Proposal (203) to South American Classification Committee

Recognize Polioptila clementsi as a valid species

Effect on South American CL: This proposal would add a newly described species to the list.

Background: Whitney & Alvarez-Alonso (2005) discovered a new gnatcatcher from the white-sand forests of Northern Amazonian Peru that they described as a new species. Their conclusion that this taxon represents a new species is based on vocal, morphological, and distributional data.

Recommendation: Based on the vocal, genetic, and distributional information, I believe this paper clearly documents a new species level taxon. I recommend a "yes" vote to add this newly described gnatcatcher to the South American list.

References: 

Whitney, B.M., & Alvarez-Alonso, J.A. 2005. A New Species Of Gnatcatcher From White-Sand Forests Of Northern Amazonian Peru With Revision Of The Polioptila guianensis Complex. The Wilson Bulletin 117(2): 113-127.

Daniel Zimberlin, February 2006

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Comments from Zimmer: "YES. The sum of morphological and vocal characters would seem to confirm this as a distinct species from the remainder of the P. guianensis group, and its distribution fits an established biogeographic pattern."

Comments from Stiles: "YES. P. clementsi does appear distinct enough to warrant species status."

Comments from Pacheco: "YES. Os dados disponibilizados pelos autores são para mim convincentes e encontra paralelo biogeográfico com outros táxons recém descritos das florestas em solo de areia da Amazônia norte-peruana."

Comments from Nores: "NO. Cuando los autores describen a P. clementsi señalan que difiere en el color del plumaje de todas las otras especies de Polioptila con excepción de P. guianensis de la que sólo se diferencia por tener el pico más largo. También, cuando se refieren al canto, señalan que estructuralmente es similar al de todas las formas de P. guianensis, pero que se puede rápidamente distinguir por unas marcadas notas introductorias. Si a ésto le agregamos el hecho de que esta forma tiene una distribución alopátrica con respecto a las otras formas, para mí todo indica que se trata sólo de una subespecie."

Comments from Jaramillo: "YES - Published data seem adequate to make this change."