Taxonomic Swap 116288 (Committed on 2023-01-23)

DO NOT COMMIT!!!
There is evidence of reproductive isolation in Morocco between Maghreb Lark and representatives of Crested Lark (subspecies kleinschmidti/riggenbachi/carthaginis), supported by evidence from mitochondrial DNA, morphology, and ecology (Guillaumet et al. 2005, 2006, 2008). But there is conflicting evidence from studies of mitochondrial DNA from across the wide distribution of the Maghreb–Crested Lark complex (Guillaumet et al. 2008), suggesting the need for more comprehensive studies. Morphometrics of Maghreb Lark overlap with other long-billed forms of Crested Lark in northwestern Africa, such as riggenbachi and perhaps senegalensis (Donald and Alström, in preparation). Therefore Maghreb Lark is lumped into Crested Lark, in the absence of a more comprehensive review of the entire complex. We continue to recognize Maghred Lark as a new polytypic group, Crested Lark (Maghreb) Galerida cristata macrorhyncha/randonii.

Yes
Added by birdwhisperer on November 2, 2022 02:19 PM | Committed by birdwhisperer on January 23, 2023
replaced with

Comments

@lukedowney @mourad-harzallah @xrufray @kakariki14 @pelagicgraf @javisahun Top identifiers for Maghreb and Crested Larks. How do you want this lump to be handled. This is just a draft taxon change, but the result of committing will be:

All observations labelled as Maghreb Lark will be changed to Crested Lark
All observations will a subspecies label will be changed to its respective counterpart in Crested Lark.

However, if you strongly believe in Maghreb Lark being distinctive, it might come as a disappointment to see all your ids changed to simply "Crested Lark". So, an alternative route would be:

We can "split" the Maghreb Lark into their respective subspecies within Crested Lark
Atlas the split so when we commit, all the sightings will go into their subspecies.
End result; all Maghreb Lark sightings are under former Maghreb Lark taxa instead of just Crested Lark.

Posted by birdwhisperer over 1 year ago

In my eyes, both ways can be justified in taxonomy. In recent years, however, more and more new characteristics for a species are being "thrown into the ring". In fact, it is best to use the natural reproduction possibilities.

Posted by pelagicgraf over 1 year ago

Probably easiest to just lump them all into Crested Lark. Since Maghreb is no longer recognised as a full species, it shouldn't be necessary to keep the taxon instated. The subspecies are obviously still accepted if people want to delineate between them. Additionally, the two species are very similar and can be difficult to separate based on images and field characteristics, so it would likely make it easier just to be able to identify them all as Crested Lark from now on. Although I would be happy to also continue to delineate Maghreb specifically if others wish to do so.

Posted by lukedowney over 1 year ago

Agree that it makes sense to just lump Maghreb into Crested. Observers can add subspecies if they wish to highlight that their sightings fall in the Maghreb group, but I'm not sure that the ranges of the subspecies are well-defined, and given the difficulties with IDing from photos, I'm not sure that specific IDs of Crested and Maghreb are very reliable, as shown by the extensive overlap of observations of the two species.

Posted by rjq about 1 year ago

Alrighty then, simply lumping it is.

Posted by birdwhisperer about 1 year ago

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