Sphenopsis melanotis (P. L. Sclater)

Halley, Matthew R., 2022, Taxonomic status of the Western Hemispingus Sphenopsis ochracea (Thraupidae) and a review of species limits in the genus Sphenopsis P. L. Sclater, 1861, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (2), pp. 209-223 : 221

Sphenopsis melanotis (P. L. Sclater)

Black-eared Hemispingus

( Figs. 3 ‒4)

Chlorospingus melanotis P. L. Sclater, 1855 .

Syntype: NHMUK 1844.12.29.19, in Natural History Museum, Tring: ‘Bogotá’, Colombia (see Warren & Harrison 1971: 343).

Chlorospingus castaneicollis P. L. Sclater, 1858 , Sclater 1861: 90, Taczanowski 1884: 520.

Holotype: NHMUK 1885.6.12.883: ‘Interior of Peru … bordering on Bolivia’ (see Warren & Harrison 1971: 96).

Chlorospingus berlepschi Taczanowski, 1880 , Taczanowski 1884: 521.

Holotype: Lost, formerly in Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw ( MIZ): ‘ Ropaybamba’, Junín, Peru (see Mlíkovský 2009: 148).

Hemispingus castaneicollis von Berlepsch 1912: 1094 (in part).

Hemispingus melanotis von Berlepsch 1912: 1095 , Isler & Isler 1987: 78.

Hemispingus berlepschi von Berlepsch 1912: 1095 .

Hemispingus melanotis stresemanni Sztolcman & Domaniewski, 1927: 190 .

Holotype: MIZ 34227: ‘ Baños sur Rio Pastaza’ (= Baños), Ambato, Ecuador (see Mlíkovský 2009: 154). Hemispingus melanotis melanotis Hellmayr 1936: 426 , Isler & Isler 1987: 78, Hilty 2011: 167.

Hemispingus melanotis berlepschi Hellmayr 1936: 428 , Zimmer 1947: 17, Isler & Isler 1987: 78, Hilty 2011: 167. Hemispingus melanotis castaneicollis Hellmayr 1936: 428 , Zimmer 1947: 17, Hilty 2011: 167.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED: S. m. melanotis (two males, five females, one unsexed): Colombia: Tolima : Toche (male: ANSP 154443; female: ANSP 154445, 154447–449; unsexed: ANSP 154444); Nari ñ o: r í o Rumiyaco (male: ANSP 165629); ‘N. Grenada’ (female:ANSP 7731). S. m. castaneicollis (six males, five females, one unsexed): Peru: Puno: Sto. Domingo mine (male: ANSP 102288, 102290, 102294; female: ANSP 102289, 102292); Oconeque (male: ANSP 102285); Bolivia: Cochabamba: San Jacinto (unsexed: ANSP 133555); La Paz: Calabatea (male: ANSP 119327); Sandillani (male: ANSP 119323; female: ANSP 119324, 119325, 119328).

COMMENTS: The phylogenetic placement of the nominate subspecies S. m. melanotis within the genus Sphenopsis , and its relationship to S. m. castaneicollis , remain unresolved because the ‘ S. melanotis ’ sample analysed by Price-Waldman (2019) was collected in Cuzco, Peru, within the range of S. m. castaneicollis , and no sample of S. m. melanotis from the eastern Andes of Colombia or Ecuador was included. Notwithstanding, the data in Price-Waldman (2019) at least confirm the distant relationship of S. m. castaneicollis and S. piurae , the phenotypic similarity of which has been emphasised in debates over species rank (see Remsen 2007). Here, following tradition, I treat S. m. castaneicollis as a subspecies of S. melanotis and, following Hilty (2011) and Gill et al. (2021), elevate S. ochracea and S. piurae to species rank, removing them from the synonymy of S. melanotis . Nevertheless, further study may yet indicate that S. m. castaneicollis also deserves species rank, as suggested by homoplastic patterns of plumage colour revealed by phylogenomic analysis (Price-Waldman 2019).

Figures

Figure 3 (left). Lateral view of (Northern) Black-eared Hemispingus Sphenopsis melanotis melanotis (P. L. Sclater, 1855). From left to right, (1) ANSP 154444, adult female prepared by Kjell von Sneidern on 25 April 1942 at ‘Toche, Tolima, Colombia’. (2) ANSP 154443, adult male, prepared by Kjell von Sneidern on 28 April 1942 at ‘Toche, Tolima, Colombia’. (3) ANSP 165629, adult male, collected on 30 November 1950 on the ‘Rio Rumiyaco, [Nariño] Colombia’ (Matthew R. Halley) Figure 4 (right). Lateral view of (Southern) Black-eared Hemispingus Sphenopsis melanotis castaneicollis (P. L. Sclater, 1858). From left to right, (1) ANSP 102295, adult female collected on 30 May 1931 at ‘Oconeque, [Puno] Peru’. (2) ANSP 102285, adult male collected on 30 May 1931 at ‘Oconeque, [Puno] Peru’. (3) ANSP 119323, adult male collected on 15 September 1922 at ‘Sandillani, Yungas’, La Paz, Bolivia. (4) ANSP 119336, adult incubating female collected on 9 December 1934 at ‘Sandillani, Yungas’, La Paz, Bolivia (Matthew R. Halley)