to S.
iraiensis and S.
speluncae, between which there is no sign of gene flow.”
Comments
from Zimmer: “YES. I’m happy to see this one finally
published. I have audio and video
recordings (made in 2006) of multiple individuals of S. gonzagai from the Serra das Lontras-Javi, and the then-observed
vocal and morphological distinctions from “northern” and “southern” S. speluncae were consistent with those
nicely detailed by Mauricio et al (2014), and, in my opinion, solidly support
separate species status, especially when applying the yardstick of differences
between other recognized species in the group (particularly speluncae versus iraiensis). As for English
names, I kind of like the name “Lontras-Javi Tapaculo” which pinpoints the
massif that encompasses perhaps the bulk of the species’ range, as well as the
place where Bret and Luís Fabio collected the first voice-recorded specimen.”