This section covers taxa known only from inadequate illustrations and written accounts from untrained observers, or from descriptions or illustrations where the original specimen or specimens are now lost. The primary basis for including these birds is that they sometimes appear in lists of extinct or hypothetical birds. Many are unidentifiable, whereas others have proved to be multiple descriptions of the same species, or even in some cases completely invented birds. Where skins exist, molecular and morphological work has shown them to be hybrid forms, aberrant individuals, or artefacts. No doubt some of these taxa are genuinely extinct species, but their correct status can now never be determined.
Berlepsch & Stolzmann
Nothoprocta kalinowskii Berlepsch & Stolzmann 1901, p. 192 (Licamachay, Cuzco, Peru)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range North-central and south-east Peru.
Now considered a synonym of Ornate Tinamou Nothoprocta ornata branickii (Krabbe & Schulenberg 2005).
Berla
Tinamus solitarius pernambucensis Berla 1946, p.2 (município de Igaraçu, Pernambuco)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range East Brazil.
Considered a synonym of the nominate race of Solitary Tinamou Tinamus s. solitarius (do Amaral & Silveira 2004).
(Gray)
Petit Gralle bidactyle, Autruchon [small two-toed plover, ostrich]. Temminck, fide G. R. Gray 1841
Charadrius bidactylus Gray 1847, p. 544
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range North-east Africa.
Known only from hearsay comments by Sclater (1862) and Heuglin (1859) and an unpublished picture by Levaillant. Based on the available evidence, there is nothing to distinguish this bird from the North African Ostrich S. c. camelus or Syrian Ostrich S. camelus syriacus (see p. 18) except for its small size, so it may have been a juvenile of either of these forms. Another supposed subspecies, S. c. spatzi, was described by Stresemann (1926) from a series of eggs and chicks obtained at the Rio de Oro in the former Spanish Sahara (see Walters 1982). This subspecies should be regarded as a nomen dubium, as bird eggs and chicks lack diagnostic characters. Now considered a synonym of Ornate Tinamou Nothoprocta ornata branickii (Krabb & Schulenberg 2005).
Lydekker
Rhea nana Lydekker 1894a, p. 654 (No locality)
Specimens Known from an egg in the Museo de La Plata, from which a wax cast was produced. This is at Tring.
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Patagonia.
Described from a wax cast taken from an egg in the Museo de La Plata (Lydekker 1894b), which lacks diagnostic characters. This wax cast is at Tring.04).
Walters
Megapodius andamanensis Walters 1980, p. 33 (based on Rothschild’s manuscript) (no locality = Andaman Islands)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Andaman Islands.
May represent a now-extinct species, but at present best regarded as a nomen dubium, mainly because the holotypical specimens (eggs only) lack determinable characters.
Gray
Megapodius sp. Gray 1859a, p. 46
Megapodius burnabyi Gray 1861, p. 290 (Hapace Islands, near Tongataboo)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Samoa, South Pacific.
May represent a now-extinct species, but at present best regarded as a nomen dubium, mainly because the holotypical specimens (eggs only) lack determinable characters.
? Peacock. Thomas Gilbert 1789, Voyage from New South Wales to Canton in the year 1788, p. 12. (Lord Howe Island). Megapodius sp. Seebohm c.1895 (Lord Howe Island). The eggs are no longer in Tring.
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Lord Howe Island.
Gilbert (1789) reported ‘peacocks’ on Lord Howe Island, which have been interpreted as representing a species of megapode. Five eggs and two chicks of a megapode were supposedly collected on Lord Howe Island by H. H. Romilly, and listed in Seebohm’s c. 1895 catalogue. However, these were actually collected on New Hope Island (Niuafo’ou), not Lord Howe Island, and are specimens of the extant Tongan Megapode M. pritchardii (Lister 1911).
(Gmelin)
La Caille de la Nouvelle Guinée. Sonnerat 1776, p. 170, pl. 105
New Guinea Quail. Latham 1783, p. 789
Oriolus cothurnix Scopoli 1786, p. 87 (based on Sonnerat)
Tetrao novae-guineae Gmelin 1789, p. 764 (based on Sonnerat)
Perdix novae-guineae Latham 1790, p. 655
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known only from Sonnerat’s description, from which all others derive. Unidentifiable and now rejected (Mayr 1963).
‘pheasant’ Stork 1767, p. 51.
Status Invalid taxon. Known only from the accounts of Stork (1767) and Le Conte (1854). Unidentifiable.
Putative range Florida.
Phasianus superbus Linnaeus 1767–71, p. 526 (? China)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range China.
Known only from Linnaeus’s description, which he took from a depiction on a Chinese dish. Perhaps a fabulous bird, a phoenix, or some kind of domestic fowl.
Hartert
Perdix perdix italica Hartert 1917, p.283 (Badia de Passignano, Italy)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Chianti, Italy.
Considered synonymous with nominate Grey Partridge Perdix perdix perdix (Violani et al. 1988; McGowan 1994).
Reichenow
Lophortyx leucoprosopon Reichenow 1895, p. 11 (origin unknown; description based on a living pair in a private aviary, believed to have been bought from a sailor arriving at Hamburg, Germany.
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Unknown.
Known only from the types. Believed to be a hybrid between Gambel’s Quail Lophortyx gambelii and Douglas’s Quail L. douglasii (Peters 1934).
Howe
Colinus virginianus insulans Howe 1904, p. 168 (Key West, Florida)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Population formerly occurred on Key West, and perhaps other islands in the Florida Keys.
A population of Northern Bobwhite C. virginianus, now extinct on the island. Known only from the type collected in 1888. Aldrich (1946a) examined a large series of Colinus quails and concluded that individual variation was intense, and that C. v. insularis fell within the range of the Florida race, C. v. floridanus.
Branta canadensis (? asiatica) Aldrich 1946b, p. 95 (Bering Island)
Status Doubtful taxon. Known only from eggs and immature birds. Synonymous with B. c. asiatica or B. c. hutchinsii.
Putative range Northern Kuril Islands.
Latham
Cream Coloured Goose. Latham 1824, p. 296 (New South Wales, Australia)
Status Doubtful taxon. Known only from Latham’s inadequate description.
Putative range New South Wales.
(Gmelin)
Great Goose. Pennant 1785, p. 570 (the bird referred to as the Great Goose by Pallas 1771–76 does not refer to this)
Great Goose. Latham 1785, p. 446
Anas grandis Gmelin 1789, p. 504
Status Doubtful taxon. Known only from the inadequate account of P. S. Pallas.
Putative range Eastern Siberia.
Swinhoe
Cygnus (Coscoroba) davidi Swinhoe 1870, p. 430 (Tientsin, China)
Status Doubtful taxon. Known from a single specimen, now lost. Probably a leucistic Bewick’s Swan C. bewickii (Kear, in Scott 1972).
Putative range Tientsin, China.
Yarrell
Cygnus immutabilis Yarrell 1838, p. 19 (Medway, Kent)
Status Invalid taxon. Formerly believed to be a full species, but now considered a morph or mutation of the Mute Swan Cygnus olor (Kear, in Scott 1972).
Putative range Eurasia.
Gmelin
Anas gattair Forskål 1775, p. 3 (Alexandria)
Anas gattair Gmelin 1789, p. 542 (Alexandria, Egypt)
Status Invalid taxon. Known only from Forskål’s description. Synonymised under the Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca by Salvadori (1895).
Putative range Egypt.
Gmelin
Anas lurida S. G. Gmelin 1770, p. 70
Anas peregrina S. G. Gmelin 1774, p. 183, tab. 16
Status Invalid taxon. Known only from S. G. Gmelin’s description. Synonymised under the Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca by Salvadori (1895).
Putative range Southern Russia.
Brünnich
Anas latirostra Brünnich 1764, p. 21 (Christiansöe)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Lappmark and Denmark. Known from various early accounts. Synonymised under the the Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca by Salvadori (1895)
(Gmelin)
Gaulaund Duck. Pennant 1785, p. 572
Anas borealis Gmelin 1789, p. 512
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Iceland.
Known only from the inadequate descriptions of Pennant and Latham. Considered to be conspecific with the Common Eider Somateria mollissima by Salvadori (1895).
Penguin sp. Donald 1894, p. 176
Eudyptes sp. Ogilvie-Grant 1898, p. 625
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Orkneys, South Atlantic.
Known only from Donald’s account, but unidentifiable.
Forster
Le Manchot à Collier de la Nouvelle Guinée. Sonnerat 1776, p. 180, pl. 114
Aptenodytes torquata J. R. Forster 1781, p. 146
Collared Penguin. Latham 1785, p. 571
Apterodita platirhingos Scopoli 1786, p. 91
Chrysocoma torquata Stephens 1826, in Shaw’s General Zoology, 3, p. 60
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Sonnerat’s account and depiction. Lysaght (1952, 1956a) showed that Sonnerat was unscrupulous in using other people’s material, and the account and description was almost certainly plagiarised.
(Molina)
Diomedea chilensis Molina 1782, pp. 238, 334
Aptenodytes chiloensis & A. chilensis Gmelin 1788, p. 559 (based on Molina)
Pinguinus chilensis Bonnaterre 1790, p. 30
Aptenodytes molinae Latham 1790, p. 881
Three-toed Penguin. Latham 1824, p. 393
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Chile.
Known only from Molina’s description. Hellmayr & Conover (1948) state that owing to ‘the incomplete diagnosis, together with the absence of any definite locality’, the name cannot be identified with any extant species, and suggest that Molina was probably describing Magellanic Spheniscus magellanicus or Humboldt S. humboldti penguins.
(Lafresnaye)
Diabloton [sic] Attwood 1791, p. 30 (quoted in Carte 1866, p. 95)
Procellaria diabolica L’Herminier 1844, p. 168
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Guadeloupe, perhaps also Dominica.
Considered to be either a dark morph of the Black-capped Petrel Pterodroma hasitata, a population of the Jamaican Petrel Pterodroma caribbaea (see p. 59), or a mistaken identification of Audubon’s Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri (Collar et al. 1992; BirdLife International 2011).
(Whitley)
Cookilaria hindwoodi Whitley 1938, p. 197 (Norfolk Island)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Norfolk Island.
Known from a water colour of about 1792 held in the Mitchell Library in Sydney, Australia. Considered to be synonymous with the Black-winged Petrel Pterodroma nigripennis (Jouanin & Mougin 1979).
(Mathews)
Procellaria agilis Mathews 1912a, p. 152 (based on Solander’s manuscript) (36°49’S, 111°30’W. Near Easter Island)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Possibly Easter Island, East Pacific.
Known only from Solander’s description. G. R. Gray (1871) included P. agilis as a doubtful synonym of his own P. phillipii, the Mount Pitt Petrel (see p. 60).
(Mathews)
Procellaria sordida Mathews 1912a, p. 162 (based on Solander’s manuscript) (25°21’S, 129°W, March 21 1769; and 39° 49’S 111°30’W, 3 March 1769)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Pacific Ocean.
Known only from Solander’s inadequate description.
(Mathews)
Procellaria atrata Mathews 1912a, p. 163 (based on Solander’s manuscript) (25°21’S, 129°W)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Pacific Ocean.
Known only from Solander’s inadequate description.
(Mathews)
Procellaria velificans Mathews 1912a, p. 161 (44° 35’S, 109°2’W, February 23 1769; 36°49’S, 111° 30’W, March 3 1769)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Pacific Ocean.
Known only from Solander’s inadequate description.
Pallas
? Great Black Peteril. Edwards 1743–51, p. 89, pl. 89 (Cape of Good Hope; according to Dabbene 1923, Edwards’s type came from South Georgia)
Kuril Petrel. Latham 1785, p. 399 (Kuril Islands and Kamschatka)
Kuril Black Petrel. Pennant 1785, p. 536 (based on Pallas’s manuscript)
Procellaria curilica Pallas 1811, p. 314
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Kuril Islands and Kamchatka.
Known only from a description by P. S. Pallas. Unidentifiable.
(Tschudi)
Puffinus bicolor Tschudi 1856, p. 187
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Easter Island and Isla Sala y Gomez.
Known only from Tschudi’s description. Unidentifiable.
(Salvin)
Fregetta moestissima Salvin 1879, p. 130 (Samoa)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Polynesian Storm-petrel occurs widely in the south-central Pacific.
Known only from the type, in Tring, collected by Rev. T. Powell. Generally considered to be a melanistic Polynesian Storm-petrel Nesofregetta fuliginosa, but some authorities (e.g. Clements 2000) give this form subspecific status. If so, this subspecies is critically endangered, if not already extinct.
Hachisuka
Podicepes [sic] sp. Newton & Gadow 1893, p. 289 (Mauritius)
Podiceps gadowi Hachisuka 1953, p. 123
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mauritius.
Known only from a right ulna, but misidentified. Cowles (1987) concluded that it actually belonged to a Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus, a common migrant to the Mascarenes.
(Molina)
Ardea galeata Molina 1782, pp. 235, 344 (Chile)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Chile.
Known only from Molina’s description. Deautier & Steullet (1929) considered that this description agreed with the Great White Egret Ardea alba egretta (Gmelin), whereas Hellmayr & Conover (1948) consider it be an invented bird.
(Molina)
Tantalus pillus Molina 1782, pp. 243, 344. (Chile)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Chile.
Known only from Molina’s inadequate description. Unidentifiable.
(Molina)
Ardea cyanocephala Molina 1782 pp. 235, 344. (Chile)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Chile.
Known only from Molina’s description. Never identified, but the name cyanocephala was formerly used incorrectly for a race of the Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax obscurus, and for the Whistling Heron Syrigma sibilatrix. Hellmayr & Conover (1948) dismissed the Blue-headed Heron as ‘indeterminable or even fictitious’.
Miller
Ardea naevia Miller 1782, pl. 36
Status Known only from Miller’s plate and Shaw’s description of it.
Putative range South America.
Unidentifiable.
Molina
Ardea erythrocephala Molina 1782, pp. 235, 344. (Chile)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Chile.
Known only from Molina’s description. Never identified, and ignored by Sharpe (1898) and Hellmayr & Conover (1948).
Gmelin
Rusty-crowned Heron. Pennant 1785, p. 452. (North America)
Ardea rubiginosa Gmelin 1789, p. 632
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range North America.
Known from the descriptions of Pennant and Latham. Considered unidentifiable by McAtee (1963).
Linnaeus
The Little White Heron. Catesby 1731, p. 77
Ardea aequinoctialis Linnaeus 1766, p. 240
Little White Heron. Latham 1785, p. 93
Red–billed Heron. Pennant 1785, p. 66
Le crabier bec rouge. Buffon 1770–86, p. 401
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Carolina, United States.
Known only from Catesby’s description, from which the other accounts derive. Never identified, but may represent a now-extinct form. Sharpe (1898) identified Linnaeus’s Ardea aequinoctialis as the white morph of the Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens.
Catesby
Ardea cristata maxima americana. Catesby 1754, pl. 10 (Virginia)
Great Heron. Latham 1785, p. 85
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Virginia, United States.
Known only from Catesby’s description. Ridgway (1878) treated it as fictitious, or the same as the Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias.
(Scarlett)
Pelecanus conspicillatus novaezealandiae Scarlett 1966, p. 209
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range North and South Islands, New Zealand.
Now considered synonymous with the Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus (Worthy 1998).
Bocage
Pelecanus sharpei Bocage 1870, pp. 173, 409 (Angola)
Status Uncertain.
Putative range Angola, Lower DR Congo and Togo.
Known from a number of specimens from tropical Africa. Usually dismissed as an aberration (Ogilve-Grant 1898; Bannerman 1930a).
(Pennant)
Violet Corvorant (Pelecanus Violaceus) Pennant 1785, vol. 2, p. 584 (Kamtschatka and the islands)
Violet Shag. Latham 1785, p. 600
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Kamchatka and nearby islands.
Known only from Pennant’s brief description. Unidentifiable (Hellmayr & Conover 1948).
Forbes
Phalacrocorax novaezelandiae var. major Forbes 1892d, p. 189 (New Zealand)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Zealand.
Known only from bones collected in New Zealand, and said to be larger than other New Zealand species (Forbes 1892d). Falls within the range of variation of Great Cormorant P. carbo (Worthy & Holdaway 2002).
Audubon
Phalacrocorax leucurus Audubon 1849 (based on a MS by Townsend), p. 336 (Cape Disappointment, Mouth of Columbia
River, Washington State, USA)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Washington State, United States.
