Proposal (538) to South American Classification Committee

Correct the name of Piezorhina to Piezorina

Under Thraupidae in note 93a the following is stated:

“Kashin (1978) noted that the original spelling of the genus by Lafresnaye was Piezorina, and that the subsequent spelling Piezorhina was an unjustified emendation, and Gregory & Dickinson (2012) agreed. SACC proposal needed.”

Effect on SACC: The change proposed would only affect one species: Piezorhina cinerea.

Background information (copied from Gregory and Dickinson 2012):

“G. N. Kashin published three papers on avian nomenclature, in Russian, from 1978 to 1982. These have been largely ignored due primarily to difficulties in both distribution and translation, but they should not have been because they contain a variety of proposed corrections, mainly to generic names in those volumes of the Check-list of Birds of the World by J. L. Peters and his successors published prior to 1978.”

Kashin’s work was translated from Russian into English. Gregory and Dickinson (2012) examined and confirmed or rejected Kashin’s conclusions. On Piezorhina they state the following: “Paynter (1970: 115) used the spelling Piezorhina, which had also been used by Agassiz (1846) and Hellmayr (1938), but Kashin noted that the original spelling by Lafresnaye was Piezorina and thought that there were no grounds for this emendation. We agree with Kashin. Piezorina should be cited as:

Piezorina Lafresnaye,

Type by original designation

Guiraca cinerea Lafresnaye, 1843

Piezorina cinerea (Lafresnaye, 1843)”

I recommend a YES to this proposal.

References:

Agassiz, L. 1846. Nomenclatoris zoologici index universalis. 8, 393 pp. Soloduri.

Gregory, Steven M. S., and Edward C. Dickinson 2012. An assessment of three little-noticed papers on avian nomenclature by G. N. Kashin during 1978–1982. Zootaxa, 3340: 44-58.

Hellmayr, C. E. 1938. Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History, Part XI. Ploceidae, Catamblyrhynchidae, Fringillidae. Field Museum of Natural History. Zoology Series, 13: i-vi, 1-662.

Lafresnaye, F. 1843. Descriptions de quelques nouvelles espèces d’oiseaux. Magasin de Zoologie [Paris], (2) 5, 28 pp.

Paynter, R.A., Jr. 1970. Passeriformes: suborder Oscines, family Emberizidae, subfamily Emberizinae. In: Check-list of Birds of the World. A continuation of the work of James L. Peters, 13. Paynter, R.A., Jr. (Ed.). Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., 3-214.

Manuel A. Plenge, August 2012

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Comments from Stiles: “YES, priority seems clear. (For curiosity, who first used “Piezorhina”? Agassiz? On what basis? I recall that this was a period in which some linguistic purists were trying to purge the nomenclature of ungrammatical or non-Latin/Greek names, “correcting” the former and substituting for the latter, including all names derived from native words or names.)”

Comments from Pacheco: “YES, In accordance with Article 33 of I.C.Z.N.”

Comments from Nores: “YES. Kashin’s work, confirmed by Gregory and Dickinson, clearly shows that the true name is Piezorina.”