thyoloalethe
Well-known member
OK so this is pretty exciting...I've been waiting for this one for years now. The article has yet to be published but the abstract (from the Ibis - online early) can be read at the following URL:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00626.x
The article will reveal that not only is the Frogmouth that occurs in the Solomon Islands (currently subspecies inexpectatus of the Marbled Frogmouth - Podargus ocellatus), a separate species, but represents an entirely new genus. Further, the new genus is apparently not closer to either Podargus (Australo-Papuan Frogmouths) or Batrachostomus (Asian Frogmouths) - these 2 genera are often separated as subfamilies and sometimes families, so the new genus would seem to force a reexamination of this ararngement.
The new genus name is not mentioned in the abstract, and I wasn't willing to pay the article cost of $39 to find out, so I fiddled with google a bit and managed to tease it out. The authors propose the new genus name Rigidipenna from the Latin rigidus (stiff) and penna (feather), so I imagine that stiff feathers, likely remiges or rectrices, are fairly distinctive in this species.
If you have access to HBW vol. 5, have a look at plate 23 - inexpectatus looks very different in terms of plumage from the other birds on the plate. I don't know how it ever ended up as just a subspecies in the first place.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00626.x
The article will reveal that not only is the Frogmouth that occurs in the Solomon Islands (currently subspecies inexpectatus of the Marbled Frogmouth - Podargus ocellatus), a separate species, but represents an entirely new genus. Further, the new genus is apparently not closer to either Podargus (Australo-Papuan Frogmouths) or Batrachostomus (Asian Frogmouths) - these 2 genera are often separated as subfamilies and sometimes families, so the new genus would seem to force a reexamination of this ararngement.
The new genus name is not mentioned in the abstract, and I wasn't willing to pay the article cost of $39 to find out, so I fiddled with google a bit and managed to tease it out. The authors propose the new genus name Rigidipenna from the Latin rigidus (stiff) and penna (feather), so I imagine that stiff feathers, likely remiges or rectrices, are fairly distinctive in this species.
If you have access to HBW vol. 5, have a look at plate 23 - inexpectatus looks very different in terms of plumage from the other birds on the plate. I don't know how it ever ended up as just a subspecies in the first place.
