Makes sense to me. I always assumed a lot of the story is that human
alterations to habitat have favoured expansion of both species, breaking
down their boundaries.
I have seen miles in the Brisbane Valley and also somewhere out in
southwestern Queensland - perhaps Thargomindah or maybe Windorah. But in
both cases, it seemed exceptional. Certainly in southeast Qld, miles is
extremely rare. My assumption was that the case in the southwest was
similar - lots of Spur-wings.
I seem to remember thinking their calls are different also.
Cheers, Chris.
On 06/06/2012 08:21 PM, John Penhallurick wrote:
HI friends,
I have been getting more and more suspicious that the lumping of Masked
Plover Vanellus miles and Spur-winged Plover Vanellus novaehollandiae is
unjustified. Even Peters (1934), that super-lumper kept them separate.
They were merged on the basis of supposed interbreeding around Cairns and in
the Lake Eyre Basin. Now the thinking about the significance of
hybridisation has changed radically of late. Whereas in the past, even a few
hybirds were taken as evidence of conspecificity, now limited or very local
hybridisation is taken as evdidence that we are dealing with two distinct
species. I had an email from a birder in Cairns who told me that the common
Vanellus there was miles. Novaehollandiae is rare, as are hybrids. I
haven't been able to get any reliable data from the Lake Eyre Basin.
Birders rarely go there and none of the landholders knows anything about
birds. But given the situation around Cairns, I would be very surprised if
it was very different around Lake Eyre. I know that an ornithologist from
the SA Museum, I think it was Shane Parker, brought back a set of hybrids
from that reason, but if he set out to collect just hybrids, this means
nothing.
What do you thinK?
Thanks
Dr John Penhallurick
86 Bingley Cres
Fraser A.C.T. 2615
Australia
email:
Phone: Home (612) 62585428
Mobile:0408585426
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