COTINGA 1 Neotropical News Taxonomic Round-up Taxonomic revision of the Greater The Green-throated Hummingbird Antillean Pewee complex of southern Mexico A study of taped vocalisations, mensural A reassessment of the Green-throated Hum­ data, and close up photographs has shown mingbird Amazilia viridifrons complex has that the Jamaican, Hispaniolan and Cuba- shown that there are three distinct subspe­ Bahamian populations of Greater Antillean cies. An analysis by Steve Howell, describes Pewee Contopus caribaeus should be treated a new subspecies A. v. rowleyi from the as separate species. The Jamaican species interior of Oaxaca in the upper reaches of has been named C. pallidus whilst those on the Río Grande drainage. The other subspe­ Hispaniola are now C. hispaniolensis. cies involved are: A. v. viridifrons with two Source: Wilson Bull. [1993] 105: 217-227. disjunct populations in Guerrero and west­ ern Oaxaca, and eastern Oaxaca and west­ A new subspecies of Steller’s Jay from ern Chiapas; and Amazilia (viridifrons) M exico. wagneri, the “Cinnamon-sided” Humming­ Populations of Steller’s Jay Cyanocitta bird from southern Oaxaca and which may stelleri are divided into two forms: the black-, be specifically distinct. crested morph from Alaska to northern Source: Bull. Brit. Orn. Club [1993] Mexico as far south as Jalisco, with one 113: 179–187. population (azteca) in central Mexico; and the blue-crested populations (surrounding N ew Cypseloides found in Mexico C. s. azteca) from the mountains of southern A new species of swift, the White-fronted San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato and Michoacán, Swift Cypseloides storeri has been described south to Honduras and Nicaragua. A taxo­ from four specimens obtained in Michoacán nomic revision of the blue-crested group has (Tacámbaro) and Guerrero (Sierra de Atoyac) led to the description of a new subspecies in south-west Mexico at elevations of 1,500– phillipsi from San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato 2,500 m. Three of the specimens were and Hidalgo, thus bringing the total to eight found in an existing collection and had been for the blue-crested group. identified as Black Swift C. niger. Source: Bull. Brit. Orn. Club [1993] Cypseloides storeri is distinguished from 113: 34–41. the latter and Sooty Swift C. fumigatus by the combination of relatively short wings and long tarsi and from Chestnut-collared 12 COTINGA 1 Neotropical News Swift C. rutilis by absence of rusty-brown New subspecies and range extension of colouration in the male and overall larger the Slender-billed Miner size. In morphology, it is similar to White- Niels Krabbe reports finding Slender-billed chinned Swift C. cryptus though the head Miner Geositta tenuirostris on the slopes of shape differs, and its plumage has a broad Volcán Iliniza in the northern half of Ecua­ white frosting on the forehead, lores and dor, almost 1,000 km north of the previ­ chin, and whitish postorbital feathers. ously known range of the species (and ge­ Source: Wilson Bull. [1992] 104: 55–62. nus). Birds were observed and two speci­ [EDS.] There is a suggestion that this form mens collected from the western side of may be but a race of C. cryptus (Sibley and Planadas de Guintza in August 1990 at Monroe [1993] A supplement to distribution elevations ranging from 3,350–3,500 m. The and taxonomy of birds of the world. New new subspecies has been named G. t. Haven: Yale University Press) kalimayae. Source: Bull. Brit. Orn. Club [1992] Taxonomic status of Chlorostilbon hum ­ 112: 166–169. mingbirds in Mexico After examination of study skins of hun­ The Argus Bare-eye: a hybrid antbird dreds of Chlorostilbon hummingbirds, Steve Questions over the species status of the Howell has recommended that the Golden- Argus Bare-eye “Phlegopsis barringeri” have crowned Emerald C. auriceps of western finally been resolved. Gary Graves, in a Mexico and the Cozumel Emerald C. recent analysis of the unique specimen col­ forticatus, endemic to Isla Cozumel should lected in Nariño, Colombia, has formally be reinstated as a full species. Both taxa had suggested that this bird is in fact a hybrid been treated as subspecies of the Fork­ between the Black-spotted Bare-eye P. tailed Emerald C. canivetti in recent litera­ nigromaculata and Red-winged Bare-eye P. ture. Further work may also show that C. c. erythroptera, which overlap broadly in west­ osberti (Guatemala to Honduras) is also ern Amazonia. This represents the first distinct. case of hybridity in the New World Source: Euphonia [1993] 2: 25–37. suboscines. [EDS.] Gary Stiles (pers. comm.) is revising Source: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. [1992] the taxonomic status of the Chlorostilbon 105: 834–840. complex, and in a paper soon to be submit­ ted for publication, is proposing two new A new sunangel described from 1909 species in north-western South America. trade skin The Bogotá Sunangel Heliangelus zusii has