A molecular analysis of the mysterious Vaurie’s Nightjar Caprimulgus centralasicus yields fresh insight into its taxonomic status

Schweizer, Manuel; Etzbauer, Claudia; Shirihai, Hadoram; Töpfer, Till; Kirwan, Guy M.

doi:10.1007/s10336-020-01767-8

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Some species in our results may therefore be removed from future revisions of the Red List (see, e.g. Kirschel, Nwankwo & Gonzalez, 2018; Schweizer et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Lost’ taxa and their conservation implications

Martin

Bennett

Fairbairn

et al. 2022

Animal Conservation

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While biological extinctions are predicted to rise sharply during the Anthropocene, extinction declarations are rare, partly due to inherent uncertainties in knowing when the last individual of a species has died. This has led to the growth of a group of ‘lost’ species that have not been observed in decades or even centuries, yet are not declared extinct, and as such possess an uncertain conservation status. The existence of such species may prove increasingly problematic as the extinction crisis worsens, given that their presence may create uncertainty with respect to conservation prioritization efforts and to our understanding of extinction rates. We provide the first assessment of the extent of lost taxa, defined as species that have not been reliably observed in >50 years yet are not declared extinct, for terrestrial vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals). We reviewed information from IUCN Red List accounts within these Classes using a hybrid code‐based search/manual assessment approach, supplemented with consultation of recent literature. In total, we identify a total of 562 lost species (137 amphibians, 257 reptiles, 38 birds and 130 mammals). Of these, 13% (75 species) are listed as ‘Possibly Extinct’ by the IUCN. Lost species outnumber extinct species for all studied Classes except birds. They were mainly confined to the tropics (92.5%), with distributions being particularly concentrated in ‘mega‐diverse’ countries, as expected. Indonesia (69 species), Mexico (33 species) and Brazil (29 species) possessed the most lost species overall. Our results highlight the prevalence of lost taxa among terrestrial vertebrates and identify ‘hotspots’ for these species where future survey efforts should be prioritized. We suggest minor adjustments to IUCN Red List accounts to allow lost species to be better tracked, including more consistent use of the ‘Possibly Extinct’ marker and wider application of the ‘last seen date’ field.

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“…Some species in our results may therefore be removed from future revisions of the Red List (see, e.g. Kirschel, Nwankwo & Gonzalez, 2018; Schweizer et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Lost’ taxa and their conservation implications

Martin

Bennett

Fairbairn

et al. 2022

Animal Conservation

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“…We follow the taxonomy and nomenclature in the IOC World Bird List version 12.1 which is an up-to-date evolutionary classification of world birds constructed by the international community of ornithologists ( Gill et al 2022 ) and adopt the following strategies to normalise the data: 1) The scientific name would be revised directly if the taxonomy change does not affect its species rank, for example, the scientific name of Swinhoe's Storm Petrel is Oceanodroma monorhis in all six monographs, but is changed to Hydrobates monorhis as the previous genus Oceanodroma is paraphyletic ( Penhallurick and Wink 2004 ); 2) The species would be assumed as a non-detection in the time periods before it was discovered, for example, Stachyris nonggangensis is a new species described in 2008 ( Zhou and Jiang 2008 ), which is recorded as a non-detection in the four monographs published before 2008; 3) If a taxon is treated as a synonym of another species, its distribution area would be lumped into the respective species, for example, the species Caprimulgus centralasicus is now regarded as a synonym of Caprimulgus europaeus ( Schweizer et al 2020 ), so the distribution data of Caprimulgus centralasicus are merged into Caprimulgus europaeus ; 4) If a taxon were regarded as a subspecies previously, but is given a species rank now, its distribution area was adjusted according to the origional document at subspecies level, for example, common blackbird is split into three species, Turdus mandarinus , Turdus maximus and Turdus merula ( Nylander et al 2008 ), the distribution area is adjusted according to the respective subspecies.…”

Section: Sampling Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A dataset of bird distributions in zoogeographical regions of China

Han¹,

Xia²,

Møller³

2022

BDJ

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China, the largest country in Asia, has a land area of approximately 9.6 million square kilometres. There are 1481 bird species (following the taxonomy of IOC World Bird List version 12.1) recorded in two zoogeographical realms, seven regions and 19 subregions in the country. From 1955 to 2017, six authoritative monographs were published, which recorded the distribution area for all bird species in China and were widely quoted by research papers and field guides. This massive amount of data could be used to address many hot topics in ornithology, biogeography and ecology. However, rapid changes in the taxonomic status and different schemes of zoogeographical regionalisation in these six monographs provided limits to the utilisation of these valuable data. By integrating the data from the six monographs, we presented an open-access dataset on the occurrences and residence types of all Chinese bird species in zoogeographical regions over the past 60 years. The taxonomic statuses for these species were determined following the IOC World Bird List version 12.1 and the zoogeographical regions were based on the updated scheme. These data provide valuable information for the research in bird ecology and conservation biology.

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“…With recent DNA work many of these 'new species' have been unmasked (e.g. Collinson et al 2017, Kirschel et al 2018, Schweizer et al 2020, see also van Grouw 2010, Figure 22. Dilution in Eurasian Jackdaw Corvus monedula, Terschelling, the Netherlands, March 2014; because corvids possess only one form of melanin (eumelanin), it is impossible to determine if this form of Dilution would affect both melanins if present (© Bert Bruggeman) 2017 for more examples).…”

Section: Earlier Nomenclaturementioning

confidence: 99%