I count it as its own species. I saw some when I was in Arizona last year and they certainly looked distinct. I thought they were American Black Ducks at first before I realized that species doesn't occur that far west. ~Thylo
Tarantula-genus Brachypelma split into 2 genera : Species New to Science: [Arachnida • 2020] Tliltocatl gen. nov. • Systematic Revision of Mexican Threatened Tarantulas Brachypelma (Araneae: Theraphosidae: Theraphosinae), with A Description of A New Genus, and Implications on the Conservation
The 2 Red panda-subspecies are in fact 2 species apart : Red panda genes suggest there are actually two different species
Should the Cercocebus atys lunulatus (White-crowned mangabey) be considered a full species ? I know some autorities do, but I don't know much about it to have my own opinion
No, not "in fact" - even the title of the article only uses the word "suggest". As was pointed out in the article itself, sampling was basically done from either end of the range and not in the middle, and both subspecies have gone through bottlenecks. Though there is clearly genetic differentiation between the sampled populations, no red pandas were sampled in Bhutan and northern India where the animals are also found, says Jon Slate at the University of Sheffield in the UK. “Without having sampled pandas there, it’s harder to really confidently say there are two distinct species here,” he says. The genome analyses also showed that the Himalayan red panda underwent a drastic reduction in population three times, with the most recent decline taking place 90,000 years ago. This has resulted in a low genetic diversity and small population size in today’s Himalayan species. In comparison, the Chinese red panda experienced a population drop twice – most likely due to glacial periods – but managed to recover after each event.
The scientific article itself is much clearer stating that both Red Panda are clear phylogenetic species: Genomic evidence for two phylogenetic species and long-term population bottlenecks in red pandas Apparently based on their data (60+ whole genomes, so not bad ), the original split occured 3 million years ago and they state the Yalu Zangbu River is likely the geographical boundary, not the Nujiang River It is true there is a gap in Bhutan & N India, but looking at Fig. 2A in the manuscript they did not only sample at either end of the range, but covered quite a broad range, with only one major gap in N India and Bhutan, which should obviously be covered in future research Looking at the original study I find it a quite convincing case.
I hadn't seen the paper earlier, of course, however I still take issue with the wording "in fact". I'm more inclined to wait for additional research/confirmation/refutation.
2 taxa of Hydrosaurus ( sail-fin lizards ) resurrected again to species status so the genus now contains 5 species : Abstract of the article : Dragons in neglect: Taxonomic revision of the Sulawesi sailfin lizards of the genus Hydrosaurus Kaup, 1828 (Squamata, Agamidae) | DENZER | Zootaxa
Just when I thought I'd seen them all! Not very surprising, though, seems a lot of people have considered the Sulawesi animals to be different for quite some time now. ~Thylo
The Haida Gwaii saw-whet owl has been split-off from the Northern saw-whet owl : ( article from the American Birding Association , found on Facebook ) : Split Aegolius acadicus brooksi from Northern Saw-Whet Owl A. acadicus acadicus Those who enjoy leafing through field guides for fun may be somewhat familiar with the distinctive brooksi subspecies of Northern Saw-whet Owl found on the island of Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands) off the northwest coast of British Columbia. The non-migratory subspecies is unique for a number of reasons, most notably that it is darker and buffier than mainland saw-whet owls, but also that it frequently forages for invertebrates in tidal pools. Recent research suggests that gene flow between the island birds and the mainland birds are almost non-existent and that the Haida Gwaii birds could reasonably be considered to be on different evolutionary trajectories and therefore should be split. The new species could be called Haida Gwaii Saw-whet Owl and would add a new species to the ABA Checklist, additionally giving Canada an endemic bird species.
