Proposal (52) to South American Classification Committee
Change English name of Trogon comptus
Effect on South American CL: This proposal would change the
English name of a species on our list from a "Meyer de Schauensee"
name to newer "Sibley-Monroe" or "Ridgely-Tudor" name.
Background: Meyer de Schauensee (1966, 1970) used the
English name "Blue-tailed Trogon" for Trogon comptus.
Hilty & Brown (1986) also used this name. Sibley & Monroe (1990) coined
the name "White-eyed Trogon" for this species because the name
"Blue-tailed Trogon" was in use for Old World Harpactes
reinwardtii. For example, MacKinnon & Phillips (1993) used
"Blue-tailed Trogon" for this species. Collar (1996) followed Sibley
& Monroe (1990) in using "White-eyed"; he also added an
exclamation point after the "Blue-tailed Trogon" in his "Other
Common Names" section, as if the name were particularly inappropriate;
however, in Collar (1996), reinwardtii is split into two species,
"Javan Trogon" and "Sumatran Trogon", so the duplication of
Blue-tailed is avoided.
Ridgely & Greenfield (2001) coined "Chocó Trogon"
for comptus, with the following note:
"T. comptus was formerly called the
Blue-tailed Trogon (e.g., Meyer de Schauensee 1966, 1970, Hilty and Brown
1986). Sibley & Monroe (1990) concluded that English name was better
applied to a trogon found on Sumatra and Java in Indonesia, Harpactes
reinwardtii; we do not know how this decision was reached. Their choice of
the name White-eyed Trogon for T. comptus was accurate enough,
though it caused, especially in Ecuador, confusion with the equally
'white-eyed' T. mesurus (they were presumably not aware that
this would be the case). We prefer to end the confusion and change the name
of T. comptus to Chocó Trogon. "
Analysis: With the split of the Old World species and consequent renaming,
the use of "Blue-tailed" for T. comptus is no longer a
problem. It has a blue tail. It also has a white eye. It is also a Chocó
endemic.
Recommendation: I vote "NO" on this proposal
because the older name is accurate (albeit not diagnostic) and is in use in
"the" field guide for the country, Colombia, that constitutes its
primary range.
[Let's say that a YES vote is a vote to change from
"Blue-tailed" to either "White-eyed" or "Choco,"
and if this proposal passes, then we can have a separate vote for White-eyed or
Choco.]
Literature Cited:
HILTY, S.
L., AND W. L. BROWN. 1986. A guide to the birds of Colombia. Princeton
University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
MacKINNON,
J. & K. PHILLIPS. 1993. A field guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java
and Bali. Oxford Univ. Press.
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.
RIDGELY ,
R. S., AND P. J. GREENFIELD. 2001. The birds of Ecuador. Vol. I. Status, distribution,
and taxonomy. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.
SIBLEY, C.
G., AND B. L. MONROE, JR. 1990. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the
World. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
Van Remsen, August 2003
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Comments from Zimmer: "I vote "no" on
changing the English name of T. comptus. If the proposal passes, I would
favor "Choco Trogon" over "White-eyed" given that T.
mesurus also has white eyes."
Comments from Schulenberg: “My vote: No (i.e., retain the
name "Blue-tailed Trogon"). I'm not certain that are out of the woods
just because Collar, in Handbook of the Birds of the World, split the Old World
Blue-tailed Trogon Harpactes reinwardtii into two species (neither of
which retains the name "Blue-tailed"). We tend to be skeptical of
these same kind of taxonomic fiats regarding New World species, and we can't
guarantee that Collar's treatment will be accepted (although I admit that it is
seems likely that it will, if only because that's what ornithologists do, is to
follow "the latest thinking").
“Also, while it is hard to find English language names of
Indonesian birds, the name "Blue-tailed Trogon" for Harpactes reinwardtii
seems to date back at least to 1947 (Delacour, Birds of Malaysia), suggesting
that this usage for the Old World species has strict priority over Meyer de
Schauensee (1966) (not that strict priority matters as much in issues relating
to English language names, but this may have influenced Sibley and Monroe's
decision to use "Blue-tailed" for the Indonesian species).
“I'd still vote to retain "Blue-tailed Trogon" for comptus,
however. For one thing, as Van noted, Collar's proposed split of the Old World
species may render the issue moot. Blue-tailed has been used by other authors
for comptus, even if the later trend is to drift away (in other words,
it wasn't a suggestion that was proposed once but never adopted). Finally, I
note that MacKinnon and Phillips suggested "Blue-billed Trogon" as an
alternate name for the Harpactes. I have no idea where the name
"Blue-billed" came from (I had a hard enough time finding an earlier usage
of "Blue-tailed" for the Old World species). It may be that MacKinnon
and Phillips coined "Blue-billed" themselves, and that they came
close to adopting this as a new name for the Harpactes. Therefore, my hope
would be that, *if* other authors chose to recognize the Sumatra and Java taxa
within in a single species (i.e., not recognizing Collar's split), then they'll
adopt "Blue-billed Trogon" for Harpactes reinwardtii (and
leave us alone).
