Here is some history of subspecies in US ornithology, with example for
Horned Lark. (Song Sparrow would generate something similar)
There was a time in the development of ornithology in the United States
when subspecies were "all the rage". They were being described right and
left in minor scientific articles in ornithology journals, usually based on
museum specimens often collected by the people that were describing the
subspecies. This stopped in 1957, after which the American Ornithological
Association (AOU, now the AOS (society)) stopped including subspecies in
their periodic *Checklist*, listing all the current North American
species. I would guess they decided it was getting out of hand. Such
subspecies are sometimes called 'races' or 'forms' to this day.
For instance last month I posted a listing and image of all the Horned Lark
subspecies painted by Rex Brasher in about 1930, as part of his epic *Birds
and Trees of North America.* Each subspecies has an AOU-assigned
subspecies name and number, 474 (the original one described I guess) and
then 474a-m). 13 subspecies in total. This does seem excessive,
species-splitters going wild.. Rex was largely sedentary in the latter
(painting) period of his life and could only have painted these 14 from
museum specimens, likely at the Smithsonian in New York.
My previous post is here
https://www.freelists.org/post/obol/Speaking-of-SubSpecies
and his accompanying Horned Lark paintings at
https://www.freelists.org/archives/obol/12-2018/jpgTR8oZLPg9M.jpg
Notably our threatened Streaked Horned Lark is illustrated in one of this
paintings, 474g right before the Scorched Horned Lark (ya gotta love that
name).
It seems that the current 'keeper' of subspecies is Cornell University
through eBird, at least as far as the general public is concerned..
Looking at eBird there are a number of choices in addition to the
fundamental 'Horned Lark' which covers as a species all subspecies or
races. But, instead of listing all the original 1930's subspecies,
*groupings* are selectable, many of which are found elsewhere in the
world. Currently all 'Horned Larks' worldwide are considered to belong to
the same species, at least by Cornell/AOS. I have attached to this post
range maps for the locations where these various 'forms' are reported in
the US. .Note that eBird does not individually accept records for our
threatened Streaked Horned Lark subspecies *striata,* but 'lumps it into a
group.
*Horseshoe subspecies* have been discussed in the current thread on OBOL.
Another related phenomenon is *circular species* of which Herring gull is
one. In this case the horseshoe would lie on its side and go all the way
around the world horizontally. There is a gradual variation (cline) in
appearance around the ring, but when the ring *almost* closes near the
start, the physical appearance of the 2 adjacent gulls is quite different.
Where to draw the line as to species, much less subspecies? DNA analysis
could certainly look at this variation at the molecular level but it seems
likely there would be a gradual variation in DNA, as well as appearance, so
any DNA definition might be arbitrary as well.
See attached image for current eBird designation of 'subspecies' in the
case of Horned Lark. Corrections and/or clarifications to the above
expose' are invited.
Bob OBrien Carver OR
Attachment:
eBird-HornedLark.jpg
Description: JPEG image