Known only from Audubon’s description (1849), based on specimens seen by Townsend. Considered to be Pelagic Cormorant P. pelagicus (Ogilvie-Grant 1898).
Audubon
Phalacrocorax leuconotus Audubon 1849 (based on a MS by Townsend) p. 336 (Cape Disappointment, Mouth of Columbia River, Washington State, USA)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Washington State, United States.
Known only from Audubon’s description (1849), based on specimens seen by Townsend. Considered to be Pelagic Cormorant P. pelagicus (Ogilvie-Grant 1898).
Pallas
Phalacrocorax albidus Pallas 1811 [ex Steller MS], Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, vol. 2, p. 305. (Bering Island).
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bering Island.
Known only from Pallas’s description, based on Steller’s notes. There is little evidence to suggest that Steller’s ‘white sea raven’ was even a cormorant. Probably unidentifiable. Pallas (1811) thought Steller was referring to a Gannet Sula sp.
White-winged Vulture. Latham 1821, p. 8 (no locality)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description. Unidentifiable.
(Ogilby)
Bird from the East Indies. G. Edwards 1771, p. 55, pl. 2 (Philippine Islands).
Gypogeranus Philippensis Ogilby 1835, p. 105.
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Possibly the Philippine Islands.
Known only from the account of Sonnerat. Almost certainly a dreamed-up bird.
(Latham)
Ash-coloured Vulture. Latham 1781, p. 13, var. A
Vultur leucocephalus Latham 1790, p. 2
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range North Africa and Europe.
Known only from early descriptions. Synonymised under Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (Strickland 1855).
(Gmelin)
Vultur leporarius. Gesner 1555
Hare Vulture. Willughby 1676, p. 67
Vultur leporarius Ray 1713, p. 10
Vultur cristatus Brisson 1760, p. 460
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Germany.
Known only from Gesner’s description, from which all others cited. Unidentifiable.
(Daudin)
Le Chincou. Levaillant 1799, pl. 12
Vultur chincou Daudin 1800, p. 12
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range China.
Known only from Levaillant’s description. Synonymised under the Eurasian Black Vulture Aegypius monachus (Sharpe 1874).
Heude
Haliaeetus niger Heude 1887, p. 95 (‘Mer de Tartarie’ = seas near Korea)
Haliaeetus branickii Taczanowski 1888, p. 451, fig. 1 (Korea)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range The morph was known from the coasts of the Korean Peninsula, and perhaps also in Ussuriland in Russia. It may well re-appear.
This has generally been considered as either a subspecies (‘niger’) of Steller’s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus (for example, Ferguson-Lees & Christie 2005), or a range-specific dark morph. Not seen since the 1950s, a female hatched in captivity in 2001 exhibited this coloration, but both parents were regularly coloured Steller’s Sea Eagles (Kaiser 2010). This effectively settled the question.
(Wurmberg & Lichtenstein)
Falco maritimus Wurmberg 1787, p. 6 (Java)
Status Known only from the brief description by Wurmberg (1787), from which various others derive.
Putative range Coasts of Java.
Gray (1869) treated it as a synonym of the White-bellied Sea Eagle H. leucogaster.
Rafinesque
Aquila dicronyx Rafinesque 1832, p. 63 (Buenos Aires)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South America.
Known only from the description of Rafinesque. Considered to be an aberrant Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Rhoads 1911), which make no sense on zoogeographical grounds. Unidentifiable.
(Gmelin)
Aquila alba sive Cygne Gesner 1555, p. 199
Aigle toute blanche. Belon 1555, p. 89
Aquila alba seu cycnea. Aldrovandus 1599, p. 231
Aquila alba. Rzaczynski 1721, p. 299
Aquila alba, seu Aquila Cygnea Aldrovandi. Rzaczynski 1745, p. 362
Aquila alba Cygnea. Klein 1750, p. 42
Aquila alba. Brisson 1760, p. 424
White Eagle. Latham 1781, p. 36
Falco albus Gmelin 1788, p. 257
Falco cygneus Latham 1790, p. 14
Status Uncertain.
Range This morph formerly occurred in the Alps and in the mountains near the banks of the Rhine in Germany.
Latham (1822) considered the White Eagle to be merely a colour morph of the Golden Eagle. It has not been seen since the 18th century.
? Black-bellied Falcon. Forster 1771, p. 8 (no description)
Black-cheeked Eagle. Latham 1781, p. 35
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range North America.
Known only from the descriptions of Pennant and Latham. Strickland (1855) synonymised the Black-cheeked Eagle with the North American race of Osprey Pandion haliaetus carolinensis.
(Beseke)
Falco tigrinus Beseke 1792, p. 10
Tiger Eagle. Latham 1821, p. 57
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Courland (now part of Latvia).
Known only from Beseke’s account. Unidentifiable.
(Latham)
Der Rothlichweisse Falke. Beseke 1792, p. 11
Falco germanicus Latham 1801b, p. 3
Courland Falcon. Latham 1802, p. 19
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Courland (now part of Latvia).
Known only from Beseke’s account. Unidentifiable.
(Gmelin)
White Eagle. Du Pratz 1758, p. 75 (possibly p. 109)
White Eagle. Pennant 1785, p. 197
Louisiana White Eagle. Latham 1781, p. 36
Falco candidus Gmelin 1788, p. 258
Falco Conciliator Shaw 1809, p. 77
Status Known only from the account of Du Pratz. Strickland (1855) placed the Louisiana White Eagle in the synonymy of the Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus, with a note that Du Pratz was inaccurate.
Putative range North America.
Genoese Eagle. Latham 1822, p. 53 (Genoa and parts adjacent)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Genoa and adjacent areas.
Known only from Latham’s description of the lost type, formerly in the Bullock Collection. Strickland (1855) synonymised it with Bonelli’s Eagle Aquila fasciata.
Gmelin
Accipiter ferox Gmelin 1771, p. 442, pl. 10 (Astrakhan)
Fierce Eagle. Latham 1781, p. 33
Falco astracanus Shaw 1809, p. 85
Status Known only from Gmelin’s description.
Putative range Astrakhan, Russia.
Considered unidentifiable by Mayr (1944).
Cassin
Buteo cooperi Cassin 1856, p. 253 (Near Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California)
Status Known only from the type.
Putative range California.
Generally believed to be an abnormal specimen of Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis harlani (Ridgway 1884, 1885a).
(Newton & Gadow)
Astur sp. Milne-Edwards 1874a, p. 25–6, pl. 15, fig. 2
Astur alphonsi Newton & Gadow 1893, p. 285–6, pl. 33, figs 9–10 (Mauritius)
Circus maillardi Mourer-Chauviré et al. 2004, p.168
Specimens Subfossil remains of the Mauritius population are in Cambridge, England and Paris.
Status Extinct; known only from bones and possibly one very brief account. Date of extinction c.17th century. Now shown to be referable to the extant Réunion Harrier.
Range Mauritius, Mascarene Islands.
Subfossil bones found in the Mare aux Songes, Mauritius, were considered by Newton & Gadow (1893) to be similar to the Black Sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus of South Africa in size and relative proportions, but they retained the specific alphonsi on biogeographical grounds. Mourer-Chauviré et al. (2004), however, have not only shown that the subfossil remains are referable to Circus not Accipiter, but they are indistinguishable from the extant Réunion Harrier Circus maillardi; the two birds were actually conspecific. Réunion would have had a distinct lack of open areas in the past, so the Réunion Harrier has evolved short, broad wings, short tarsi and long claws (Ferguson-Lees & Christie 2001), adaptations for hunting birds in thick forest, a similar evolutionary trait exhibited by the Hawaiian Harrier Circus dossenus (see p. 79). The harrier was possibly mentioned on Mauritius in 1602 (Cheke & Hume 2008), but never again, and probably disappeared as a result of persecution and deforestation.
Hartert
Milvus milvus fasciicauda Hartert 1914, p. 89 (Cape Verde Islands)
Status Almost certainly invalid.
Range Cape Verde Islands.
Carter (2007) showed it represented a hybrid population, which has been extirpated since 2000 (perhaps earlier) due to hybridisation with Black Kite Milvus migrans (see also Johnson et al. 2005, Hille & Collar 2009).
(D’Orbigny)
Ibycter gymnocephalus D’Orbigny 1835, p. 2 (Cochabamba, Bolivia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Known only from the original description with no surviving specimens. Considered referable to the Black Caracara Daptrius ater (Hellmayr 1921).
Gmelin
Vultur pÿgargus. Frisch 1734–63, tab. 76
Falco fuscus. Brisson 1760 p. 331
Brown Falcon. Latham 1781, p. 68
Falco fuscus Gmelin 1788, p. 271 (not Falco fuscus Gmelin 1788, p. 280, which = Accipiter striatus velox)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Europe.
Known only from the plate in Frisch, on which the descriptions of Brisson and Latham are based. Unidentifiable.
Falcon. Salt 1814, p. xlii-xliii.
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Abyssinia.
Known only from the description by Henry Salt following his voyage to Abyssinia. Unidentifiable.
Latham
Falco rubiginosus. Piller 1783, p. 29
Falco rubiginosus Latham 1790, p. 27
Rusty Falcon. Latham 1802, p. 36
Falco aeruginosus, Var A. Latham 1821, p. 88
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Slovenia.
Known only from Piller’s description. Strickland (1855) placed it in the synonymy of the Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus.
Gmelin
Falco cyanopus. Charleton 1668, p. 73
Blue-footed Falcon. Willughby 1678, p. 82
Falco cyanopus. Klein 1750, p. 52
Falco stellaris. Brisson 1760, p. 359
Starry Falcon. Latham 1781, p. 79
Falco stellaris Gmelin 1788, p. 274
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Europe.
Known only from a description in Albertus Magnus. Strickland (1855) placed it in the synonymy of Saker Falcon Falco cherrug.
Gmelin
Vultur subluteus, capite albo, Kauh-fuss geyer; gelbrauner Geÿer. Frisch 1734–1763, tab. 75
Falco leucocephalus. Brisson 1760, p. 325
White-headed Falcon. Latham 1781, p. 66
Falco leucocephalus Gmelin 1788, p. 270
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Europe.
Known only from Frisch’s plate. Bechstein (1793) identified it as the Rough-legged Buzzard Buteo lagopus.
Gmelin
Falco albus. Gesner 1555
Falco albus Gmelin 1788, p. 270 (not Falco albus, p. 257 which = Aquila alba Gmelin)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Europe.
Known from several early accounts, but it is unclear whether they all refer to the same bird. Unidentifiable.
Forster
Falco sacer. Forster 1772, p. 383, 423
American Sacre or Speckled Partridge Hawk. Latham 1781, p. 78
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range North America.
Known only from Forster’s description. Synonymised under the Gyrfalcon Falco rusticolus (Hellmayr & Conover 1948).
Daudin
Le Rougri. Levaillant 1799, p. 49, pl. 17
Falco desertorum Daudin 1800, p. 164
Buteo desertorum Smith 1830, p. 382
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Africa.
Known only from Levaillant’s description. Considered unidentifiable (Hartert & Neumann 1914).
Norton Sound Bustard. Pennant 1785, p. 321
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range North America.
Known only from Pennant’s description. Probably based on a misidentification of a Canada Goose Branta canadensis, or other large geese, large grouse or cranes.
Hachisuka
Mauritius Henne. Peter Mundy 1608–67 (in Temple 1914), p. 352
Kuinia mundyi Hachisuka 1937a, p. 156 (Mauritius)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mauritius.
Based on the account of Peter Mundy. Probably referable to a juvenile Mauritius Red Rail Aphanapteryx bonasia (Olson 1977b) (see p. 108).
(Büttikofer)
Stictolimnas sharpei Büttikofer 1893, p. 274
Gallirallus sharpei Olson 1986a, p.263
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Unknown but possibly the Greater Sundas, Indonesia.
Known only from the type. Now considered a colour morph of Buff-banded Rail G. philippensis, based on unpublished genetic work (R. Dekker in litt. 2008), and removed from the 2010 IUCN Red List (Bird & Butchart 2008).
Sharpe
Aramides gutteralis Sharpe 1894, p. 57, pl. 5
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Believed to have come from Lima, Perú.
Known from one specimen, obtained from the zoological dealer Leadbeater, of doubtful origin. BirdLife International (2011) removed this species from their list of extinct species as the type is believed to be a badly prepared specimen of Grey-necked Wood Rail A. cajanea (Meyer de Schauensee 1966), or a possible subspecies of it (Taylor & van Perlo 1998).
Schlegel
Le Geans. Leguat 1708, p. 171.
Gallinula (Leguatia) gigantea Schlegel 1857, p. 116, 142; translated in 1866, p. 146–168
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mauritius and Rodrigues.
Based only on the account of Leguat (1708), who almost certainly confused it with a flamingo Phoenicopterus sp. (Cheke & Hume 2008).
Forbes
Ocydromus insignis Forbes 1892 p. 188 (Middle Island, New Zealand)
Status Dubious taxon.
Range New Zealand.
Known only from a single element with an insufficient description (Olson 1977b).
King
Rallus ecaudotus King 1784, p. 119
Pennula ecaudata [sic] Hartlaub 1892, p. 396
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Hawaii.
Known only from an inadequate description in King (1784), and now a synonym of Hawaiian Crake Porzana sandwichensis (see p. 103).
Miller
Rallus pacificus (part) J. Forster, unpublished drawing, no. 127, in Banksian Library Collection in NHM.
Rallus ecaudata Miller 1783, pl. 47 (Otaheitee)
Rallus ecaudatus Shaw & Miller 1796, pl. 47
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Supposedly Tahiti, but probably Hawaii.
Known only from the plates of Miller and Georg Forster. The name Rallus ecaudatus is already preoccupied (Lysaght 1953); this is now synonymised with Hawaiian Crake Porzana sandwichensis (see p. 103)
Peters & Griscom
Tricholimnas conditicius Peters & Griscom 1928, p. 102 (Apiang Island, Gilbert Group = error, probably for Ebon Atoll in the Marshall Islands)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) in error. Type probably from Lord Howe.
Known only from the type in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, formerly preserved in alcohol. Now considered a juvenile Lord Howe Wood Rail Tricholimnas sylvestris (Olson 1992a).
Schlegel
‘A Hen’. Herbert 1634, p. 212
Didus herberti Schlegel 1854, p. 256 (Mauritius)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mauritius.
Based on the extremely poor probable rendition of Aphanapteryx bonasia in Herbert (1634; see Olson 1977b).
(Hamilton)
Ocydromus minor Hamilton 1893, p. 103 (Castle Rocks, New Zealand)
Gallirallus minor Oliver 1930, p.594
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Known from deposits from Takaka, Lake Grassmere, Pyramid Valley, Forest Hill, Hamilton Swamp, Line Hills and Castle Rocks in New Zealand.
Known only from subfossil material, which has never been properly characterised or illustrated (see Olson 1977b).
Bruner
Cacroenis inornatus Bruner 1972, p. 47 (Tuamotu Islands)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Tuamotu Archipelago, South Pacific.
Known only from an inadequate account in Bruner (1972).
Colenso
Fulica Nova-Zealandiae Colenso 1845, p. 283 (Ngaruawahie, New Zealand)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Zealand.
Known only from Colenso’s account. Now thought to be a misidentification of the New Zealand Grebe Poliocephalus rufopectus.
Lesson
Râle écaudé. Cuvier unpublished MS in Paris Museum
Porzana circoleps Lesson 1831, p. 538
Rallus ecaudatus Cuvier (according to Bonaparte)
Ortygometra cercoleps ‘Temminck’. Gray 1871, p. 64;
nomen nudum Rallus caudatus Cuvier (according to Gray)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Philippine Islands.
Based on the inadequate account of Lesson (1831).
Hachisuka
Grus antigone luzonica Hachisuka 1941b, p. 83 (Luzon)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Luzon, Philippine Islands.
Considered probably extinct (Dickinson et al. 1991). However, now synonymised under Grus antigone sharpii (Dickinson 2003).
Great White Crane. Nuttall 1834, p. 39 (Florida)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Florida.
Known only from Audubon’s description, as published by Nuttall. Ridgway (1878) placed it in the synonymy of the Great White Heron Ardea occidentalis, which is now considered to be a white morph of the Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias.