Remsen addendum: "Tom has a good point on
whether the Collar split will be accepted. In fact, in Dickinson (2003 --
revised Howard-Moore list), the split is not accepted. However, Dickinson's
solution to the "Blue-tailed " problem was to tack on a modifier -
"Reinwardt's Blue-tailed Trogon" - while leaving comptus as
"Blue-tailed Trogon" (!). I argued with Dickinson over this retreat
to earlier "sins" of English names (lack of symmetrical modifiers) to
no avail. The "Reinwardt's" part does, however, evidently have some
history -- the nominate subspecies evidently has been called "Reinwardt's
Trogon," which could also provide another option, like Blue-billed.
“In the "for what it's worth" category ... Johnsgard's
(2000) "Trogons of the world" book used "Blue-tailed" for
the Harpactes and "White-eyed" for comptus.
Johnsgard, however, whose work never fails to unimpress me, was evidently
unaware of the Handbook of Birds of the World, published four years earlier, or
at least does not cite in the bibliography. Another tidbit -- in the
"priority" contest, we can push back the name "Blue-tailed"
by a whopping two years to 1964 (Meyer de Schauensee 's Colombia book), but
with comptus being described in 1948, I suspect beating Delacour 1947
will be rather difficult."
Comments from Robbins: "Before I cast my vote on
this, I feel some comments are due with regard to English names. Like everyone
else on this committee I'm not enamored with haggling over the use of English
names, but given that is one of our charges we must deal with them. My
philosophy is that we are in a unique position to improve English names and
should not be bound to old names because of "history". Lets face it,
until the relatively recent wave of English-speaking people visiting and
working in South America (in large part due to the recent, excellent field
guides) the vast majority of communication was via scientific names. Even at
present, let alone a few years from now, English-speaking people aren't that
concerned with past English name usage. From the little that I've been exposed
to, people tend to comment more about when an English name is inappropriate than
complaining about new names. So, I feel we should not be bound to old,
inappropriate names just because one author, who may not have had any
experience with a species in life, coined some name based solely on comparing
specimens. Now is the time to make improved changes before we publish anything
and a name truly does become "established".
"I feel the committee missed an opportunity for improving the
English name of Automolus roraimae. Too many of the
foliage-gleaners have white throats, and the use of Tepui accurately depicts
the species' distribution and that name is succinct. Lastly, I must admit that
for me the name Tepui congers up fond memories of yet unspoiled, spectacular
scenery with a poorly known avifauna. Indeed, in my opinion, the generic
allocation of roraimae is in question. So, we stick with the
boring, non-definitive "White-throated" so that "history"
can be preserved. ugh!
"With the same rationale, I vote "yes" for changing
the English name of Trogon comptus. I strongly prefer Chocó Trogon. Not
only is this an appropriate name from a distributional standpoint, but also it
frees us from any confusion that might arise from the use of "blue-tailed"
for another trogon."
Comments from Stiles: "NO, I see no need to change
an established name that is applicable and unambiguous, even if less
appropriate than a newer one."
Comments from Jaramillo: "YES. Accept name change to Choco Trogon. I agree
with Mark's comments here. This does avoid a potential confusion with the Asian
species; it also is a vast improvement on the name a name that has had
problems of confusion in the past. If I understand it correctly the English
name Blue-tailed for the Asian species has priority. As such, with many reasons
not to use Blue-tailed for Trogon comptus I think it is perfectly
appropriate to change the name to the less confusing and more relevant Choco
Trogon."
Comments from Silva: "Yes. I agree with Mark's
comments."
Comments from Stotz: "YES. I think it is a
mistake to maintain Blue-tailed Trogon for this species. There is clearly a
problem with the common name for Harpactes reinwardtii. I don't think we
can count on the split necessarily holding. Even if it does, we are constantly
going to be in the position of needing to distinguish this from the old Harpactes.
We are relying on the unknown taxonomic preferences of ornithologists to be
named later, to avoid a conflict on this common name. I think we would be much
better served going to a name where we won’t potentially have a conflict, even
if currently that conflict seems to have been resolved. I would prefer Choco
Trogon, but could live with White-eyed Trogon."
Comments from Nores: "NO. Pienso que el nombre
Blue-tailed Trogon es apropiado."