Species status of the Mexican Purplish- been described by Gary Graves from a unique backed Quail-Dove specimen purchased in Bogotá in 1909. This The Purplish-backed Quail-Dove Geotrygon species, which could be extinct, is interme­ lawrencii is known from disjunct popula­ diate in plumage between ungorgeted H. tions in southern Veracruz, Mexico, and regalis and typical gorgeted members of the Costa Rica and eastern Panama. Having genus. Whilst originally believed to be a compared specimens from the two popula­ hybrid, Alexander Wetmore recognised that tions, A. Townsend Peterson has proposed it was probably a good species in 1947, that the subspecies carrikeri from Los though as recently as 1991 it was judged Tuxtlas in southern Veracruz be considered (see Hinkelmann et al. in Bull. Brit. Orn. a full species G. carrikeri. No vernacular Club 111: 190–199) to be a hybrid between name is suggested for the “Veracruz” Quail- the Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingi Dove, and no analysis of vocalizations is and the Fork-tailed Woodnymph Thalurania presented, although a number of furcata. Graves speculates that H. zusii differentiating characters are described. was or is an inhabitant of cloud-forest in the Source: Bull. Brit. Orn. Club [1993] East Andes of Colombia. 113: 166–168. Source: Auk [1993] 110: 1–8. 13 COTINGA 1 Neotropical News Cundinamarca Antpitta, a new species T hree Chamaeza antthrushes in east­ from Colombia ern Brazil: a complex complex In 1989 Peter Kaestner heard and observed Studies of the vocalisations, morphology an unknown species of antpitta along a and plumage of Chamaeza antthrushes in newly opened road from Monterredondo to eastern Brazil by Edwin Willis have shown El Calvario in the valley of the Río Guaitiqui that there are three, not two, sibling spe­ in the Department of Meta. The bird was cies. The previously unrecognised taxon, subsequently collected by Kaestner and Gary C. meruloides, occurs in the eastern Brazil­ Stiles in May 1990 and found to be a new ian midmontane zone between lower species that is most closely related to the m ontane C. campanisona and upper Santa Marta Antpitta Grallaria bangsi. montane C. ruficauda. Willis also tenta­ Stiles has named the new bird the tively recognises the isolated forms of C. Cundinamarca Antpitta Grallaria kaestneri. ruficauda of Venezuela and Colombia as a It is an inhabitant of primary and secondary separate species, C. turdina. cloud-forest at c.1,800–2,300 m in the upper Source: Condor [1992] 94: 110–116. subtropical zone of the eastern slope of the East Andes. Source: Wilson Bull. [1992] 104: 389–399. A new subspecies of Ruddy-tailed Fly­ catcher from Amazonia, Brazil The Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher Myiobius Taxonomic status of Nyctiphrynus (Terenotriccus) erythrurus is a polytypic ocellatus in the Chocó species with a wide range in the Neotropics Recent studies of vocalisations of Ocellated from southern Mexico to Peru and Brazil. Poorwills Nyctiphrynus ocellatus have Recent studies have shown that the popula­ shown that the calls of the nominate form tion from the middle Rio Purús, Amazonas, are so different to those of the Chocó subspe­ Brazil, represents a new subspecies cies that the latter should be considered as purusianus which is encircled by two other a separate species, Chocó Poorwill N. subspecies M. e. brunneifrons and M. e. rosenbergi. Plumage differences between amazonas, although it is by no means inter­ the two taxa are also pronounced. N. mediate between the two. rosenbergi and N. ocellatus are allopatric, Source: Bull. Brit. Orn. Club [1993] with the former restricted to the Chocó 113: 21–23. faunal region from Alto del Buey, Baudó Mountains, Colombia, south to Esmeraldas in extreme north-west Ecuador, where it is known from forests from sea level to c.900 m. Source: Condor [1992] 94: 984–987. Neotropical News and Taxo­ nomic Round-up were com­ Restinga Tyrannulet, a new flycatcher piled by Frank Lambert and from south-eastern Brazil David C. Wege. Edwin O. Willis and Yoshika Oniki have described a new species of small flycatcher Phylloscartes kronei that they discovered in coastal sand-ridge woodlands (restinga) and nearby riverine zones in 1983. The species is known along the coast from the Ribeira Valley, south-eastern São Paulo State south to at least Joinville, Santa Catarina State. Source: Bull. Brit. Orn. Club [1992] 112: 158–165. 14 COTINGA 2 Neotropical News Taxonomic Round-up A newly recognised species of Catharus The Greater Antillean Nightjar: is it one thrush sp e c ie s ? Studies by H. Ouellet of Bicknell’s Thrush Recent work by O. Garrido and G. Reynard Catharus (minimus) bicknelli, previously on the Greater Antillean Nightjar Caprimul- treated as a subspecies of Grey-cheeked gus cubanensis suggests that the plumage and Thrush Catharus minimus, have revealed that vocalization differences between birds on Cuba it should be treated as a good species.