birding-aus
Ian,
It's very simple, really. The Rufous Songlark was originally described from NSW
by Vigors and Horsfield in 1827, under the name 'Anthus rufescens'. Now, it is
one of the rules of zoological nomenclature that no scientific name can be
given twice for the same or different taxa. In that case, the later published
of the two becomes a junior homonym, i.e. a preoccupied name, and cannot be
used anymore.
In this case, Matthews established, in 1912, that the name was preoccupied by
Anthus rufescens Temminck, 1820, and could not be used for the songlark. In
such cases, it is the second name proposed for the taxon in question that
becomes the species name. In 1911, Iredale had described 'Cincloramphus
rufescens mathewsi' as a W. Australian subspecies, and because 'rufescens'
became unavailable for the species, 'mathewsi' became the new species name
As to the genus name, Mathews has proposed Maclennania in 1917, because he
considered the Rufous Song-Lark generically distinct from the Brown Songlark,
to which the genus name Cincloramphusn had first been assigned. Thus, the name
became Maclennania mathewsi. However, current views are that the two do belong
in the same genus, and so Maclenania has become a junior synonym of
Cincloramphus.
I hope this answers your question.
Paul Van Gasse
Kruibeke, Belgium
-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Fraser [SMTP:
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 1999 11:54 PM
To:
Subject: birding-aus RFI: naming of Rufous Songlark
birding-aus
I am curious as to the history of the naming of Cincloramphus mathewsi by
Tom Iredale as recently as 1911. I note that it was previously known as C
rufescens and Maclennania mathewsi. What happened?!
Thanks!
Ian
---
Ian Fraser, Canberra
Environment Tours; Vertego Environmental Writing Consultancy
GPO Box 3268, Canberra, ACT 2601
ph: 02 62491560 fax: 02 62473227
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