Yule
Grus polii Yule 1871, p. 262.
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Marco Polo’s description, as translated by Yule. Synonymised under Siberian Crane Grus leucogeranus (Blaauw 1897).
Gray
Thinornis rossii G. R. Gray 1845, p. 12, pl. 11 (Auckland Island = ? Campbell Island)
Specimens The unique specimen is in Tring.
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Auckland Islands, New Zealand, though this may be in error.
Known only from the type specimen, collected in November 1840. Considered to be an immature Shore Plover T. novaeseelandiae (Buller 1887–88) or invalid (BirdLife International 2011).
Gmelin
Black-crowned Plover. Latham 1785 p. 210
Charadrius atricapillus Gmelin 1789, p. 686
Status Known only from the descriptions of Latham and Pennant.
Putative range New York State, United States.
Unidentifiable.
Gmelin
Keildu-suin, Islandis. Müller 1776, n. 205.
Uniform Sandpiper. Latham 1785, p. 173
Tringa uniformis Gmelin 1789, p. 678
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Iceland.
Known only from Müller’s account, perhaps based on an earlier work by Ólafsen (1774–75). Never identified, and almost certainly unidentifiable.
Brünnich
Tringa undata Brünnich 1764, p. 55, no.183
Waved Sandpiper. Pennant 1785, p. 481
Tringa sordide flava subtus alba. Beseke 1786, p. 463
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Possibly Denmark and Norway.
Known only from Brünnich’s description, from which others derive.
Krusenstern
Tringa meleagris Krusenstern 1814, table 86 of Atlas
Tringa Sakhalmi Vieillot 1819, p. 471
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Hartert’s comments on Krustenstern’s plate. Probably fictitious, based on a mixture of species.
(Baird)
Tringa cooperi Baird 1860, p. 716
Specimens The type is in Washington D.C.
Status Known only from the unique type, believed to be a male in summer plumage, collected on Long Island, New York, on May 24, 1833, by William Cooper.
Range North America.
Now considered to probably represent a hybrid between Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper C. acuminata (Cox 1989, 1990).
Parker
Calidris paramelanotos Parker 1982, p. 63 (Saint Vincent’s Gulf, South Australia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range South and south-east Australia, Massachusetts, United States and Japan.
DNA analysis has shown that Cox’s Sandpiper is a hybrid Curlew Sandpiper C. ferruginea × Pectoral Sandpiper C. melanotos (Christidis et al. 1996).
Pallas
Larus Martyschka. Steller unpublished MS
Kamtschatkan Tern. Pennant 1785, p. 525
Sterna camtschatica Pallas 1811, p. 335
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Kamchatka, Alaska, Japan and Aleutian Islands.
Originally known only from Pallas’s description, taken from Steller’s manuscript. Synonymous with the extant Aleutian Tern Onychoprion aleuticus.
Linnaeus
Cloven-footed Gull. Albin 1738, p. 75, pl. 82
Rallus cinereus facie Lari. Klein 1750, p. 103
? La Guissette. Buffon 1770–83, p. 339
? Rallus lariformis Linnaeus 1758, p. 153
Sterna naevia Brisson 1760. p. 216, fig. 2
Sterna naevia Linnaeus 1766, p. 228
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Picardy Coast, France.
Known only from several early accounts and Daubenton’s plate in the Planchees Enluminées. Inadequate description and difficult to determine whether more than one species is involved.
Gairfowl. Martin 1698, p. 27
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range St Kilda.
Based on an inadequate description, and probably confused in part with a cormorant.
Anser magellanicus seu Pinguini. Wormius 1655, p. 300–1
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Faroe Islands.
Description based on an aberrant individual, or possibly confused with Great Northern Diver Gavia immer.
(de Sélys-Longchamps)
Apterornis solitarius de Sélys-Longchamps 1848, p. 293
Didus apterornis Schlegel 1854, p. 232
Ornithaptera borbonica Bonaparte 1854a, p. 2
Victoriornis imperialis Hachisuka 1937b, p. 71
Status Invalid taxon. Existence based entirely on contemporary pictures and travellers accounts.
Putative range Réunion, Mascarene Islands.
Much ink has been spilt over the White Dodo (or Solitaire) of Réunion, a species even given specific status in a relatively recent monograph on the pigeons (Gibbs et al. 2001), and yet no physical evidence of any kind has been found to substantiate its existence. The supposed illustrations of white dodos have no provenance data whatsoever, and are likely to represent a leucistic bird from Mauritius (Hume & Cheke 2004), or are entirely imaginary. The accounts of white birds on Réunion, which some authorities continue to associate with dodos, are almost certainly referable to the now extinct Réunion Ibis Threskiornis solitarius (Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1995a, b) (see p. 67). Large numbers of bird subfossil remains have now been recovered from Réunion, and not a single dodo bone has been identified (Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1999). Until evidence to the contrary is made available, the White Dodo of Réunion must remain as mythical as the griffin or phoenix.
Gmelin
Tlacahoilotl. Hernandez 1651, p. 46 (Mexico)
Columba caerulea mexicana. Brisson 1760, p. 139
Pigeon bleu du Mexique. Buffon (1770–1783), p. 525
Blue Pigeon. Latham 1783, p. 634
Columba caerulea Gmelin 1788, p. 776
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mexico.
Known only from the description by Hernandez, on which all subsequent accounts are based. Considered fictitious (Salvadori 1893) or possibly a domestic pigeon (Smellie 1812).
Temminck & Knip
Columba caerulea Temminck & Knip 1811, pl. 37
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bengal, India.
Known only from the plate in Temminck & Knip (1811). The provenance data for this supposed species is doubtful, and the bird itself is probably fictitious (Sharpe 1895).
Scopoli
Tourterelle centrée de l’Isle de Luçon. Sonnerat 1776, p. 52, pl. 22 (Luzon, Philippine Islands)
Luzonian Turtle. Latham 1783, p. 646, var. c
Columba cinerea Scopoli 1786, p. 94, no. 93
Columba turtur, delta, Turtur luzoniensis. Gmelin 1788, p. 786
Tourterelle de l’Isle de Luçon. Bonnaterre 1790, Tp. 248, pl. 81
Columba turtur delta. Latham 1790, p. 606
Columba phoenicorhyncha Wagler 1829, p. 745
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Luzon, Philippine Islands.
Known only from Sonnerat’s description, the basis of Scopoli’s name Columba cinerea. Almost certainly referable to Madagascar Turtle Dove Streptopelia picturata (Walden 1875), and considered doubtful (Wagler 1827).
Latham
Tourterelle de St. Dominigue. Daubenton 1771–86, no. 487
Columba dominicensis Latham 1790, p. 615, no. 79
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Hispaniola, West Indies.
Known only from Daubenton’s plate, on which Latham’s (1790) description was based. Almost certainly fictitious (e.g. Wagler 1827; Salvadori 1893).
Gmelin
Chehoilotl. Hernandez 1651, p. 42
Columba mexicana Brisson 1760, p. 99
Columba mexicana Gmelin 1788 p. 777
Putative range Mexico.
Known only from the inadequate description of Hernandez (1651).
Miller
Columba rosea Miller & Shaw 1796, p.105, (India)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range India.
Known only from Miller’s plate and inadequate description. Never identified, and considered a doubtful species (Wagler 1827; Bonaparte 1854a).
Hesler
Columba sumatrensis Hesler 1854, p. 287 (no locality)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Hesler’s note, with inadequate description.
Pallas
Columba minor fusca Gmelin ‘the elder’ (i.e. J.G. Gmelin) MS.
Columba fusca Pallas 1811, p. 567
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Krasnoyarsk on the upper Yenisei, Siberia.
Known only from Pallas’s inadequate second-hand description, based on Gmelin’s manuscript.
(Linnaeus)
Cuculus brasiliensis. Seba 1734, p. 102, pl. 66, fig. 2
Columba adfinis Möhring 1752, p. 103
Cuculus brasiliensis cristatus ruber Brisson 1760, no. 25
Cuculus brasiliensis Linnaeus 1766, p. 171.
Red-cheeked Cuckow. Latham 1781, p. 545
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the descriptions of Linnaeus (1766) and Möhring (1752), both based on Seba’s (1734) plate. It is uncertain that this bird even represents a pigeon, as some authors referred it to Cuculidae (cuckoos).
Pigeon from Xiengmai. Schomburgk 1864, p. 250
Siamese Pigeon. Blyth 1867, p. 149
Status Known only from the description of Schomburgk (1864).
Putative range Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Unidentifiable.
(Temminck & Knip)
Columbi-caille. Levaillant 1808, p. 83, pl. 283
Columba hottentotta Temminck & Knip 1808–1811, p. 26, pl. 15
Goura hottentota Stephens 1819, p. 131
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Great Namaqualand, South Africa.
Apparently known only from Levaillant’s description. Considered fictitious (Sundervall in Layard 1867).
Blyth
Psammoenas Burnesii Blyth 1845, p. 860 footnote (Cabul)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Afghanistan.
Known only from a picture collected by Scottish explorer Sir Alexander Burnes (also known as Bokhara Burnes). Uncertain if it even represents a columbid, and some authors suggest the image is a sandgrouse.
(Temminck & Knip)
Colombi–Gallinae. Levaillant 1808, p. 98, pl. 278
Columba carunculata Temminck & Knip 1808–11, p. 19, pl. 11
Goura carunculata Stephens 1819, p. 123
Verrulia carunculata Fleming 1822, p. 232.
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Africa.
Known only from Levaillant’s plate and description, from which all other accounts derive. Considered a fictitious bird (Salvadori 1893).
Bonaparte
Columbicolin laure Bonaparte 1854a, p. 51
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Bonaparte’s inadequate description. Never satisfactorily identified.
Spotted Necked Turtle. Latham 1785, p. 645 Columba turtur var. beta. Gmelin 1788, p. 786
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range From England to South Africa, China and India.
Known only from Latham’s description. Never satisfactorily identified. With such a supposedly vast range, it defies belief that no other specimen was obtained or described. Probably represents the European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur.
(Müller)
Tourterelle à large queue du Sénégal. Daubenton 1771–86, no. 329
Tourocco. Buffon 1771 p. 553 (Senegal)
Great-tailed Turtle. Latham 1783, p. 667
Columba macerona Müller 1776b, p. 134, no. 43
Columba macroura Gmelin 1788, p. 790
Macropygia macroura Salvadori 1893, p. 335–6 footnote (Senegal; Sri Lanka according to some = error)
Putative range Senegal, West Africa or perhaps Sri Lanka.
Known only from Daubenton’s plate and Buffon’s description. Never satisfactorily identified. No other Macropygia occurs in Africa, but provenance uncertain.
(Linnaeus)
China Dove. Albin 1740, p. 43, pl. 46
Columba sinica Linnaeus 1758, p. 164
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range China.
Known only from Albin’s plate and description. Provenance uncertain and the plate differs from the description.
Large White Pigeon. King 1784, p. 120
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Hawaiian Islands.
Known only from King’s statement that a ‘large white pigeon’ was found in the Hawaiian Islands. No species of Columbidae has ever been recorded from Hawaii (Olson & James 1991), so the identification or provenance are in error.
Latham
Indian Pigeon. Latham 1787, p. 202
Columba asiatica Latham 1790, p. 597, no 14 (India)
? Treron asiatica Gray 1844a, p. 467
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range India.
Known only from Latham’s description. Considered indistinct (Stephens 1819) and an unidentifiable Treron (Salvadori 1895).
(Lefèbvre)
Columba phasianella Lefèbvre 1845–51, p. 142 (Abyssinia).
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Abyssinia.
Known only from Lefèbvre’s inadequate account. Never identified.
(Latham)
Columba brunnea Latham 1790, p. 603, no. 38 (New Zealand) Brown Pigeon. Latham 1802, p. 267
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Zealand.
Known only from Latham’s description. There is no evidence that Latham even had a specimen. Possibly a description of New Zealand Pigeon H. novaeseelandiae (Salvadori 1893), or the locality is in error (Gray 1862b).
Chamisso
Columba australis Chamisso 1821, p.113 (Radack or Marshall Islands)
? Ducula oceanica ratakensis Takatsukasa & Yamashina 1932, p. 221 (Aruno Atoll)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Marshall Islands, South Pacific.
Known only from a passing reference by Chamisso, without adequate description.
Pigeon of New Zealand with ‘The Head and neck White, the former Crested’. Earl 1844 (in Gray & Sharp), p. 10
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Zealand.
Known only from Percy Earl’s inadequate description. The provenance may be in error (Gray 1862b).
(Temminck & Knip)
Columba auricularis Temminck & Knip 1808–11, p. 54, pl. 21
Columba temminckii Wagler 1827, sp. 40
Rhagorhina auricularis Gloger 1842, p. 360
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Supposedly from a Pacific island.
Known only from Temminck’s description, based on a captive bird in Amsterdam. Provenance uncertain, and now unidentifiable.
(Latham)
Portugal Dove. Albin 1738, p. 44, pl. 48
Turtur lusitanus Brisson 1760, p. 98
Columba turtur Gmelin 1789, p. 786
Turtur lusitanicus Latham 1823, p. 53
Turtur lusitanus Salvadori, 1893, p. 646
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Portugal.
Known only from Albin’s description and plate. Considered conspecific with European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur (Salvadori 1893).
Large Deep Blue Pigeon. Bougainville 1772, p. 247 (Otaheite)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Tahiti.
Known only from a passing inadequate reference by Bougainville (1772).
(Gmelin)
Hook-billed Pigeon. Latham 1783, p. 632, no. 23, pl. 59 (Tanna)
Columba curvirostra Gmelin 1789, p. 777 (Tanna)
Columba aromatica var a. Temminck 1813, p. 441
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Supposedly Tanna, New Hebrides, though perhaps in error, and also the Malay Peninsula.
Known only from Latham’s description, but Gmelin’s name, which was based on it, has been used, possibly erroneously, for the Thick-billed Green Pigeon Treron nipalensis. Unidentifiable.
(Gmelin)
Purple breasted Pigeon. Latham 1783, p. 629 (Eimeo = Tahiti)
Columba eimeensis Gmelin 1789, p. 784. Based on Latham
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Moorea, Society Islands, South Pacific.
Known only from Latham’s description, and doubtfully distinct. Salvadori (1893) listed this bird as an unidentified form, and Peters (1937) said that it is ‘doubtless’ the same as the Polynesian Ground Dove G. erythroptera.
(Gosse)
Blue Partridge. Gosse 1847, p. 324
Zenaida? plumbea Gosse 1849, pl. 85.
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Jamaica, but there is some doubt about the provenance.
Known only from Gosse’s brief and inadequate account and a contemporary illustration.
Tourterelle de Surinam. Fermin 1769, p. 165 (Surinam).
Surinam Turtle. Latham 1783, p. 647
Columba surinamensis Gmelin 1789, p. 787
Columba Fermin Temminck 1813, p. 375.
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Surinam.
Known only from Fermin’s description, from which the others derive. No such bird has been reported since.
Tschudi
Columba melancholica Tschudi 1844, p. 306 (Peru)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Peru.
Known only from Tschudi’s description of the type, formerly in the Museum of Neuchâtel, but now apparently lost. Referred to the synonymy of the Maroon-chested Ground Dove Claravis mondetoura (Taczanowski 1884–86; Ridgway 1916).missing.
(Hartlaub)
Tympanistria virgo Hartlaub 1886, p. 2 (Djanda, Eastern Equatorial Africa)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Djanda, Central African Republic.
Known only from Hartlaub’s description, based on a specimen received by him in 1883. Salvadori (1893) dismissed the specimen as probably an example of Tambourine Dove Turtur tympanistria in which the metallic spots were missing.
Pelzeln
Long-billed Parrakeet. Latham 1822, p. 171
Nestor norfolcensis Pelzeln 1860a, p. 322 & pl. (Norfolk Island)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Norfolk Island.
Known only from Pelzeln’s lost type with an abnormally developed bill, Latham’s apparently normal specimen (also lost), and another specimen in Liverpool, which lacks the bill. Considered to be an aberration and thus synonymised under Nestor productus (see p. 166).
Nestor sp. Scarlett 1955a, p. 263 (Pyramid Valley, New Zealand)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Island, New Zealand.
Known only from a very brief statement by Scarlett (1955): ‘many bones of a small form [of Kaka] have been recovered’. Whether or not this represents an extinct species seems not to have been decided. No further information is available.