Some researchers propose to split Himalayan Ibex from Siberian. The paper is called 'Genetic evidence for allopatric speciation of the Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica) in India'. Himalayan Ibex a distinct species
BIG changes to turaco taxonomy are proposed in a recent paper: Phylogeography, Species Limits, Phylogeny, and Classification of the Turacos (Aves: Musophagidae) Based on Mitochondrial and Nuclear DNA Sequences, American Museum Novitates - No. 3949 Some taxa which were not even considered as valid subspecies by HBW are here raised to being full species: e.g. Tauraco loitanus and Tauraco marungensis. The full list of species recognised in this paper is as follows: SUBFAMILY CORYTHAEOLINAE Verheyen, 1956 Genus CORYTHAEOLA Heine, 1860 Corythaeola cristata (Vieillot, 1816) great blue turaco SUBFAMILY CRINIFERINAE Verheyen, 1956 Genus CRINIFER Jarocki, 1821 Crinifer leucogaster (Rüppell, 1842a) white-bellied go-away-bird Crinifer piscator (Boddaert, 1783) western grey plantain-eater Crinifer zonurus (Rüppell, 1835a) eastern grey plantain-eater Crinifer concolor (Smith, 1833) grey go-away-bird Crinifer personatus (Rüppell, 1842b) bare-faced go-away-bird SUBFAMILY MUSOPHAGINAE (Lesson, 1828) Genus GALLIREX Lesson, 1844 Gallirex porphyreolophus (Vigors, 1831) southern purple-crested turaco Gallirex chlorochlamys Shelley, 1881 northern purple-crested turaco Gallirex johnstoni Sharpe, 1901 Rwenzori turaco Gallirex kivuensis (Neumann, 1908a) Kivu turaco Genus MENELIKORNIS von Boetticher, 1947 Menelikornis leucotis (Rüppell, 1835b) white-cheeked turaco Menelikornis donaldsoni (Sharpe, 1895) Donaldson’s turaco Menelikornis ruspolii (Salvadori, 1896) Prince Ruspoli’s turaco Genus MUSOPHAGA Isert, 1789 Musophaga rossae Gould, 1852 Lady Ross’s turaco Musophaga violacea Isert, 1789 violet turaco Musophaga macrorhyncha (Fraser, 1839) western yellow-billed turaco Musophaga verreauxii Schlegel, 1854 eastern yellow-billed turaco Genus PROTURACUS Bates, 1923 Proturacus bannermani Bates, 1923 Bannerman’s turaco Proturacus leucolophus (von Heuglin, 1855) white-crested turaco Proturacus erythrolophus (Vieillot, 1819a) red-crested turaco Genus TAURACO Kluk, 1779 Tauraco persa (Linnaeus, 1758) eastern green turaco Tauraco buffoni (Vieillot, 1819b) western green turaco Tauraco emini (Reichenow, 1893) eastern black-billed turaco Tauraco hartlaubi (Fischer and Reichenow, 1884) Hartlaub’s turaco Tauraco fischeri (Reichenow, 1878) Fischer’s turaco Tauraco reichenowi (Fischer, 1880) Reichenow’s turaco Tauraco corythaix (Wagler, 1827) Knysna turaco Tauraco livingstonii (Gray, 1864) Livingstone’s turaco Tauraco schuettii (Cabanis, 1879) western black-billed turaco Tauraco chalcolophus (Neumann, 1895) Ngorongoro turaco Tauraco schalowi (Reichenow, 1891) Schalow’s turaco Tauraco loitanus (Neumann, 1908b) Loita turaco Tauraco marungensis (Reichenow, 1902) Zambia turaco
Interesting, thanks for sharing. That would represent at least 3 armchair ticks at first glance, will check this out tomorrow.
I went through this paper, but the results are not very convincing at a species level. There may be a good case for the recognition of the genera, but they use a narrow PSC view with very limited genetic data, so it is not really clear how valid their results really are. What is interesting is that they find Donaldson's Turaco as a sister to Ruspoli's Turacao, whereas it is currently considered as a very distinct subspecies of White-cheeked Turaco. But a lot more samples would be needed to verify that.
Saw somewhere that the Quetzalt has been split into 2 species but can't find the reference anymore ... ( anybody else maybe ? ).
There are 2 subspecies, but none of the four main lists regard them as any more distinct than that. I have no recollections of any mooted split personally.
