Proposal (66) to South American Classification Committee
Change English name of Myioborus cardonai
Effect on South American CL: This proposal would change the
English name of a species on our list from a "Meyer de Schauensee"
name ("Saffron-breasted Redstart") to a "Ridgely-Tudor"
name ("Guaiquinima Redstart").
Background: Meyer de Schauensee (1966, 1970) and Meyer de
Schauensee & Phelps (1978) used the English name "Saffron-breasted
Redstart" for Myioborus cardonai. [The species was not described
until after Hellmayr (1935)]. Sibley & Monroe (1990) also used
"Saffron-breasted."
Ridgely & Tudor (1989) coined "Guaiquinima Redstart"
for Myioborus cardonai, with the following note:
"As M. cardonai's breast is the same color
as that of albifacies and castaneocapillus duidae, it seems
misleading to imply that it is different by calling it
"Saffron-breasted" (in any case, the color is not exactly saffron);
far better, we believe, to stress the extremely limited distribution by calling
it the Guaiquinima Redstart."
This was followed by Curson et al. (1994) and Hilty (2003), but
also with the further change to "Whitestart."
Analysis: Bob's name is "better" and is in use in the book that
will be used in the country to which M. cardonai is endemic.
The other name is older.
Recommendation: I reluctantly vote "NO" on this
proposal because my basic philosophy is "just live with" old, bad
names for sake of stability unless highly misleading. Although I have heard
others complain about "Guaiquinima" as being "too
difficult" to pronounce and too obscure an area, I personally like the
ring of it and like it that it makes people learn where this area is. If we
were "starting from scratch," I'd definitely vote for
"Guaiquinima."
Literature Cited:
CURSON, J.,
D. QUINN, AND D. BEADLE. 1994. Warblers of the Americas. Houghton Mifflin.
HILTY, S.
L. 2003. Birds of Venezuela. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
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.\
MEYER DE
SCHAUENSEE, R., AND W. H. PHELPS. 1978. A guide to the birds of Venezuela.
Princeton.
RIDGELY, R.
S., AND G. TUDOR. 1989. The birds of South America, vol. 1. Univ. Texas Press,
Austin.
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, October 2003
Comments from Robbins: "The proposed new name
conveys more accurate information than Meyer de Schauensee's name. I vote
"yes" for using Guaiquinima Whitestart for M. cardonai."
Comments from Schulenberg: "My vote is NO. This may be
a moot point anyway. I haven't digested Jorge Perez's section on the Tepui taxa
(so don't count on my for any proposals regarding this), but his data seems to
suggest either that cardonai is part of castaneocapillus, or that
maguirei and cardonai be combined as a species separate from
nominate castaneocapillus."
Comments from Jaramillo: "YES Same reasoning as for
proposal 65."
Comments from Zimmer: "I vote "YES" for
the same reasons outlined in my response to Proposal #65."
Comments from Stiles: "YES, same reasoning [as in
Prop 65].
Comments from Nores: "NO. Aunque el problema es similar al anterior el hecho de que haya otras
especies con "saffron-breasted" no significa que esta especie no lo
tenga. Si seguimos este criterio habría que cambiar los nombres a todas las
especies que tengan un color similar a la que lleva el nombre. Por ejemplo,
Rufous-rumped Seedeater, Red-capped Cardinal, Red-rumped Cacique, and
Yellow-rumped Cacique."