Souancé
Nestor esslingi Souancé 1856, p. 223 (no locality)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range New Zealand.
Known only from the type in Tring, purchased from the Masséna Collection. Although Salvadori (1891a) considered this species valid, it is generally considered to be a variation of the Kaka Nestor meridionalis (Buller 1905).
van Oort
Chalcopsitta spectabilis van Oort 1908, p. 127 (Mambrioe = Mamberiok Peninsula, north-western New Guinea)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Mamberiok Peninsula, north-western New Guinea.
Known only from the unique type, a male in the Leiden Museum. It was collected by Laglaize on March 13, 1876, and purchased from A. A. Bruijn in 1878. Peters (1937) explained that Ernst Mayr had suggested to him that this bird was either a hybrid Rajah Lory Chalcopsitta insignis × Yellow-streaked Lory C. scintillata or an intermediate form, closer to the former.
(Lesson)
Psittacus stavorini Lesson 1826, p. 355, 628 (Waigiou)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Waigeo, western New Guinea.
Known only from Lesson’s description, based on the unique type, now lost. Considered doubtful (Salvadori 1891a) or unidentifiable (Peters 1937).
(Linnaeus)
Long-tailed Scarlet Lory. Edwards 1751, p. 173, pl. 173
Psittacus borneus Linnaeus 1758, p. 97 (‘Borneo’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Perhaps Borneo.
Known only from Edwards’s plate and description. For a long time the name was used for the Red Lory Eos rubra. Considered dubious by Finsch (1868). Coloration considered to match a nutritionally deficient Red Lory (Low 2011).
(Shaw)
Le Perroquet Lori unicolor. Levaillant 1805a, p. 131, pl. 125 (Moluccas)
Psittacus unicolor Shaw 1811, p. 538. Based on Levaillant
Unicoloured Lory. Latham 1822, p. 227
Eos unicolor G.R. Gray 1849, appendix, p. 20
Status Known only from Levaillant’s description and plate, based on two specimens, now lost, but formerly in the Temminck Collection in Amsterdam.
Putative range Moluccas.
Never identified.
(Levaillant)
Le Perroquet Lori à queue blue. Levaillant 1805a, pl. 97, p. 43 (Borneo = error, ?Moluccas)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Perhaps Borneo.
Known only from Levaillant’s plate and description, based on a specimen, now lost, formerly in the collection of Raye de Breukelvaert in Amsterdam. Provenance in doubt.
(Brisson)
Psittaca indica coccinea Brisson 1760, p. 376–8, pl. 25, fig. 2
Le Lori Perruche violet et rouge. Daubenton 1771–86, no 143
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the descriptions of Brisson, Daubenton and Levaillant, apparently all based on a specimen (now lost) in the collection of the Abbé Aubry. Salvadori (1891a) put this bird in the synonymy of Red-and-blue Lory Eos histrio.
Ogilvie-Grant
Eos goodfellowi Ogilvie-Grant 1907, p. 102 (Obi)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Moluccas.
Known only from the original types, two living specimens brought by Walter Goodfellow from Obi in the Moluccas. The specimens were apparently never preserved and are now lost. Holyoak (1970) and Forshaw (1989) considered it to be a juvenile Red Lory Eos bornea, and Mees (1982) stated it was an invalid species.
(Gmelin)
Variegated Lory. Latham 1781, p. 220
Psittacus variegatus Gmelin 1788, p. 319
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Moluccas.
Known only from Latham’s description based on a specimen, now lost, formerly in the Leverian Museum. Synonymised with Violet-necked Lory Eos squamata ricinata (Salvadori 1891a).
Trichoglossus (Lorius) sp. inc. Layard 1878, p. 274 (Santo, New Hebrides)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Hebrides.
Known only from a passing comment by E. L. Layard, almost certainly referring to Trichoglossus haematodus massena, the race of the Rainbow Lorikeet in the New Hebrides.
(Gmelin)
White-collared Parrot. Pennant 1773, p. 59–60, pl. 2 (East Indies?)
Psittacus multicolor Gmelin 1788, p. 328
Psittacus semicollaris Latham 1790, p. 103
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range East Indies.
Known only from Pennant’s description. Salvadori (1891a) included it in the synonymy of Trichoglossus novaehollandiae, now called T. haematodus moluccanus, the north Australian form of Rainbow Lorikeet.
Gray
Trichoglossus coccineifrons G. R. Gray 1858, pp. 183, 194
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Aru Islands, Indonesia.
Known only from the type collected by Alfred Russel Wallace, an adult male that Salvadori (1891) considered either a hybrid Rainbow Lorikeet T. [haematodus] nigrogularis × Yellow-streaked Lory Chalcopsitta sintillata, or an immature of something else.
Bonaparte
Trichoglossus verreauxius Bonaparte 1854b, p. 157 (Australasia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known from the type in Paris, and a specimen from the Gould Collection, now in Tring. The type is of unknown locality; the Gould specimen came from Melbourne and was assigned to the same species by Finsch (1868). Salvadori (1891a) examined this second specimen, and concluded that it was a hybrid Rainbow Lorikeet T. h. moluccanus × Musk Lorikeet Glossopsittacus concinnus.
Ogilvie-Grant
Trichoglossus brooki Ogilvie-Grant 1907, p. 102
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Spirit Island, off Trangan, Aru Islands.
Now considered to be immature of the race T. h. nigrogularis (Juniper & Parr 1998).
Le Perroquet Lori à Collier Jaune – Variety. Levaillant 1805, pl. 95 (no locality)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Levaillant’s plate and inadequate description. Synonymised by Salvadori (1891a) with Purple-naped Lory Lorius domicella.
Scarlet Lory. Edwards 1751, p. 172, pl. 172
Psittacus garrulus (part) Linnaeus 1758, p. 100 (Asia = East Indies)
Putative range East Indies.
Known only from Edwards’s 1751 description. Never satisfactorily identified.
(Bechstein)
Le Perroquet lori Radhia. Levaillant 1805, p. 39, pl. 94 (Moluccas)
Psittacus rex Bechstein 1811, p. 92
Psittacus raja Shaw 1811, p. 537, pl. 82
Psittacus radhea Vieillot 1817, p. 337
Rajah Lory. Latham 1822. p. 226–7
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Moluccas.
Known only from Levaillant’s description and plate, based on three specimens, now lost. Considered a variety of the Purple-naped Lory Lorius domicella (Salvadori 1891a).
(Gmelin)
Little Red-winged Parrakeet. Edwards 1758, p. 53, pl. 236
Psittaca indica. Brisson 1760, p. 341
Perruche à gorge rouge. Buffon 1779 p. 157
Psittacus incarnatus Gmelin 1788, p. 327
Red-winged Parrakeet. Latham 1822, p. 171
Lorius incarnatus Stephens 1826, in Shaw, p. 132 (no description)
Palaeornis incarnatus Wagler 1832, p.517
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Moluccas.
Known only from the description and plate of George Edwards, based on a specimen, now lost, in the possession of Sir Hans Sloane. Considered a questionable species (Salvadori 1891a).
Jay Winged Lory. Latham 1822, p. 130 (Van Diemen’s Land = Tasmania)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Tasmania.
Known only from the description of Latham, based on a specimen, now lost, formerly in the collection of a Mr. Harrison. Finsch (1868) and Salvadori (1891a) considered this species to be an artefact, composed of a red lory specimen with feathers of a jay attached.
(Gmelin)
Avis de coco, Psittaci species, Mexicana vario colore. Seba 1734, p. 94, fig. 2
Psittacula Mexicana cristata Brisson 1760, p. 405
Crested Mexican Parrot. Latham 1781, p. 322
Psittacus mexicanus Gmelin 1788, p. 352, no. 141
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Mexico.
Known only from Seba’s description, presumably from a specimen in his collection, from which all others derive. Finsch (1868) and Salvadori (1891a) considered it an imaginary bird.
(Linnaeus)
The Laurey from the Brazils. Albin 1738, p. 13, pl. 13.
Psittacus brasiliensis Linnaeus 1758, p. 100, in synonymy of Psittacus Domicella. Omitted by Linnaeus 1766, and thereafter ignored
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil, but this may be in error.
Known only from Albin’s description, based on a live specimen, now lost, which he saw in London. Unidentifiable.
(Meyen)
Psittacus cyanolenus Meyen 1834, p. 95 (China)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range China.
Known only from Meyen’s description. Finsch (1868) thought the bird was probably the Halmahera race of the Moluccan King Parrot Alisterus amboinensis hypophonius, or a variety of the Chattering Lory Lorius garrulus that had been brought as a captive bird to China, where no such parrot is native.
Sclater
Lorius tibialis Sclater 1871b, pp. 499, 544, pl. 40 (no locality; type a specimen in the London Zoo bought alive in Calcutta by the dealer, Jamrach).
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Provenance unknown.
Known only from the unique type in Tring. Believed it to be an aberrant specimen of Lorius domicella (Forshaw 1971).
Stresemann
Lorius amabilis Stresemann 1931, p. 182 (Nakanai, New Britain)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range New Britain.
Known only from the unique type, a female, considered by Forshaw (1971) to be an aberrant specimen of the Purple-bellied Lory Lorius hypoinochrous.
(Wilson)
?Psittacus cyaneus Sparrman 1787, pl. 27 (Tahiti)
Coriphilus cyaneus Wilson 1907, p. 378–9, pl. 8 (Bora-Bora)
Coriphilus cyanescens Wilson 1907, p. 653 (fide Salvadori 1907)
Status Known from Wilson’s specimen and description.
Putative range Tahiti.
Generally considered to be the immature plumage of the Blue Lory Vini peruviana (Finsch 1868; Townsend and Wetmore 1919).
(Latham)
De Psittaco parvo. Bontius, 1658, p. 63 with fig
Psittacus parvus Bontii. Willughby 1676, p. 81
Crested Red Parakeet. Latham 1781, p. 233, no. 25. Based on Bontius
Psittacus javanicus Gmelin 1788, p. 319
Psittacus bontii Latham 1790, p. 92
Range Java.
Known only from the description of Bontius. Salvadori (1891a) stated that both Wagler and G.R. Gray identify it with the Papuan Lorikeet Charmosyna papuensis.
Papuan Lory. var. D. Latham 1822, p. 126 (no locality)
Papuan Lory, var. (= Charmosyna sp) Salvadori 1891a, p. 607
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description. Never identified.
Salvadori
Geoffroyus dorsalis Salvadori 1875, p. 758 (near Andai, New Guinea)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known only from the unique type, a female, in the Museum of Genoa. Salvadori (1891a) considered it a possible accidental variety of Red-cheeked Parrot Geoffroyus geoffroyi pucherani.
(Shaw)
Le Perroquet d’Or. Levaillant 1805a, pl. 138 (?Brazil)
Psittacus aureus Shaw 1811, p. 543
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Africa or Brazil.
Known only from Levaillant’s plate and description. According to Salvadori (1891a) both G.R. Gray and Otto Finsch considered this to be a variety of Red-cheeked Parrot Geoffroyus geoffroyi, and Wagler (1832) thought it was a variety of the Senegal Parrot Poicephalus senegalus. Locality confused.
(Kuhl)
Petite Perruche de l’Isle de Luçon. second espece. Sonnerat 1776, p. 76, pl. 38 upper fig. (Luzon)
Psittacus leucophthalmus Scopoli 1786, p. 87
Psittacus simplex Kuhl 1820a, p. 66
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Luzon.
Known only from Sonnerat’s inadequate description. Unidentifiable.
Salvadori
Tanygnathus heterurus Salvadori 1912, p. 328 (Celebes)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Celebes.
Known only from the unique type of unknown locality. Forshaw (1973) and Collar (2006) examined it and believed it to be an aberrant specimen of Muller’s Parrot T. sumatranus.
?Psittacus gramineus Gmelin 1788, p. 338 (Amboina = error for Buru)
Le Perroquet a calotte bleue. Levaillant 1805a, pl. 121 (Amboina)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Amboina.
Known only from Levaillant’s plate. Never satisfactorily identified.
Crimson-crowned Parrakeet. Shaw 1811, p. 419.
Crimson-crowned Parrakeet. Latham 1822, p. 184
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Australia.
Known from the descriptions of Shaw and Latham, probably independently derived. Salvadori (1891a) remarked that Shaw’s description seemed to apply to a specimen of the King Parrot Alisterus scapularis, and that Latham’s description differed and could not be identified.
Crimson and Yellow Parrot. Latham 1822, p. 143
Status Doubtful species.
Putative range Australia.
Known only from Latham’s description. Finsch (1868) believed it to be a variety of a species of rosella Platycercus, a genus of brightly coloured Australian parrots, or possibly a king parrot Alisterus sp. Unidentifiable.
Gould
Aprosmictus insignissimus Gould 1874, p. 500
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Queensland.
Known only from the type, shot a few miles north of Dalby, Darling Downs, Queensland, by a Mr. Shaw. It was paired with a female King Parrot Alisterus scapularis. Peters (1937) identified it as a hybrid King Parrot × Red-winged Parrot Aprosmictus erythropterus, while Ramsay (1878) thought it was simply an aberrant King Parrot.
Mathews
Barnardius crommelinae Mathews 1925, p. 21
Status Doubtful taxon based on an aviary specimen.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the type, a female, now in Tring. Peters (1937) considered that it represented a specimen of Barnard’s Parrot Barnardius barnardi in which the yellow pigment is largely lacking.
Salvadori
Platycercus erythropeplus Salvadori 1891c, pl. 12, p. 130
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Australia.
Known only from a male and female which Salvadori saw alive in the London Zoo. The male is now in Tring. Now considered a hybrid Crimson Rosella P. elegans × Eastern Rosella P. eximius (Wells 1992).
Leadbeater
Platycercus ignitus Leadbeater 1837, p. 8
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Australia.
Known from two specimens in Tring. Peters (1937) concluded that it is an aberration of Eastern Rosella P. eximius.
Ramsay
Platycercus masterianus Ramsay 1877, p. 27 (‘Interior of New South Wales’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New South Wales, Australia.
Known from only two specimens in the Australian Museum. Considered to be a hybrid between the Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans and the Pale-headed Rosella P. adscitus (Peters 1937).
Chlorotic Parrot. Latham 1822, p. 144
Putative range New South Wales.
Known only from Latham’s description. Finsch (1868) considered the Chlorotic Parrot to be a variety of some species of the genus Platycercus. Unidentifiable.
La Perruche souffre. Levaillant 1801, pl. 43, p. 86
Sulphur Parrakeet. Shaw 1811, p. 428
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known from Levaillant’s plate and description. Usually considered to be a lutino (yellow variety) of the Rose-ringed Parakeet Psittacula krameri.
(Gmelin)
Crimson vented Parrot. Latham 1781, p. 229 (East Indies or China)
Psittacus leverianus Gmelin 1788, p. 322
Psittacus erythropygius Latham 1790, p. 94
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range East Indies or China.
Known only from a specimen, formerly in the Leverian Museum but now lost, on which Latham’s description was based. Unidentifiable.
Russ
Platycercus paradiseus Russ 1871, p. 236
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Australia.
Known only from an inadequate reference by Russ (1871), probably in error for the Paradise Parrot Psephotus pulcherrimus.
Psittacus cornutus Bechstein 1811–12, p. 78
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Apparently known only from Bechstein’s description. Considered to be a Platycercus (Salvadori 1891a).
(Kuhl)
Psittacus erythronotus Kuhl 1820a, p. 45 (New Holland)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Kuhl’s description, based on a specimen (now lost) that was formerly in the Bullock Collection. This bird is now unidentifiable. Gray (1859a) and Finsch (1868) considered it conspecific with the Black-fronted Parrot Cyanoramphus zealandicus of Tahiti (see p. 172).
Psittacus novae Zeelandiae var. 1. Kuhl 1820a, p. 44
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Zealand.
Known only from Kuhl’s description of the lost type, formerly in the Bullock Collection. Both Finsch (1868) and Salvadori (1891b) cite this form as a synonym of C. erythronotus, which itself is a synonym of the Black-fronted Parrot C. zealandicus (see p. 172). Kuhl described it as resembling Red-fronted Parakeet C. novaezelandiae in all respects, except that it has a brown forehead.
Reichenow
Cyanoramphus intermedia Reichenow 1881, p. 44
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Zealand.
