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Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, The

Auk, The, Apr 2005 by Kratter, Andrew W

The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 3rd edition. - Edward C. Dickinson, Ed. 2003. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 1,039 pp. ISBN 0-691-11701-2. Cloth, $69.50.-In the past halfcentury, ornithologists have revolutionized taxonomy and systematics, created several new species concepts, and recognized dozens of new species-level avian taxa. Yet the ornithological community has been without a scholarly and functional standard classification and checklist of the world's birds since the 15-volume Peters checklist was finished in 1974 (with half the volumes now more than 45 years old). As global communication rises exponentially, scientists and globetrotting birdwatchers have been in dire need of a standard classification to serve as the lingua franca of ornithology.

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With publication of The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, edited by E. C. Dickinson, we now have a thorough and useful book that gives a modern classification of all the world's birds, down to the subspecific level, in a single volume. Checklists produced in the interlude between Peters and Dickinson fell short for a number of reasons, including out-of-date classifications, lack of subspecific treatment, overly novel classification schemes, and partial to complete lack of references. Justifications for taxonomic treatments have been all but absent in those volumes, especially at levels other than species. Dickinson does not suffer from those drawbacks and should serve as a standard reference for bird classification for the next little while. This volume arrived at an opportune time for our work at the Florida Museum of Natural History, as we are using a recent move into an enlarged space to install our collections in a more modern sequence. I therefore had a golden opportunity to use and review this volume.

The introduction outlines three objectives. The first is to provide a comprehensive list, which necessitated including all newly described species, whether recognized or in synonymy. Regional consultants (E. C. Dickinson for Asia, D. Pearson for Africa, J. V. Remsen, Jr., for the Americas, K. Roselaar for the Palaearctic, and R. Schodde for Australasia) helped to ensure completeness. Those subregional editors have worked within or closely with continent-wide committees on avian classification (e.g. Remsen in the AOU Committee on Classification and Nomenclature and the South American Classification Committee). The second objective is to present a conservative list. Using the Peters Checklist as a foundation, the consultants accepted changes only when there had been "persuasive published reasons." The third objective is a high standard of nomenclatural accuracy. Curiously, stability was not included as an objective, though the three stated objectives all work toward that goal. The introduction also gives explanations of list sequence, species concepts, taxon recognition, scientific names, English names (thankfully not a main focus of revisions), list of references, and cut-off date for incorporation of new material (31 December 2000).

A separate introductory chapter, written by J. Cracraft, R K. Barker, and A. Cibois from the American Museum of Natural History, gives a quick overview of higher-level phylogenetics (above the rank of family) and the rationale for some of the novel treatments in this volume, especially the sequence of families and the nonuse of taxa above family (see below).

A list of families follows. The list sequence of families generally follows some of the more recent advancements in avian higher-level systematics, while retaining some similarity to more classical schemes. Some of the changes to traditional sequences have become widely accepted in recent years (e.g. beginning the sequence within the Neoaves with Galliformes and Anseriformes), whereas others may be more difficult to get used to, and may or may not gain future acceptance. Some of the changes seem premature and out of step with the conservative objectives of the book. In their brief synopses of ordinal- and family-level systematics, Cracraft et al. provide details on the placement of more controversial taxa (e.g. Catharidae, Phoenicopteridae) but usually do not provide justifications for sequences within orders. For example, the first family listed for the traditional Falconiformes is the Falconidae (usually placed last within that order), and Bucconidae and Galbulidae are listed after other families in the Piciformes (usually placed before). Justification for the sequence in the Falconiformes is not given, and because the order does not have a clear close relative to serve as an outgroup, establishing the basal branching pattern is highly speculative. A more conservative approach would have been to keep the traditional sequence. In their explanation of the taxonomy of the Pici (Piciformes and relatives), Cracraft et al. state that there are two clear taxa (toucan plus barbets and honeyguides plus picids) and that Galbulidae may be more closely related to the Coraciiformes. The Bucconidae are not mentioned in their synopsis. A conservative sequence would thus be similar to traditional sequences (Galbulidae, Bucconidae, Ramphastidae, Indicatoridae, Picidae), but the family sequence they present (Ramphastidae, Indicatoridae, Picidae, Galbulidae, Bucconidae) appears to lack support and has little hope of long-term stability. A more egregious veering away from the traditional sequence makes little sense: the New World suboscine passerines consist of two related groups of families, the funariid group (roughly Furnariidae-Dendrocolaptidae-Thamnophilidae-Formicariidae-Rhinocryptidae-Conopophagidae) and the tyrannid group (Tyrannidae-Pipridae-Cotingidae). With a two-taxon statement, it does not matter which group is first; thus, the traditional sequence with the furnariid group first could have been preserved. Instead, Cracraft et al. begin with the tyrannid group of families.

Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, The

Auk, The, Apr 2005 by Kratter, Andrew W

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