Proposal (107) to South American Classification Committee
Change English name of Metriopelia morenoi
Effect on South American CL: This proposal would change the
English name of a species on our list from a "Meyer de Schauensee"
name ("Bare-eyed Ground-Dove") to an "HBW" name
("Moreno's Ground-Dove").
Background: Meyer de Schauensee (1966, 1970) used the
name "Bare-eyed Ground-Dove" for Metriopelia morenoi, and
this has been followed by essentially all literature, except for Goodwin
(1983), who used "Moreno's Bare-eyed Ground-Dove." Baptista et al.
(1997) changed this to "Moreno's Ground-Dove," without comment. This
was also followed by Gibbs et al. (2001) and Mazar Barnett & Pearman
(2001).
Moreno, according to Jobling (1991), refers to "Francisco
Josue Pascasio Moreno (1852-1919), Argentine
naturalist and founding director of La Plata Museum, 1884."
Analysis: "Bare-eyed" is accurate and has 30+ years of
historical momentum. It is used in Olrog (1984), Narosky & Yzurieta (1987),
and De la Peña & Rumboll (1998). I like the similarity to "Bare-faced
Ground-Dove" (M. ceciliae), its presumed allospecies. I am
uncertain as to why Baptista et al. used "Moreno's" unless it was in
partial deference to Goodwin's name (and Goodwin had an exceptional penchant
for ignoring Meyer de Schauensee names).
Recommendation: I vote NO on this proposal. I see no point in
using a new name.
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.
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, ya que la región periocular
naranja es muy evidente. Aunque todas las especies de Metriopelia tienen
este carácter, en M. morenoi está más desarrollado."
Comments from Jaramillo: "NO This was a difficult
one for me, I must admit that in the field I have called Bare-eyed
Ground-Doves, when I meant Bare-faced Ground-Doves and probably vice versa.
Maybe it is ornithological dyslexia, maybe its English as a second language,
maybe it is just a weak memory, but the names are rather similar, and the birds
are pretty similar too. It is a trap that can confuse. Moreno's does do away with
the problem, but unless you know who Moreno was and where he did his work, it
doesn't help to differentiate morenoi from ceciliae. If the
option had been to call it Argentine Ground-Dove, I would have been all over
it. Given the history of Bare-eyed, and the fact that morenoi really
only helps to get rid of an annoying similarity in names, but adds little other
meaningful information (the name Moreno's that is), I think that it is best to
remain with the old name."
Comments from Schulenberg: "NO. I admit that
"Bare-eyed" and "Bare-faced" for two congeners has
potential for causing confusion (although I've never had problems with this).
But I'm still not wild about the idea of changing the English name."
Comments from Zimmer: "NO. This is exactly the
type of "descriptive" name that often becomes confusing (Is it
Bare-eyed or Bare-faced?). But given that the name is established and is not
inaccurate, and lacking a pithy geographic modifier, I'd prefer to stay with
the status quo."