Are some of the birds endemic to the Tres Marías Islands (Mexico) species?
Author
Silva, Héctor Gómez de
Author
Pérez Villafaña, Mónica G.
Author
Cruz-Nieto, Javier
Author
Cruz-Nieto, Miguel Ángel
text
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club
2020
2020-03-19
140
1
7
37
journal article
10.25226/bboc.v140i1.2020.a3
2513-9894
13755707
RED-BREASTED CHAT
Granatellus venustus francescae
(vs.
G. v. venustus
total score 8)
Scored 7 by del
Hoyo & Collar (2016)
based on the lack of black breast-band of
francescae
, presence of a white hindcollar, grey of crown extending over nape, tail much longer, and a few additional characters that they did not score.
Grant (1965a
, based on
29 male
and
18 female
francescae
vs.
24 male
and
14 female
venustus
) found that the lack of breast-band differentiated 79% of his sample of
francescae
from 94% of
venustus
(
Grant 1965a
also observed in both taxa that, rarely, a breast-band is present but masked by overlying white feathers). Therefore, this character does not differentiate the taxa completely, and we did not score it, although we believe that it is an important character.
Del
Hoyo and Collar (2016)
included scores for ‘white hindcollar formed by continuing white postocular stripe (at least 1), grey of crown extending over nape (1)’. We think they assigned two scores for what is essentially a single character (
Fig. 10
), to which we apply a score of 2.
Whereas del
Hoyo & Collar (2016)
mention, but did not score, ‘pink of underparts generally slightly paler and less extensive’,
Grant (1965a)
stated that ‘the majority of both mainland and island samples of adult males had approximately the same amount of red ventrally. A few island specimens were observed to have less, and a few mainland specimens more, than this.’ It is unclear whether this character should be scored. However, we would score the colour of the underparts of immature males;
Grant (1965a)
, based on a sample of perhaps
n
= 8 vs.
n
= 6, reported that immature males differ in having almost no red on the underparts in
francescae
(and in his sample no trace of a black breast-band) vs. much red on the underparts and a complete breast-band (score 2). Based on
Grant’s (1965a)
data the relative amount of white on the outermost rectrix (measured as the length of the white patch on r6 / length of r6) merits a score of 2, but we conservatively score it 1. Whereas del
Hoyo & Collar (2016)
afforded a score of 2 for ‘tail much longer’, measurements in
Grant (1965a)
indicate that the score of 2 applies equally to wing, tarsus and tail lengths, but bill length is shorter (score 1).