Known only from Reichenow’s description. This may be a synonym of Malherbe’s Parakeet Cyanoramphus malherbi, (which itself was considered a doubtful taxon, until recently).
(Buller)
Platycercus rowleyi Buller 1874, p. 219 (Otago)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range New Zealand.
Formerly occurred in the North Canterbury area of New Zealand. Status never satisfactorily determined. Finsch (1875) said that the form was similar to the small race of Red-fronted Parakeet on the Auckland Islands, C. novaezelandiae aucklandicus.
(Latham)
Psittacus verticalis Latham 1802, pp. 22, 369, no. 9 (Port Jackson, New Holland = Australia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Australia.
Known only from Latham’s description. Shaw (1811), Vieillot (1817 & 1823), Kuhl (1820a), Wagler (1832), Finsch (1868) and Salvadori (1891a) all repeat Latham’s account without coming to any conclusion as to what this bird could be. Unidentifiable.
(Shaw)
Lori Perruche de la Mer du Sud. Virey 1805, p. 162 (‘One of the South Sea Islands’)
Psittacus capitatus Shaw 1811, p. 466
Red-hooded Parrot. Latham 1822, p. 136
Status Doubtful species.
Putative range South Pacific.
Known only from Virey’s account (in Sonnini 1805). May have represented a Cyanoramphus, but Virey’s account also suggest that the bird might have been a Rosella Platycercus sp., a group now confined to Australia and Tasmania.
Forbes & Robinson
Cyanoramphus magnirostris Forbes & Robinson 1897, p. 21 (Tahiti)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Provenance uncertain. Tahiti almost certainly in error.
Known only from the type in the Liverpool Museum. Synonymised with the Black-fronted Parrot C. zealandicus by Peters (1937). Considered conspecific with C. cooki of Norfolk Island (Sims 1953).
Linnaeus
Psittacus lineatus Linnaeus 1768, Appendix p. 223 (no locality)
Lineated Parrakeet. Latham 1781, p. 252
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Linnaeus’s description with provenance unknown.
Latham
Psittacus peregrinus Latham 1790, p. 105 (South Sea Islands)
Peregrine Parrot. Latham 1802, p. 62
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description, based upon a captive bird of uncertain origin. Salvadori (1891a) suggested that it is a young Palm Lorikeet Charmosyna palmarum.
(Latham)
Psittacus nigricollis Latham 1802, supplement 2, p. xxii
Black-necked Parrakeet. Latham 1802, p. 90
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from Latham’s description. Salvadori (1891a) stated that ‘Dr. Finsch thinks this is an artificial specimen’.
Shaw & Nodder
Psittacus pallidus Shaw & Nodder 1796, pl. 258 and text (Australia)
Pale Parrakeet. Latham 1822, p. 145
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Australia.
Known only from Shaw & Nodder’s description, from which others derive. Finsch (1868) and Salvadori (1891a) believed that it represented an ‘albino’ (or lutino – a yellow form) of some species of Neophema.
Linnaeus
Psittacus erythrochlorus macrourus Aldrovandus 1599, p. 678, p. 681
Psittaca japonensis Brisson 1760, p. 362
Psittacus japonicus Linnaeus 1766, p.141 (Japan)
Perruche verte et rouge. Buffon 1779, p. 159
Japanese Parrot. Latham 1781, p. 209
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Japan.
Apparently known only from a very old Japanese drawing, on which the various descriptions are based. According to Salvadori (1891a) both Wagler and Gray identify the bird with Charmosyna papuensis (Papuan Lorikeet Charmosyna papou).
(Gmelin)
Paragua. Marcgrave 1648. p. 207
Lorius brasiliensis. Brisson 1760, p. 229
Paraguayan Lory. Latham 1781, p. 277
Psittacus paraguanus Gmelin 1788, p. 336
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Africa or Brazil.
Known only from Marcgrave’s description, which has been the subject of discussion but never satisfactorily identified. Provenance uncertain.
Rüppell
Psittacus levaillantii Rüppell 1835, p. 63
Pionus vaillanti Rüppell 1845, p. 94
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Ethiopia.
Known only from Rüppell’s inadequate description.
Linnaeus
Psittacus erythroleucos. Aldrovandus 1599, pp. 675, 677 (no locality)
Red and White Parrot of Aldrovandus. Willughby 1678, p. 144
Cacatua alis et cauda rubris. Brisson 1760, p. 214. Based on Aldrovandus.
Psittacus erythroleucus Linnaeus 1766, p. 144
Red and White Parrot. Latham 1785, p. 260
Psittacus erithacus var [beta]. Salvadori 1891a, p. 378
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from descriptions derived from Aldrovandus. Generally considered to be a variant of the African Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus.
(Gmelin)
Psittacus erythrochlorus cristatus. Aldrovandus 1599, p. 682 (with figure)
Psittacula cristata. Willughby 1676, p. 78
Crested red and green Parrakeet. Latham 1781, p. 321
Psittacus erythrochlorus Gmelin 1788, p. 352
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Probably known only from Aldrovandus’s description, from which all others derive. Salvadori (1891a) dismissed it as ‘a fabulous bird’.
Noofy Parrakeet. Latham 1822 (Nooffy, interior of Africa)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Africa.
Known only from Latham’s inadequate account, based on Lyon (1821).
(Gmelin)
Petite Perruche de Cayenne. Daubenton 1771–86, no. 456, fig. 2
Psittacus cajenneus Müller 1776b, supplement, p. 81
Le Sosové. Buffon 1779, p. 280
Cayenne Parrakeet. Latham 1781, p. 320
Psittacus notatus Boddaert 1783, p. 27 (based on Daubenton)
Psittacus sosove Gmelin 1788, p. 352
Conurus tuipara var. notatus Gray 1859b, p. 46
Conurus tuipara var. cayenneus Gray 1870, p. 150
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range French Guiana.
Apparently known only from Daubenton’s plate, and Buffon’s description, based on a specimen in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, but presumably no longer extant. Salvadori (1891a) considered it a doubtful species.
Short-tailed Parrakeet. Latham 1822, p. 274 (no locality)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description. Unidentifiable.
Gmelin
Tarabe brasiliensibus. Marcgrave 1648, p. 207
Psittacus Brasiliensis erythrocephalus. Brisson 1760, p. 240
La Maracana à tête rouge. Azara 1809
Tarabé ou Amazone à tête rouge. Buffon 1779, p. 211
Red-headed Parrot. Latham 1781, p. 295
Psittacus taraba Gmelin 1788, p. 344
Status Known only from the accounts of Marcgrave and Azara.
Putative range Brazil.
Unidentifiable.
Blue-faced Parrakeet. Latham 1822, p. 271 (no locality)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description. Unidentifiable.
Crimson-banded Parrot. Latham 1822, p. 254 (no locality)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description. Unidentifiable.
Latham
Dubious Parrot. Latham 1787, p. 62
Psittacus dubius Latham 1790, p. 97
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description of a specimen formerly in the British Museum. Unidentifiable.
(Forbes & Robinson)
Poeocephalus rubricapillus Forbes & Robinson 1898, p. 15 (West Africa)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range West Africa.
Based on two male specimens from West Africa. One was from Lord Derby’s collection, which had died in captivity in 1867; the other was identical in every way. Now considered to be an immature Brown-necked Parrot Poicephalus robustus fuscicollis (Bannerman 1931; Peters 1937).
Palaeornis? sp. Heuglin (on the authority of Finsch 1868, p. 933)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range East Africa.
Known only from Heuglin’s inadequate description. Finsch (1868) and Salvadori (1891a) both suggested that it was conspecific with the Senegal Parrot Poicephalus senegalus.
Mittelgrosser Papagei ‘grün mit grosser Haube’. Heuglin (fide Finsch 1868) (Kitsch-Neger Land, Africa)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Sudan, North Africa.
Based on an inadequate description.
Parrot. Livingstone 1857, p. 239 (River Leeambye, South Africa)
Papagei. Finsch 1868, p. 932
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Africa.
Known only from David Livingstone’s inadequate account.
Grün Papagei mit rothem Kopfe. Hecquard 1854, p. 242; id. Finsch 1868, p. 932
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range West Africa.
Based on an inadequate description.
(Alexander)
Poeocephalus kintampoensis Alexander 1901, p. 10 (Kintampo, Gold Coast = Ghana)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Kintampo, Ghana.
Known only from Alexander’s description of the type, now in Tring. Bannerman (1931) concluded that the type falls within the range of the West African race of Brown-necked Parrot Poicephalus robustus fuscicollis; all the supposed characters of P. kintampoensis occur in examples of it.
Hartlaub
Leona Parrakeet. Latham 1822, p. 263
Poliopsitta picta Hartlaub MS in Bonaparte 1856b, no. 227 (nomen nudum)
Agapornis picta Hartlaub 1857, p. 169
Status Known only from Latham’s description.
Putative range Sierra Leone.
Both Hartlaub (1879) and Salvadori (1891a) considered this bird to be probably the same as the Black-collared Lovebird Agapornis swinderniana.
(Latham)
Red-naped Parrakeet. Latham 1787, p. 66
Psittacus cervicalis Latham 1790, p. 130
Le Perroquet Langlois. Levaillant 1805a, p. 105, pl. 136
Psittacus nuchalis Shaw & Nodder 1789–1813, pl. 913 (based on Levaillant)
Psittacus erythrogaster Bechstein 1811–12, p. 102, pl. 19 (based on Levaillant)
Psittacus Langloisi Vieillot 1817, p. 312
Eos cervicalis Wagler 1832, p. 561
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the descriptions of Latham and Levaillant, from which the others derive. Salvadori (1891a) remarked that ‘Dr Finsch suspects that this is an artificial bird’.
Hachisuka
Loriculus apicalis Gray 1859, p. 56, specimen ‘a’ (Mindanao)
? Coryllis hartlaubi (part) Finsch 1868, p. 712, p. 721
Loriculus sp. Salvadori 1891a, p. 530 footnote
Loriculus salvadorii Hachisuka 1930, p. 163 (Mindanao)
Status Invalid Taxon.
Range Mindanao, Philippines.
Known from two specimens. It is now considered to be an aberration of Loriculus philippensis apicalis (Peters 1937; Forshaw 1989; Juniper & Parr 1998).
(Linnaeus)
Long-tailed Green Parrakeet. Edwards 1751, p. 175, pl. 175 (West Indies)
? Psittace torquata. Brisson 1760, p. 323
Psittacus rufirostris Linnaeus 1766, p. 143 (female)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range West Indies?
Known only from Edwards’s description. Salvadori (1891a) placed it in the synonymy of the Ring-necked Parakeet Psittacula krameri.
(Latham)
Psittacus narcissus Latham 1801b, supplement, p. 21
Jonquil Parrakeet. Latham 1802, supplement, p. 83, pl. 123
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bengal, India.
Known only from Latham’s description. Salvadori (1891a) called this bird a lutino (yellow) variety of the Plum-headed Parakeet Psittacula cyanocephala.
(Latham)
Blue-headed Parrakeet. Edwards 1760, p. 175, pl. 292, lower figure
Psittacus indicus Latham 1790, p. 86
La Perruche à épaulettes jaunes. Levaillant 1801, pl. 61
Psittacus xanthosomus Bechstein 1812, p. 74 (based on Levaillant)
Psittacus ternatensis Vieillot 1817, p. 346 (based on Levaillant)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range East Indies.
Known only from the descriptions and plates of Edwards and Levaillant. Salvadori (1891a) called this bird a lutino (yellow) variety of the Plum-headed Parakeet Psittacula cyanocephala.
Rothschild
Psittacula intermedia Rothschild 1895b, p. 492
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Northern India.
This parakeet was known from a few specimens and its status was surrounded in mystery. It is now considered to be a captive-bred hybrid between the Slaty-headed Parakeet Psittacula himalayana and the Plum-headed Parakeet P. cyanocephala (Rasmussen & Collar 1999a, b).
Rothschild
Necropsittacus francicus Rothschild 1905c, p. 197
Nomen nudum Hume 2007, p. 35
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mauritius.
Known only from Rothschild’s account based on Dubois’s of 1674, in which Rothschild completely confused the provenance.
Ara sp. Humboldt 1860, p. 6
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Rio Casquiare, Orinoco basin, South America.
Known only from Humboldt’s inadequate description.
(Gmelin)
Ararauna ou Machao. De Laet 1630, p. 490 (Guiana)
Black Macaw. Latham 1781, p. 206
Psittacus ater Gmelin 1788, p. 314 (based on Latham).
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Guiana.
Based on inadequate descriptions.
Rothschild
? Le Gros Perroquet de la Guadloupe. Don de Navaret 1838, p. 425
Anodorhynchus purpurascens Rothschild 1905b, p. 13 (Guadeloupe Island, Lesser Antilles)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Guadeloupe, West Indies.
The Violet Macaw is known only from Rothschild’s description, supposedly based on an earlier, untraceable, reference. There is no other evidence to support the existence of this name, and as no physical remains of any Anodorhynchus macaws have ever been discovered on the West Indies – only the genus Ara is known to have colonised the islands – its status must be considered dubious.
(Rothschild)
Les Aras. Bouton 1640, p. 71–72
Anodorhynchus martinicus Rothschild 1905b, p. 14. (Martinique)
Ara martinicus Rothschild 1907a, pl. 14
Ara erythrura Rothschild 1907a, pl. 15 (‘One of the West Indian Islands’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Martinique, West Indies.
Known only from Bouton’s inadequate account. No other evidence is known. A painting of a blue and yellow macaw, alongside a dodo, executed by Roelandt Savery in 1626, has sometimes been considered to represent this species. However, there is no indication at all of the provenance of the specimen upon which Savery’s painting is based.
Rothschild
Des Arras. De Rochfort 1658, p. 154
Anodorhynchus coeruleus Rothschild 1905b, p. 15
Ara erythrura Rothschild 1907a, Extinct Birds, p. 54, pl. 15 (‘One of the West Indian Islands’)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range One of the West Indian islands.
Known only from De Rochefort’s inadequate description. Provenance data unreliable. Considered a synonym of A. martinica (Greenway 1967), itself a dubious species (see above).
Rothschild Ara militaris Gosse 1847, p. 261 (Jamaica)
Ara erythrocephala Rothschild 1905b, p. 14 (Mountains of Trelawny and St. Anne’s, Jamaica)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Jamaica.
Based on one hearsay observation only (see Greenway 1967). Only one species of Jamaican macaw, the Jamaican Yellow-headed Macaw A. gossei (see p. 335) is known from credible evidence. That three other large macaws, the Red-headed Macaw A. erythrocephala, the Jamaican Blue-and-Yellow Macaw Ara sp. and Albin’s Macaw Ara. sp. (see below) supposedly occurred sympatrically on the island, all described by ornithologists without a shred of physical evidence, epitomises the over-zealous passion often associated with extinct birds.
Psittacus maximus cyanocroceus. Sloane 1725, p. 296
The blue Mackaw of Edwards. Browne 1756
Ara jamaicensis cyanocrocea. Browne 1789, p. 472
Ara sp? Gosse 1847, p. 261
Putative range Jamaica.
Almost certainly relates to an escaped, mainland Blue-and-yellow Macaw A. ararauna.
The Maccaw from Jamaica. Albin 1738, p. 16, pl. 17
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Jamaica.
Known only from Albin’s (1738) description. Almost certainly referable to the Red-and-green Macaw Ara chloropterus. Albin describes the commonly practised transportation of macaws around the West Indies: ‘They are commonly brought from Jamaica, and other parts of the West Indies, and bear a good price, being commonly sold for ten guineas’. No doubt this was such an import.
Hoppe
L’Ara Rouge. Buffon 1779 p. 183
Ara tricolor (part) Clark 1905c, d, p. 337, 348 (Haiti)
Macaw. Rothschild 1905b, p. 14
Ara tricolor haitius Hoppe 1983 (Hispaniola)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Hispaniola.
Known only from Buffon’s and other early accounts. Records for Hispaniola are in error (see Walters 1995; Olson 2005).
Red and Yellow Macaw. Latham 1822, p. 107, pl. 21
Ara macao (part) Clark 1905a, p. 271
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Trinidad.
Based on a good description by Latham (1822) but almost certainly referable to a colour variety of Scarlet Macaw Ara macao (Finsch 1867).
