Proposal
(252) to South American Classification Committee
Change the
English name of Caprimulgus heterurus from Santa Marta Nightjar to
Todd's Nightjar
Effect on SACC: change the English name of Caprimulgus
heterurus from Santa Marta Nightjar to Todd's Nightjar.
Background: This poorly known caprimulgid was originally
described as Setopagis heterurus, with no English name. It was diagnosed
as having a general resemblance to Little Nightjar Caprimulgus parvulus,
but with less rufescent underparts and more extensive white markings on the
wings and tail. The tail markings were stated to cover both webs of the
terminal portion of the three outer rectrices. The type, an adult male, was
collected at La Tigrera, Santa Marta, Colombia (Todd 1915, Proc. Biol. Soc.
Wash. 28, 79-82).
The species was given the English name Santa Marta Little
Nighthawk, with Todd's original diagnosis repeated in a footnote (Cory 1918, Field
Mus. Nat. Hist. 197, Zool. Series 13).
Treated as a subspecies of Setopagis parvula (for the first
time?) by Hellmayr (1929, Field Mus. Nat. Hist. 255, Zool. Series 12,
235 - 501.), who stated that this goatsucker was represented in the Santa Marta
region of Colombia by Setopagis parvula heterura, with darker
underparts and longer white tips to the rectrices.
The genus Setopagis was subsumed in Caprimulgus by
Peters in 1940 (Checklist birds of the world Vol. 4, Harvard Univ. Press).
Stated to inhabit the more sparse parts of scrubby or deciduous
woodlands, together with the adjacent or included clearings, either natural or
man-made. It may also prefer slightly hilly terrain, shying away from extensive
flatlands (Schwartz 1968, Condor 70, 223 - 227).
In a review of taxonomic relationships within Caprimulginae based
on vocalisations, named Santa Marta Setopagis Setopagis heterus (=
an incorrect subsequent spelling), with a range of Santa Marta region of
Colombia and northern Venezuela (Davis 1978, Pan Am. Studies 1, 22 -
57).
Described as similar to C. p. parvulus but with much wider
white band across the fiver outer primaries, slightly darker underparts and
slightly larger white spots on all but the central two tail feathers (Cleere
1998, Nightjars, Pica Press).
Generally regarded as a largely Venezuelan taxon, preferring
gallery forest edge rather than open, grassy country in the llanos
(Sharpe et al. 2001,Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 121, 50 - 62). In Venezuela, occurs in the borders of dry to
humid forest, gallery forest and shrubby thickets and wooded areas in
grassland, in lowlands and slightly hilly regions (Hilty 2003, Birds of
Venezuela, Christopher Helm).
Modern checklists and monographs treat this taxon as a subspecies
of Little Nightjar Caprimulgus parvulus, with no separate English name
and a range of northern Colombia and northern and central Venezuela.
It has also been called Little Nighthawk and Santa Marta Little
Nightjar.
Analysis: This newly elevated species is not
endemic to the Santa Marta region of northern Colombia and the name Santa Marta
Nightjar therefore seems inappropriate. It is a small, variegated nightjar that
lacks distinctive morphological features that would suggest a suitable English
name, although it is clearly a nightjar (i.e. presence of long rictal bristles)
rather than a nighthawk. It does possess peculiar vocalisations, but these
would be difficult to translate into a suitable common name. It inhabits a
variety of wooded country throughout its range, which also fails to offer an
obvious solution. It's specific name heterurus simply means
"different tailed".
Recommendation: With little to go on from the
bird itself, I propose the English name Todd's Nightjar for Caprimulgus
heterurus, in honour of W.E.C. Todd who described the species.
[Footnote: Todd also described Caprimulgus maculosus, which
is currently known as Cayenne Nightjar]
Nigel
Cleere, December 2006
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments from Remsen: "YES. Although I'm usually
opposed to novelties, the lack of a historically established, much less
accurate, English name removes my normal hesitation. Cleere does a great job of
exploring the alternatives, and his new name is as appropriate as any.
"Santa Marta" is clearly a misnomer that we have a chance to correct
before it gets any momentum."
Comments from Jaramillo: "YES - Todd's Nightjar is
appropriate given that Santa Marta is misleading. Now is the time to make this
change."
Comments from Robbins: "NO. As Cleere points out,
the name Santa Marta Nightjar is an inappropriate English name for heterurus.
In addition, he is correct that there is no vocal, morphological, or habitat
characters that would provide an appropriate English descriptor. As my voting
record demonstrates, I'm not supportive of using patronyms for English names.
Fortunately, there is an alternative that conveys both heterurus's relationships
and distribution.
"Given the similarity in the primary vocalization shared by heterurus
and parvulus, yet very distinct from all other nightjars, I doubt that
anyone would question that these aren't sister taxa (plumage and habitat
preferences support this premise as well). Thus, to denote this and not
introduce a completely foreign name, Northern Little Nightjar for heterurus and
Southern Little Nightjar for parvulus would be appropriate
English names. Although I generally don't like the use of "Northern"
and "Southern" for distinguishing closely related taxa with different
latitudinal distributions, but in this case it is quite appropriate. Thus, I
vote "no" for the uninformative Todd's Nightjar, if nothing else to
generate discussion for the above alternative."
Comments from Stiles: "YES. A new name would be
desirable, Todd's is at least not misleading if insipid (I don´t terribly like
patronyms either), and I distrust Mark's alternative if only because somebody
will surely go the next step at some point and propose N. and -S.
Little-Nightjars, to which hyphenations I am decidedly allergic)."
Comments from Zimmer: "Qualified "YES".
I am in total agreement that "Santa Marta" should go. I also agree
that in this group (in which diversification of plumage characters has been
pretty conservative), descriptive names are hard to come by. Unlike some
members of the committee, I don't have any problem with patronyms, because at
least they are memorable, as opposed to some supposedly descriptive names that
really don't describe or distinguish a bird very well. I could be equally, or
possibly even more supportive of the longer, and somewhat boring "Northern
Little Nightjar" and "Southern Little Nightjar" as proposed by
Mark. These names generally reflect the distributions of the two species, which
do appear to be one another's closest relatives. I actually think they are the
better names, because they are informative in the sense of both distribution
and relationships. Going with "Northern Little" and "Southern
Little" would also have the advantage of bestowing new names on each of
the resulting splits, thereby reserving "Little Nightjar" for the
species-pair. I agree with Gary in not wanting to see a hyphen (therefore
separating out Little-Nightjars from Nightjars), and some committee members may
object to the longer names. So, count me as a YES for getting rid of
"Santa Marta Nightjar", and a "YES" to either "Todd's
Nightjar" or "Northern Little" and "Southern Little"
Nightjars, but with a slight preference for the latter alternative."
Comments from Nores [not an official vote on English names]:
"YES. Estoy de acuerdo en cambiar el nombre Santa
Marta Nightjar ya que la especie no es endémica de la Sierra de Santa Marta,
pero buscaría otro nombre que el propuesto. Yo tampoco considero apropiado
poner nombres de personas. Lo que dice Robbins (Northern Little Nightjar for heterurus
and Southern Little Nightjar for parvulus) me parece bien."