Proposal (16) to South American Classification Committee
Elevate Myrmeciza hemimelaena castanea to species
rank
Effect
on South American CL: elevate the subspecies Myrmeciza
hemimelaena castanea Zimmer, 1932, to species rank.
Background
and rationale: see Isler et al. (Auk 119:
362-378, 2002). A one-sentence synopsis is that a subspecies barely
distinguishable on morphological grounds (castanea) has been shown to
differ substantially from syntopic M. hemimelaena in voice and habitat
preference.
Recommendation: Having followed this project for years, I strongly endorse
the recommendation of Isler et al. to recognize M. castanea at the
species rank.
English
name: Not part of this proposal. (Isler et
al. proposed Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird for castanea and Southern
Chestnut-tailed Antbird for hemimelaena. However, I wonder if we
couldn't find a simpler name for castanea that would avoid the boring
and longer compounding of the name; such compound names also suggest
allospecies status, which is not the case. Also, castanea is much more
restricted geographically than the relatively widespread castanea, and
their distributions are not really north vs. south -- they are almost as much
east vs. west.)
Van Remsen, 21 May 2002
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From Mort & Phyllis Isler: “With regard to the English names of M. hemimelaena and M.
castanea, we canvassed all of the coauthors of our recent Auk paper
(119:362-378) except Thomas Valqui, whom we understand is in the field in Peru.
All three of the remaining authors expressed a strong preference for
maintaining the English names of M.
hemimelaena and M. castanea
proposed in the paper. We gather that you received Bret's comments
directly. The consensus of their comments is that they thought that the
English names proposed in the paper were appropriate and that the known
geographic range overlap between hemimelaena
and castanea is too narrow to require
changing them. With regard to the second possible objection, although the range
of M. hemimelaena extends much
further east than the range of M.
castanea, the range of M. hemimelaena
is entirely south of the Amazon/Marañón and the range of M. castanea, except for the extension into the San Martín region,
is north of the Amazon/Marañón. Therefore, we feel that the descriptive names
of "Southern" and "Northern" are valid. None of the other
authors got very excited about our suggestion of possibly changing the English
name of M. castanea to Zimmer's Antbird. After due consideration, therefore,
we have to report that it is the authors' recommendation that the English names
for M. castanea and M. hemimelaena remain as proposed in the
paper. We appreciate your consulting us on the matter.”
From Schulenberg: "YES. (With the caveat that the English common names
proposed by Isler et al. *must* be changed.)"
From Stiles: "The criteria for splitting seem sound. I do share
your revulsion at the suggested English name, surely some geographical epithet
would be more appropriate (as a number of antbirds have chestnut tails in any
case)."
From Jaramillo: "YES, the elevation of castanea to species
status is appropriate. I think the English names are unacceptable though and
would suggest we figure out a new set of names now as the proposed names are
not in wide usage yet."