Maracana II. Marcgrave 1648, p. 207
Brasilian Green Macaw. Edwards 1758, p. 41, pl. 229
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from the accounts of Marcgrave and Edwards, the latter based on a specimen in the possession of Lord Carpenter. Considered to be a description of the Chestnut-fronted Macaw Ara severus.
Tui. prima species. Marcgrave 1648, p. 207
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from a vague, inadequate account of Marcgrave.
(Wagler)
Maracana cabeza y encuentro roxos. Azara 1805, p. 418
Maracana à tete et pli de l’aile rouges. Azara 1809, p. 59
Sittace flaviventris Wagler 1832 p. 658 (based on Azara)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Paraguay.
Known only from Azara’s description. Salvadori (1891a) suggested that this was a variety of the Scarlet-fronted Parakeet A. wagleri frontata, or possibly the Golden-capped Parakeet A. auricapillus.
Meyer de
Schauensee
Aratinga leucophthalma nicefori Meyer de Schauensee 1946, p. 2
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Meta, Colombia.
This supposed subspecies is known from one individual. Juniper & Parr (1998) regard it as an aberrant A. leucophthalma callogenys.
(Kinnear)
Aratinga whitleyi Kinnear 1926, p. 82 (based on a living specimen ‘probably from South America’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South America.
Known only from the type, of unknown origin, now in Tring. Peters (1937) considered it a hybrid, as did Forshaw (1989), who thought it was between the Burrowing Parakeet Cyanoliseus patagonus and Scarlet-fronted Parakeet Aratinga wagleri.
Bonaparte
Pyrrhura beryllina ? Masséna & Souancé, on the authority of Bonaparte 1856, p. 352
Status Invalid taxon.
It seems that Masséna & Souancé never mentioned a Parrot under the above name, and no description of it has been given either by Bonaparte or anybody else (Salvadori 1891a). Finsch (1868) says that Bonaparte took the name from a Souancé manuscript.
Salvadori
Pyrrhura hypoxantha Salvadori 1899, p. 1 (Urucúm, Matto Grosso)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Matto Grosso, Brazil.
Known from four specimens (according to Peters 1937) or three specimens (according to Forshaw 1989), all from western Matto Grosso. Now considered to be an aberrant Green-cheeked Parakeet Pyrrhura molinae sordida (Juniper & Parr 1998).
(Bechstein)
La Perruche à joues grises. Levaillant 1801, p. 188, pl. 67
Psittacus buccalis Bechstein 1811–12, p. 83, pl. 10
Psittacus cinereicollis Vieillot 1817, p. 365
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range French Guiana.
Known only from Levaillant’s description and plate. Wagler (1832), Gray, Reichenow (according to Salvadori 1891a) and Phipps (1989) all believed it to be the young of the Monk Parrot Myiopsitta monachus.
Blue-backed Parrot. Latham 1822, p. 272 (Brazil)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from Latham’s description. May represent a Forpus sp., otherwise unidentifiable.
Golden-winged Parrakeet. Edwards 1760, p. 177, pl. 293, fig. 2 (East Indies = error)
Status Known only from Edwards’s description and plate.
Putative range East Indies.
This description has been generally identified with the Golden-winged Parakeet Brotogeris chrysoptera, but Salvadori (1891a) rightly points out that the body colour more resembles the Canary-winged Parakeet B. versicolorus. Provenance locality is also doubtful.
(Miller)
Psittacus guineensis Miller 1779, pl. 29 (Guinea)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range East Indies.
Known only from Miller’s plate, from which other descriptions derive. The origin of his information is unknown. Salvadori (1891a) thought it was probably an artificial bird.
(Masséna & Souancé)
Psittacus cobaltinus Masséna & Souancé 1854, p. 74. (Colombia)
Pionus maximiliani (part) Souancé 1856, p. 155
Pionus cobaltinus Salvadori 1891a, p. 325
Status Known from two specimens, one of which is a juvenile.
Putative range Colombia.
Probably Blue-headed Parrot P. menstruus reichenowi (Salvadori 1891a).
Clark
Mackaw. Atwood 1791, p. 29
Ara atwoodi Clark 1908b, p. 310 (Dominica)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Dominica, West Indies.
Known only from the 1791 account of Thomas Atwood (Atwood 1791). While on Dominica, Atwood mentions two parrots, a ‘Mackaw’ which was larger than the ‘Common Parrot’, and that both the macaw and parrot had green and yellow plumage. This description is conceivably referable to the two extant Dominican Amazona parrots, the Imperial Amazon A. imperialis and the Red-necked Amazon A. arausiaca. If so, the Imperial Amazon, which is larger than the Red-fronted, was probably the ‘Mackaw’ of Atwood, while the Red-fronted Amazon was the ‘common parrot’.
(Latham)
Psittacus Brasiliensis viridis capite albo. Manetti 1767, p. 95, pl. 109
Psittacus gerini Latham 1790, p. 119
Gerini’s Parrot. Latham 1802, p. 93, no. 23
? White-faced Amazon Parrot. Shaw 1811, p. 500
Status Known only from Manetti’s plate, which agrees with no known parrot.
Putative range Brazil.
Unidentifiable but Finsch (1868) suggests a variety of Yellow-billed Parrot Amazona collaria.
(Linnaeus)
Psittacus versicolor seu erythrocyanus. Aldrovandus 1599, p. 675
Psittacus versicolor. Willughby 1676, p. 75
Psittacus violaceus. Barrère 1745, p. 26
Psittacus Guianensis caeruleus. Brisson 1760, p. 304
Psittacus caeruleocephalus Linnaeus 1766, p. 145
Le crick rouge et bleue. Buffon 1779 p. 226
Red and Blue Parrot. Latham 1781, p. 277
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Guiana.
Known only from the original description of Aldrovandus, from which all others derive. Provenance in doubt.
(Reichenow)
Androglossa hecki Reichenow 1891b, p. 217 (Colombia?)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia?
Known only from Reichenow’s description and coloured plate. The sole specimen, a cagebird, seems to have disappeared. Peters (1937), following Salvadori (1891a), synonymised A. hecki with race lilacina of the Red-lored Parrot Amazona autumnalis.
? Le Perroquet jaune de Cuba. Brisson 1760, p. 308
? Perroquet de Cuba. Daubenton 1771–86, no. 336
? Le Papagay de Paradis. Buffon 1771–86, p. 334
Le Perroquet Jaune écaillé de rouge, en Le Perroquet de Cuba. Levaillant 1805, pl. 137
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Cuba?
Known from Levaillant’s description and plate, and possibly also from Daubenton’s plate. Salvadori (1891a) identified it as a variety of the Cuban Parrot Amazona leucocephala.
Le Perroquet à face bleue. Levaillant 1805, pl. 122
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Mexico?
Known only from Levaillant’s description. Provenance in doubt.
(Linnaeus)
The Parrot of Paradise. Catesby 1754, p. 10, pl. 10 (the plate is lettered ‘Psitticus Paradisis’)
Psittacus luteus Insulae Cubae. Brisson 1760, p. 308
Psittacus paradisi Linnaeus 1758, p. 101
Paradise Parrot. Shaw 1811, p. 501, pl. 75
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Cuba.
Known only from the plate and description of Catesby, based on a live specimen he saw in Carolina. Identified by Salvadori (1891) as a leucistic specimen of Cuban Parrot Amazona leucocephalus.
(Sclater)
Chrysotis prisca Sclater 1861b, p. 79
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range West Indies.
The evidence for this species is spurious at best, and was considered extremely doubtful by Salvadori (1891a).
(Finsch)
Neuer Amazonen–Papagei. Sacc 1864, p. 21
Chrysotis chloris Finsch 1868, p. 930
Status Known only from Finsch’s inadequate description.
Putative range Unknown.
Never identified.
(Stephens)
Le Coucal negre. Levaillant 1806b, p. 63, pl. 222
Poliophilus maurus Stephens 1815, p. 57
Centropus aethiops Cuvier 1817, p. 426
Corydonix nigerrimus Vieillot 1819, p. 297
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Africa.
Known only from Levaillant’s plate and figure, on which the other references are based. Never satisfactorily identified and now unidentifiable.
Cayley
Tyto novae–hollandiae troughtoni Cayley, 1931, p. 32, fig. 4 (Ooldea, South Australia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Nullarbor Plain, South Australia.
Doubts have been expressed as to the validity of this supposed subspecies (Mees 1964). It represented a cave-dwelling population, and is poorly known; the birds have not been reported since the 1960s.
(Oustalet)
Scops commersoni Oustalet 1896, p. 35, fig. 3 (Mauritius)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Mauritius, Mascarenes.
Now synonomised with Mascarenotus sauzieri (Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1994).
Appendix 2: Doubtful and invalid taxa
(Rothschild)
Strix sp. Newton & Gadow 1893, p. 287 (Mauritius)
Strix newtoni Rothschild 1907a, p.79
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Mauritius, Mascarenes.
Now synonomised with Mascarenotus sauzieri (Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1994).
Vieillot
Strix fasciata Vieillot 1817, p. 21 (Martinique)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Martinique, West Indies.
Known only from Vieillot’s description. Not mentioned by the AOU (1957), and Ridgway (1914) cited the species with a query in the synonymy of the American Wood Owl Ciccaba virgata virgata. Unidentifiable.
Shaw
China Owl. Latham 1802, p. 368 (China)
Strix sinensis Latham 1801b, supplement p. 16
Strix orientalis Shaw 1809, p. 257 (China)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range China.
Known only from Latham’s description of a specimen, now lost. Not identifiable with any known species (Peters 1940).
(Vieillot)
Strix maculosa Vieillot 1817, p. 44 (Cape of Good Hope)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Africa.
Known only from Vieillot’s description. Never identified, but the name was formerly used for the Spotted Eagle Owl Bubo africanus.
La Touche
Bubo bubo jarlandi La Touche 1921, p. 14 (Mountains near Mengtz, Yunnan)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Yunnan, China.
Known only from the unique type, a female with traces of downy juvenile feathers on the head. Peters (1940) doubted its validity, and Vaurie (1960b) merged this race and another in Bubo bubo kiautschensis.
(Gmelin)
Wapacuthu Owl. Pennant 1785, p. 231
Strix wapacuthu Gmelin 1788, p. 290 (based on Pennant)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Hudson’s Bay, Canada.
Known only from Pennant’s description. McAtee (1963) considered it synonymous with the Snowy Owl Bubo scandiaca.
(Kaup)
Otus macrurus Kaup 1859, p. 232 (Mexico)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Mexico?
Known only from the type, now lost, stated to have been in the Würtzburg Museum. Considered unidentifiable (Peters 1940).
Japanese Owl. Hartert 1916, p. 94
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Japan.
Known only from Krusenstern’s (1814) plate. Never satisfactorily identified.
(Bonaparte)
Rufous Owl. Latham 1821, p. 375 (no locality)
Strix lathami Bonaparte 1830, p. 56
Gisella lathami Bonaparte 1854b, p. 541 (designation of the genus Gisella)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description. Peters (1940) stated that is was practically unidentifiable.
(Bartram)
Strix peregrinator Bartram 1793, p. 285 (Pennsylvania, Carolina and Florida)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Eastern United States.
Known only from Bartram’s inadequate description.
(Carriker)
Ciccaba minima Carriker 1935, p. 313 (Santa Ana, Rio Coroico, Department La Paz, Bolivia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bolivia.
Known only from the type, an adult male. Bond (1951) and Traylor (1952) considered this bird synonymous with Rufescent Screech Owl Otus ingens.
Stephenson Clarke
Caprimulgus ludovicianus Stephenson Clarke 1913, p. 108 (S.W. Ethiopia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range South-west Ethiopia.
Known only from the type. Considered a synonym of Plain Nightjar Caprimulgus ludovicianus by Grant & Mackworth-Praed (1947) and Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1952), and not included in a recent monograph on the group (Cleere 2010).
(Elliot)
Chrysolampis chlorolaema Elliot 1870, p. 346 (Colombia = error for Dominica?)
Lampornis calosoma Elliot 1872b, p. 351
Crinis chlorolaema Mulsant & Verreaux 1874, p. 177
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia or Dominica?
Known from three specimens, one in the Elliot Collection, a second in the Salvin-Godman Collection, and a third in the Berlepsch Collection. Peters (1945) considered it to be a hybrid Black-throated Mango Anthracothorax nigricollis × Ruby Topaz Chrysolampis mosquitus.
(Lesson)
Trochilus orthura Lesson 1832, p. 85, 88, (Cayenne)
Ornismya amethystoides Lesson 1832, p. 79, pl. 25
C[alliphlox] Roraimae Boucard 1891, p. 30
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range French Guiana.
Known from the type, an immature male collected by Longuemare, and considered an immature Amethyst Woodstar C. amethystina (Schuchmann 1999).
Simon
Phaethornis fuliginosus Simon 1901a, p. 201 (Colombia?)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia?
Known only from Bogotá trade skins. Considered a melanistic bird of doubtful origin (Schuchmann 1999).
Carriker
Phaethornis porcullae Carriker 1935, p. 345 (Porculla Pass, Department of Lambayeque, Peru)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Peru.
Known only from two females. Considered invalid (SACC 2007).
(Schlüter)
Phaetornis fuliginosus Schlüter 1913, p 32 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Phaetornis fumosus Schlüter 1915, p. 21
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type. Now considered a melanistic specimen of an unknown hermit (Hinkelmann 1999).
Gould
Phaëthornis zonura Gould 1860, p. 305
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Peru.
Known only from the type. Affinities uncertain, generally regarded as conspecific with the Grey-chinned Hermit P. griseogularis (Peters 1945).
Heine
Phaethornis apheles Heine 1884, p. 235 (Peru)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Peru.
Known only from the type, an imperfect specimen. Considered a synonym of P. zonura (Peters 1945), which itself is now a subspecies of Grey-chinned Hermit P. griseogularis.
(Vieillot)
Trochilus lazulus Vieillot 1822, p. 557
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Central America.
Known only from Vieillot’s description. Never identified.
(Gould)
Pinarolaema buckleyi Gould 1880, p. 489. (Misqui, Bolivia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Ecuador.
Known from two specimens, an immature male collected by Buckley, and an adult male collected in 1898. Now considered to represent an aberrant Sparkling Violet-ear C. coruscans (Schuchmann 1999).
(Elliot)
Petasophora sp. Elliot 1876b, p. 405
Petasophora rubrigularis Elliot 1878 p. 51 footnote (no locality)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from a specimen in the Elliot Collection. Now considered a hybrid Black-throated Mango Anthracothorax nigricollis × Ruby Topaz Chrysolampis mosquitus (Peters 1945).
(Floericke)
Lampornis nigricollis caeruleicauda Floericke 1920, p. 3 (Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known only from two specimens of uncertain origin, no longer extant. Now placed in the synonymy of the Black-throated Mango Anthracothorax nigricollis (Peters 1945).
Oustalet
Chrysolampis Gigliolii Oustalet 1885, p. 108 (Colombia).
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known only from the type. Generally considered to be an artefact (Simon & Hellmayr 1908).
Floericke
Lophornis melaniae Floericke 1920, p. 2
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Central America.
Known only from Floericke’s account, based on specimens in his collection, now lost.
Simon
Lophornis insignibarbis Simon 1890, p. 17 (Colombia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known only from the unique type, a Bogotá trade skin. Now regarded as a hybrid between the Festive Coquette Lophornis chalybeus and the Spangled Coquette Lophornis stictolophus (Schuchmann 1999).
(Elliot)
Eucephala subcaerulea Elliot 1874a, p. 87 (Brazil?)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil?
Known only from a unique specimen in the Elliot Collection. Considered an aberrant Blue-chinned Sapphire Chlorostilbon notatus (Schuchmann 1999).
(Gould)
Eucephala hypocyanea Gould 1860a, p. 306. (Brazil)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bahia, Brazil.
Known only from two specimens, both ‘Bahia’ trade skins. Considered an aberrant Blue-chinned Sapphire Chlorostilbon notatus or a hybrid C. notata × White-chinned Sapphire Hylocharis cyanus (Schuchmann 1999).
(Salvin)
Panychlora micans Salvin 1891, p. 375 (no locality)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the type, believed to be an adult male, a former mount in the Gould Collection. Considered to be a probable aberrant Green-tailed Emerald C. alice (Schuchmann 1999).
Boucard
Chlorostilbon wiedi Boucard 1895, p. 120. (Brazil, type a Rio trade skin)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from the type series, and considered a synonym of the eastern Brazilian race of Glittering-bellied Emerald, Chlorostilbon aureoventris pucherani (Cory 1918; Peters 1945).
(Berlepsch)
Panychlora inexpectatus Berlepsch 1879, p. 63 (Bogotá)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the unique specimen, an adult male, in the Berlepsch collection, which was a Bogotá trade skin. Probably an aberrant Short-tailed Emerald C. poortmani (Schuchmann 1999).
(Cabanis & Heine)
Panychlora aurata Cabanis & Heine 1860, p. 50 (Peru)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Peru.
Known only from the type in the Museum Heine. Probably an aberrant Short-tailed Emerald C. poortmani (Schuchmann 1999), which would make the locality of Peru in error.
(Gould)
Calliphlox? iridescens Gould 1860, p. 310 (Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Smaragdochrysis Gould 1861, pl. 13 and pl. 359
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Known only from the type, believed to be an adult male, collected by Gould’s correspondent, Reeves. Now regarded as a hybrid Glittering-bellied Emerald Chlorostilbon aureoventris × Amethyst Woodstar Calliphlox amethystina (Butler 1931; Peters 1945; Graves 1999b).
(Reichenbach)
Trochilus iolaimus Natterer 1840 (on authority of Reichenbach)
Chlorestes [delta] Riccordia iolaimus Reichenbach 1854, p. 8. (Brazil).
Chlorestes iolaimus Reichenbach 1855a, p. 4 (Brazil)
Ptochoptera Elliot 1874b, p. 261
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range São Paulo, Brazil.
Known only from a unique specimen in the Vienna Museum, collected by Natterer. According to Berlioz (1938) this is probably a hybrid between an Amethyst Woodstar Calliphlox amethystina and another undetermined species.
Mulsant & Verreaux
Talurania [sic] Lerchi Mulsant & Verreaux 1872, p. 108 (Colombia)
? Agyrtria tenebrosa Hartert 1899, p. xv (Bogotá, Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from Bogotá trade skins. Considered to be a hybrid (Berlioz 1937), the most recent assignation being between the Fork-tailed Woodnymph Thalurania furcata × Golden-tailed Sapphire Chrysuronia oenone (Schuchmann 1999).
Berlioz
Augasma cyaneo–berillina Berlioz 1965, p. 7 (Bahia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bahia, South America.
Known only from two Bahia trade skins. Considered a hybrid, with parents unknown (Meyer de Schauensee 1966, 1970).
Simon
Augasma chlorophana Simon 1897, p. 20 (no locality)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the unique type. Thought to be the female of the Emerald Woodnymph Augasma smaragdinea (Simon & Hellmayr 1908), itself considered to be a hybrid (see below). Berlioz (in Peters 1945) considered it a hybrid.
Gould
Augasma smaragdineum Gould 1860, p. 305 (Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro)
Eucephala smaragdo-caerulea Gould 1861, pl. 331
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Known from four or five males. Status unresolved (Meyer de Schauensee 1970), but considered a hybrid of unknown parentage (Berlioz 1965).
Gould
Eucephala scapulata Gould 1861, p. 166 (‘supposed to be Cayenne’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range French Guiana.
Known only from the type, an adult male in the Gould Collection. Believed to be a hybrid Blue-chinned Sapphire Chlorostilbon notatus × Fork-tailed Woodnymph Thalurania furcata (Berlioz 1932).
(Gould)
Eucephala caeruleo–lavata Gould 1860, p. 306 (São Paulo, Brazil)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range São Paulo, Brazil.
Known only from one unique specimen, a male collected by T. Reeves. Peters (1945) considered it a hybrid, parentage uncertain.
Berlioz
Eucephala smaragdocaerulea Berlioz 1951, p. 281
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Uncertain.
Based on a specimen of uncertain affinities in Tring, collected by Whitely in around 1881 and formerly part of the Godman-Salvin Collection. Berlioz (1951) considered that it was probably a hybrid between the Violet-capped Woodnymph Thalurania glaucopis and the Blue-chinned Sapphire Chlorostilbon notatus, as did Meyer de Schauensee (1966).
(Bourcier)
Hylocharis Chlorocephalus Bourcier 1854, p. 457 (Guaranda, Ecuador = error for Brazil?)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil?
Known only from a unique specimen held at Tring, an adult male. Peters (1945) treated it as a hybrid of undetermined parentage, whereas Meyer de Schauensee (1966) considered it a synonym of Augasma smaragdinea (see above).
(Berlepsch)
Cyanolesbia nehrkorni Berlepsch 1887, p. 326 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Neolesbia Salvin 1892, p. 115 (in key), p. 145.
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from an adult male in the Berlepsch collection, and one other specimen in the Nehrkorn Collection. Meyer de Schauensee (1966) considered the type to be a hybrid Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingi × Purple-backed Thornbill Ramphomicron microrhynchum.
(Salvin & Godman)
Eucephala pyropygia Salvin & Godman 1881, p. 596, pl. 16 (Ecuador = Bahia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Ecuador.
Known only from three specimens. Berlioz (1938) considered the bird to be a hybrid White-chinned Sapphire Hylocharis cyanus × Glittering-bellied Emerald Chlorostilbon aureoventris pucherani.
(Gmelin)
Gros Colibri. du Tertre 1667, p. 263
? Avicula mexicana cyaneo colore venutissima. Seba 1734, p. 102, fig. 3 (no locality)
? Avicula cyaneo colore venustissima. Klein 1750, p. 107 (based on Seba)
Troglodyte adfinis. Möering 1752, no. 102 (based on Seba).
Polytmus mexicanus cyaneus. Brisson 1760, p. 681
Black and Blue Hummingbird. Bancroft 1769, p. 167
Le Colibri bleu. Buffon 1771–86, p. 61
Crimson-headed Blue Humming Bird. Latham 1782, p. 762 (Mexico)
Black and Blue Humming Bird. Latham 1782, p. 782
Trochilus venustissimus Gmelin 1788, p. 490. (Mexico). Based on Brisson, du Tertre, Seba and Latham.
Trochilus cyanomelas Gmelin 1788, p. 498
Trochilus bancrofti Latham 1790, p. 317
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the descriptions of du Tertre and Bancroft, of uncertain origin
(Rothschild)
Aithurus taylori Rothschild 1894a, p. 47 (St Andrews, north of Kingston, Jamaica)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Jamaica.
Known only from the type series in the Rothschild Collection, and considered to be a variety of the Red-billed Streamertail Trochilus polytmus.
(Reichenbach)
Chlorestes malvina Reichenbach 1854, supplement p. 7 (Brazil)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Known only from the unique type collected by Beske. Considered a possible hybrid White-throated Hummingbird Leucochloris albicollis × Glittering-bellied Emerald Chlorostilbon aureoventris pucherani (Berlioz 1938; Schuchmann 1999).
Reichenbach
Leucippus nigrirostris Reichenbach 1855, p. 8
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Reichenbach’s plate. Placed in the synonymy of the White-bellied Hummingbird Amazilia chionogaster (Salvin 1892).
(Gounelle)
Polyerata cyaneotincta Gounelle 1909, p. 17 and plate (Bogotá)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from a Bogotá trade skin in the Paris Museum and another in the Rousseau-Decelle collection, Paris. Considered a probable aberrant Glittering-throated Emerald A. fimbriata (Schuchmann 1999).
(Elliot)
Cyanomyia microrhyncha Elliot 1876a, p. 316 (Honduras?)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Honduras.
Based on inadequate subspecific characters and relegated to synonymy of Azure-crowned Hummingbird Agyrtria c. cyanocephala (Weller 1999a).
(Gould)
Thaumatias caeruliceps Gould 1860, p. 307 (Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known only from the type, an adult male from Colombia (probably a Bogotá trade skin) in the Gould Collection. Simon (1910) considered it a hybrid Versicoloured Emerald Amazilia versicolor × Golden-tailed Sapphire Chrysuronia oenone.
(Simon)
Agyrtria veneta Simon 1921, p. 112, 328 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from a Bogotá trade skin, believed to be a female. Considered a probable melanistic female of Andean Emerald A. franciae (Meyer de Schauensee 1966; Schuchmann 1999).
Chapman
Amazilia aenobrunnea Chapman 1889, p 163
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type, which is an artefact, with the body of a Ruby-topaz Hummingbird Chrysolampis mosquitus and the head of a Red-bellied Emerald Chlorostilbon gibsoni (Simon & Hellmayr 1908; Simon 1921).
Gould
Amazilia Ocai Gould 1859, p. 96 (Jalapa, Vera Cruz)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Xalapa, Mexico.
Known only from the type, an adult male collected by de Oca. Considered to be a hybrid Azure-crowned Hummingbird Amazilia cyanocephala × Berylline Hummingbird A. beryllina (Berlioz 1932).
(de Oca)
Thaumatias Lerdi de Oca 1875, p. 24 (Paso del Mancho, Vera Cruz)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Paso del Mancho, Vera Cruz, Mexico.
Known only from de Oca’s description and plate. Generally placed in the synonomy of Amazilia ocai (Peters 1945; see above).
(van Rossem & Hachisuka)
Saucerottia florenceae van Rossem & Hachisuka 1938, 407 (Rancho Santa Barbara, 20 miles north-west of Guirocoba, Sonora)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Sonora, Mexico.
Known only from the unique type, a female. Now considered to be a hybrid (Peters 1945).
(Brewster)
Cyanomyia salvini Brewster 1893, p. 214 (Nacosari, Sonora, Mexico)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Sonora, Mexico.
Known from only two specimens. This bird is believed to be an extreme example of variation occurring throughout the western Mexican range of the Violet-crowned Hummingbird Amazilia violiceps (Weller & Schuchmann 1997).
(Elliot)
? Ornismya bicolor d’Orbigny & Lafresnaye 1838, p. 30 (this name is very doubtfully assigned to this species)
Thaumatias neglectus Elliot 1877a, p. 140 (Moxos male and Yungas female, Bolivia).
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bolivia.
Apparently known only from the co-types in the Elliot Collection. Simon & Hellmayr (1908) considered the ‘type’ of neglectus to be an artefact composed of the body of the Versicoloured Emerald Amazilia versicolor and the head of a White-chinned Sapphire Hylocharis cyanus.
Elliot
Amazilia lucida Elliot 1877b, p. 404 (Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known only from an adult male specimen held in New York. Status and affinities uncertain (Peters 1945; Meyer de Schauensee 1966; Sibley & Monroe 1990).
(Ridgway)
Amazilis bangsi Ridgway 1910, p. 54 (Volcán de Miravalles, Costa Rica)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Costa Rica.
Known only from the type, an adult male. Considered to be a hybrid between Cinnamon Hummingbird Amazilia rutila and Rufous-tailed Hummingbird A. tzacatl (Graves 2003).
(Elliot)
Eriocnemis incultus Elliot 1889, p. 210 (Bogotá)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type, and possibly another specimen from the Gould Collection. Simon (1897) believed the bird to be a melanistic variety of the Green-bellied Hummingbird A. viridigaster and it was placed in the synonymy of A. viridigaster by Peters (1945). Weller (2001) considered it to be a melanistic form of the Indigo-capped Hummingbird A. cyanifrons, rather than A. viridigaster.
(Boucard)
Saucerottia nunezi Boucard 1892, p. 81 (Bogotá)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Apparently known from two males. Cory (1918) listed it as a melanistic variety of Green-bellied Hummingbird A. viridigaster, and Peters (1945) also synonymised it with A. viridigaster.
(Simon)
Agyrtia nitidifrons meracula Simon 1921, p. 114, 329 (Rio Napo? Locality doubtful)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from specimens in the Simon collection. Status and affinities uncertain.
Gould
Coeligena purpurea Gould 1854, pl. 12 and pl. 256 (Popayán, Colombia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Popayán, Colombia.
Known from two adult male specimens in the Gould Collection, one from Popayán, the second a Bogotá trade skin. Elliot (1878) considered it to be a dark variety of the Brown Inca Coeligena wilsoni, while Berlioz (1936a) considered it to be a hybrid Black Inca C. prunellei × Bronze Inca C. coeligena columbiana, which was confirmed by Graves (2001).
(Mulsant & Verreaux)
Diphlogaena (Helianthea) Traviesi Mulsant & Verreaux 1867, p. 389 (Colombia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known from a dozen or more Bogotá trade skins. Believed to be a hybrid Collared Inca Coeligena torquata × Buff-winged Starfrontlet C. lutetiae (Berlioz 1936a; Schuchmann 1999).
(Boucard)
Homophania lawrencei Boucard 1892, p. 87 (Bogotá trade skin)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from an adult male Bogotá trade skin held in Tring. Considered to be a hybrid between the Collared Inca Coeligena torquata and the Mountain Velvetbreast Lafresnaya lafresnayi (Schuchmann 1999).
(Lowe)
Docimastes ensiferus caerulescens Lowe 1939, p. 73 (South America)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the unique type in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, of unknown locality. Graves (1991) considered it to be a light-damaged specimen of Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera.
Hartert
Heliangelus dubius Hartert 1897, p. 532 (Bogotá trade skin)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type held at Tring, and possibly another in the Simon collection. Considered a probable melanistic Amethyst-throated Sun-angel Heliangelus amethysticollis (Fjeldså & Krabbe 1990; Schuchmann 1999).
Hartert
Heliangelus claudia Hartert 1895, vol. 2, p. 484 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from Bogotá trade skins. Considered an aberrant Amethyst-throated Sun-angel Heliangelus amethysticollis of race clarisse (Peters 1945, Fjeldså & Krabbe 1990).
Boucard
Heliangelus henrici Boucard 1891, p. 26 (Ecuador)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Ecuador.
Known only from the type held at Tring, a male collected by Henry Whitely and given by him to Boucard. According to Simon & Hellmayr (1908), the type of Henry’s Sun-angel is a specimen of Gorgeted Sun-angel H. strophianus with the central rectrices tinged with bronze green.
Salvin
Heliangelus violicollis Salvin 1891, p. 376 (Sarayacú, Ecuador)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Sarayacú, Ecuador.
Known only from two specimens of uncertain origin, held at Tring. Graves (2001) concluded that it was a colour variant of Gorgeted Sun-angel H. strophianus.
Gould
Heliangelus squamigularis Gould 1871, p. 503 (Colombia)
Heliotrypha Barrali Mulsant & Verreaux 1872, p. 106 (Banks of the Río Saldana, Antioquia, Colombia)
Nodalia barrali Mulsant 1877, p. 100.
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Antioquia and Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from Bogotá trade skins, and a specimen from Antioquia. Graves (1990) determined that this is a hybrid Amethyst-throated Sun-angel Heliangelus amethysticollis × Copper-bellied Puffleg Eriocnemis cupreoventris.
(Salvin)
Heliotrypha speciosa Salvin 1891, p. 376. (Colombia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known from Bogotá trade skins. Only the type, an adult male, is listed by Salvin (1892). Graves (1990) determined that this is a hybrid Amethyst-throated Sun-angel Heliangelus amethysticollis × Copper-bellied Puffleg Eriocnemis cupreoventris.
(Boucard)
Heliotrypha simoni Boucard 1892, p. 76 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type. Berlioz (1936b) suggests that it is a hybrid of ambiguous character, perhaps between the Tourmaline Sun-angel Heliangelus exortis and the Greenish Puffleg Haplophaedia aureliae. Status uncertain according to Schuchmann (1999).
Boucard
Heliangelus rothschildi Boucard 1892, p. 77 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type, an adult male Bogotá trade skin. Considered a probable hybrid Heliangelus sp. × Eriocnemis sp. or Purple-backed Thornbill Ramphomicron microrhynchum (Meyer de Schauensee 1966).
(Oberholser)
Aeronympha prosantis Oberholser 1905a, p. 161 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type, a Bogotá trade skin. Generally believed to be an immature female of Rothschild’s Sun-angel H. rothschildi (Simon & Hellmayr 1908), itself a dubious species.
(Elliot)
Iolaema luminosus Elliot 1878, p. 188 (no locality = Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from Bogotá trade skins. Considered a probable hybrid Heliangelus sp. × Eriocnemis sp. or Purple-backed Thornbill Ramphomicron microrhynchum (Meyer de Schauensee 1966).
Simon
Heliangelus Clarissae [sic] var. fulvicrissa Simon 1921, p. 179 (Bogotá)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type, a Bogotá trade skin, which Simon (in Peters 1945) suggested may be a hybrid Amethyst-throated Sun-angel Heliangelus amethysticollis of race clarisse × Buff-tailed Coronet Boissoneaua flavescens.
Butler
Eriocnemis söderströmi Butler 1926, 7, p. 62 (west side of Mount Pichincha, Ecuador)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mount Pichincha, Ecuador.
Known only from one adult male specimen. Graves (1996) proved that it was a hybrid Black-breasted Puffleg E. nigrivestis × Sapphire-vented Puffleg E. luciani.
(Parzudaki)
Ornysmia [sic] Isaacsonii Parzudaki 1845, p. 95 (Bogotá, Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from three Bogotá trade skins, which differ somewhat. Possibly a hybrid Eriocnemis × Coeligena (Schuchmann 1999).
Elliot
Eriocnemis dyselius Elliot 1872a, p. 294
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the type and another skin, presumed to be of this species, in the Gould Collection, now in Tring. Graves (1998) concluded that the type is a melanistic specimen of the Copper-bellied Puffleg Eriocnemis cupreoventris, but did not comment on the Gould specimen.
(Gould)
Eripous simplex Gould 1849, p. 96 (Colombia)
Eriocnemis simplex Gould 1852, pl. 271
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known from three specimens, all from the Gould collection, an adult male, an adult unsexed skin, and a ‘variety’. Peters (1945) placed it in the synonymy of the Copper-bellied Puffleg Eriocnemis cupreoventris.
Hartert
Eriocnemis berlepschi Hartert 1897, p. 531 (Bogotá)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from the type, considered by Peters (1945) to be a synonym of the Glowing Puffleg Eriocnemis vestitus.
Salvin
Eriocnemis ventralis Salvin 1891, p. 378 (Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Colombia.
Known only from the type, an adult male Bogotá trade skin. Schuchmann et al. (2000) considered it a probable hybrid Glowing Puffleg E. vestitus × Copper-bellied Puffleg E. cupreoventris.
Benvenuti
Mellisuga (Eriocnemus) ridolfi E. Benvenuti 1865, p. 205 (‘Nova Granata’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Granada, Colombia.
Known only from Benvenuti’s description of a specimen in his collection. Never satisfactorily identified, but Salvin (1892) regarded it as a synonym of the Glowing Puffleg E. vestitus.
(Gould)
Lesbia glyceria ‘Gould 1854’. Bonaparte 1854c, p. 252 (nomen nudum)
Cometes? glyceria Gould 1858, pl. 12 and pl. 176 (near Popayán, Colombia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Popayán, Colombia.
Known only from the type, said to be a juvenile male, collected by Mossa. Graves (1999b) concluded that it was a hybrid Black-tailed Trainbearer Lesbia victoriae × Rainbow-bearded Thornbill Chalcostigma herrani.
Lawrence
Lesbia ortoni Lawrence 1869, p. 269 (Quito Valley, Ecuador)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Ecuador.
Known only from the type, an unsexed specimen. Meyer de Schauensee (1966) believed Orton’s Comet to represent a hybrid Black-tailed Trainbearer Lesbia victoriae × Purple-backed Thornbill Ramphomicron microrhynchum, and this identification has been supported by Graves (1997a).
(Hartert)
Chalcostigma purpureicauda Hartert 1898a, p. 28 (Bogotá trade skin)
Zodalia thaumasta Oberholser 1902, p. 338 (Illalo, Valley of Chillo, Ecuador).
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Ecuador and Colombia.
Known only from three specimens, a male and a female from Illalo, Ecuador, and a Bogotá trade skin. Considered a probable a hybrid Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingi × Black-tailed Trainbearer Lesbia victoriae (Schuchmann 1999).
Boucard
Metallura griseo–cyanea Boucard 1893, p. 75
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Boucard’s description, tacked on to the end of his description of the Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina. Cory (1918) placed this species in the synonymy of M. tyrianthina with a query.
(Jeffries)
Trochilus violajugulum Jeffries 1888, p. 168 (Santa Barbara, California)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Santa Barbara, California.
Known only from the type. Generally considered to be a hybrid of the Black-chinned Hummingbird Archilochus alexandri with either Anna’s Hummingbird Calypte anna or Costa’s Hummingbird C. costae (Thayer & Bangs 1907; Ridgeway 1911).
Salvin
Selasphorus underwoodi Salvin 1897, p. 38 (Volcán de Irazú, Costa Rica)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Volcán de Irazú, Costa Rica.
Known only from the type, a male. Now considered to be a hybrid Scintillant Hummingbird Selasphorus scintilla × Volcano Hummingbird S. flammula (Carriker 1910; McCarthy 2006).
Gould
Selasphorus floresii Loddiges in Gould 1861, pl. 10, pl. 139 (Bolaños, Jalisco, Mexico)
Trochilus rubromitratus Ridgway 1891, p. 114
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Jalisco, Mexico.
Known only from an adult male collected by Floresi, in the Loddiges Collection. The bird is generally considered to be a hybrid between Allen’s Hummingbird Selasphorus sasin and Anna’s Hummingbird Calypte anna (e.g. Ridgway 1911).
Ridgway
Atthis morcomi Ridgway 1898, p. 325 (Huachuca Mountains, Arizona)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Huachuca Mountains, Arizona.
Apparently known only from two adult females shot by H. G. Rising on July 2, 1896. Considered to fall within the range of individual variation of the Bumblebee Hummingbird A. heloisa (Bangs 1927).
(Gould)
Calothorax decoratus Gould 1860, p. 309. (‘supposed to be from Antioquia in Colombia’)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Antioquia, Colombia.
Apparently known only from the type, but possibly from other specimens at Tring. Meyer de Schauensee (1966) thought the Decorated Woodstar was probably a hybrid White-bellied Woodstar Chaetocercus mulsant × Gorgeted Woodstar C. heliodor, which was upheld by Graves (1997b).
(Simon)
Polyxemus Harterti Simon 1901b, p. 202 (Western Colombia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Ibagüe, western Colombia.
Known only from the type, a male. Meyer de Schauensee (1966) and Schuchmann (1999) considered C. harterti to be a hybrid, but did not specify any parentage, although the latter mentions it under Esmeraldus Woodstar C. berlepschi.
(Gould)
Leadbeatera splendens Gould 1861, p. 74 (Venezuela)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Venezuela.
Known only from Gould’s description. The type appears to be lost. Salvin (1892) synonymised H. splendens with Violet-fronted Brilliant Heliodoxa leadbeateri.
(Boucard)
Eustephanus burtoni Boucard 1891, p. 18 (Chile)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Chile.
Known only from Boucard’s description of a specimen in his collection. Peters (1945) placed it in the synonymy of the Green-backed Firecrown Sephanoides sephanoides.
(Molina)
Trochilus galeritus Molina 1782, p. 247. (Chile)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Chile.
Known only from Molina’s description. Salvin (1892) used Molina’s name for the bird now called the Green-backed Firecrown Sephanoides sephaniodes. Usually synonymised with S. sephaniodes with a query, but considered unidentifiable.
(Penard)
Heteroglaucis philippinae T. Penard 1922, p. 27 (Lelydrop, Surinam)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Surinam.
Known only from the type. Peters (1945) relegated Penard’s Hummingbird to a synonym of the Rufous-breasted Hermit Glaucis hirsutus.
Dickey & van Rossem
Lampornis viridipallens connectens Dickey & van Rossem 1929, p. 209 (Los Esesmiles, Dept. Chalatenango, El Salvador)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range El Salvador.
Known only from the type. Munroe (1963) carried out a detailed revision of the group and considered it invalid.
Marcgrave
Guainumbi quinta. Marcgrave in Piso and Marcgraf 1648, p. 197
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from Marcgrave’s description. Never satisfactorily identified.
Marcgrave
Guainumbi septima. Marcgrave in Piso 1648, p. 197.
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from Marcgrave’s description. Never satisfactorily identified.
Marcgrave
Guainumbi nona. Marcgrave in Piso 1648, p. 197
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from Marcgrave’s description. Never satisfactorily identified.
Lesson
Le Motmot dombé. Levaillant 1806a, p. 113, pl. 39 (Perú)
? Baryphonus ruficapillus Vieillot 1818, p. 315
?Prionites dombeyanus Ranzini 1822, p. 158 (based on Vieillot)
Momotus dombeyi Lesson 1831, p. 251
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Peru.
Known only from Levaillant’s description, based on two specimens collected by Dombey, and then in the Jardin des Plantes, but now lost. Provenance and species considered doubtful (Sclater 1857).
Kuhl
Guepier à longue queue du Senegal. Daubenton 1770–86, no. 314 (Senegal)
Le Guepier Adanson. Levaillant 1807, pl. 13, p. 47 (Senegal)
Merops badius L. var (beta) Merops Adansonii ‘Vaill. 13’. Kuhl 1820b, p. 6
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Senegal.
Known only from Kuhl’s description, based on the plates of Daubenton and Levaillant. Considered a probable artefact (Peters 1945)
Gmelin
Apiaster indicus erythrocephalus Brisson 1760, p. 563, pl. 44, fig. 3A
Le Guepier à tete rouge. Montbeillard 1779, p. 508
Red-headed Bee Eater. Shaw & Nodder 1778 pl. 357
Merops erythrocephalus Gmelin 1788, p. 463
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Brisson’s description. Unidentifiable (see Whistler & Kinnear 1935).
(Macdonald)
Scoptelus cavei Macdonald 1946, p. 5 (Boma Hills, south-east Sudan)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Boma Hills, south-east Sudan.
Known only from the type, a young bird. Mayr (1957) suggested it was a subspecies of Black Scimitarbill Rhinopomastus aterrimus, but it is now generally assumed to be inseparable from R. a. notatus from east Sudan, Ethiopia and north-west Somalia.
(Bertoni)
Microtrogon galbuloides Bertoni 1901, p. 42 (Paraguay)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Paraguay.
Known only from Bertoni’s description. Probably based on memory (Peters 1948).
Gyldenstolpe
Petroglossus olallae Gyldenstolpe 1942, p. 8 (João Pessôa, Rio Juruá, Brazil)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Rio Juruá, Brazil.
Known only from the type, an adult male, which Zimmer & Mayr (1943) considered to be a hybrid Red-necked Araçari Pteroglossus bitorquatus sturmii × Ivory-billed Araçari P. azara. Short & Horne (2001) considered it to be a hybrid between P. azara mariae and Lettered Araçari P. inscriptus humboldti.
Sclater
Pteroglossus didymus Sclater 1890, p. 403 (Upper Amazonia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range ‘Upper Amazonia’.
Known only from the type. Friedmann (1958) doubted its validity, and it is now considered a synonym of Lettered Araçari Pteroglossus inscriptus humboldti (Short & Horne 2002).
(Linnaeus)
Pica brasiliensis. Aldrovandus 1599, p. 801
Pica brasiliensis. Albin 1738, p. 24, pl. 25
Ramphastos picatus Linnaeus 1758, p. 103 (‘in America meridionalis’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the plates and descriptions of Albin and Aldrovandus. Never identified with any known species. Peters (1930) considered it an artefact.
Linnaeus
The Toucan or Brasilian Pie. Edwards 1743, pl. 64
Tucana brasiliensis gutture albo. Brisson 1760, p. 413 (based on Edwards)
Ramphastos piscivorus Linnaeus 1766, p. 151
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from Edwards’s plate and description, on which Linnaeus’s name was based. Peters (1930) claimed that Edwards’s plate is not identifiable, and that apart from the white throat the bird could be the Keel-billed Toucan R. sulfuratus brevicarinatus.
Wagler
Pteroglossus poeppigii Wagler 1832, p. 1230
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Wagler’s description. This bird has been generally synonymised with the common Curl-crested Araçari Pteroglossus beauharnaesii.
Linnaeus
Ramphastos piperivorus Linnaeus 1758, p. 103
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Central America.
Known only from Linnaeus’s description. Peters (1930) considered it unidentifiable.
Friedmann
Indicator propinquus Friedmann 1943, p. 250. (Donenking, Bafia, Cameroons)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Cameroon.
Known only from the type. Generally considered to be a young specimen of the Least Honeyguide Indicator exilis (Friedmann 1954).
Pelzeln
Picumnus fuscus Pelzeln 1870, p. 242 (nomen nudum), p. 335 (Rio Guaporé, Mato Grosso, Brazil)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Known only from the type, a young female, perhaps merely the young of some other species, but never identified.
Berlepsch
Celeus immaculatus Berlepsch 1880, p. 113 (Agua Dulce, Panamá)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Agua Dulce, Panamá.
Known only from the type. Locality data may be in error, thus Short (1982) suggested that C. immaculatus might be an aberrant specimen of the Chestnut Woodpecker Celeus elegans.
Woodpecker. Pennant 1785, p. 271
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Carolina.
Known only from the description of Pennant, based on a specimen sent to him by Dr. Garden of Charlestown, South Carolina. Unidentified.
(Gray)
Picus crawfurdi J. E. Gray 1829, p. 513 (no locality, ‘from an Indian drawing’)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from J. E. Gray’s description from a drawing. Peters (1948) considered it to be an aberrant specimen of White-bellied Woodpecker D. javensis javensis.
Gmelin
Lesser Black Woodpecker. Albin 1738, p. 22, pl. 23
Le pic noir de la Nouvelle Angleterre. Brisson 1760, p. 24
Yellow-legged Woodpecker. Pennant 1781, p. 275
Picus flavipes Gmelin 1788, p. 438
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New England, United States.
Known only from Albin’s description and plate, from which the others derive. Unidentifiable and probably a dreamed-up bird.
Du Bois
Melanerpes sp. inc. Du Bois 1897, p. 783 (no locality)
Melanerpes hargitti Du Bois 1899 p. 68, pl. 2, fig. 2
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range No locality.
Known only from the type in Brussels. Peters (1948) thought it was a hybrid Yellow-tufted Woodpecker M. cruentatus × Red-fronted Woodpecker M. rubrifrons, the latter nowadays being considered a colour-morph of the former (Short 1982).
(Cory)
Centurus bahamensis Cory 1892, p. 270 (Grand Bahama Island)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Grand Bahama, Bahamas.
Almost certainly synonymous with the San Salvador race of West Indian Woodpecker, M. s. nyeanus, which is a variable form; the supposed differences of the Grand Bahama taxon fall within the range of variation of those from San Salvador. The population disappeared in the 1950s.
(Swainson)
Platyrhynchus pusillus Swainson 1827b, p. 366 (Maritime parts of Mexico)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mexico.
Known only from Swainson’s description. Unidentifiable (Cory & Hellmayr 1927).
(Cabanis & Heine)
Laphyctes apolites Cabanis & Heine 1859, p. 77 (no locality)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the type. It is now considered to be a probable hybrid Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus × Varied Flycatcher Empidonomus varius.
Berlepsch
Todirostrum hypospodium Berlepsch 1907, p. 354 (‘Bogotá’, Colombia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Bogotá, Colombia.
Known only from a solitary Bogotá trade skin. Cory & Hellmayr (1927) believed it to be an aberrant specimen of Lawrence’s Tody-tyrant Todirostrum sylvia superciliare, and Traylor (1979) regarded it as a synonym of that form.
Philippi
Sylviorthorhynchus fasciolatus F. Philippi 1909, p. 65 (Valdivia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Valdivia, Chile.
Apparently known only from the type, collected by B. Hermann and presented to the National Museum of Chile. Gigoux & Looser (1930) consider Phillipi’s Spinetail to be an artefact, with the body of the Cape Horn Sedge Wren Cistothorus platensis hornensis and the tail of Des Murs’s Spinetail Sylviorthorhynchus desmursii.
(Lillo)
Siptornis leptasthenuroides Lillo 1905, p. 52 (Norco, Tucumán, Argentina)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Tucumán, Argentina.
Known only from the type. Olrog (1963) treated it as a synonym of the Chilean Sharp-billed Canastero Asthenes pyrrholeuca sordida.
(Cabanis)
Synallaxis Sclateri Cabanis 1878, p. 196 (Sierra de Cordova, Argentina)
Status Extant.
Range Sierra de Cordova, Argentina.
A. sclateri was originally known only from Cabanis’s description, based on the type, and one other specimen in the Berlin Museum; a third specimen, formerly in Tring, now appears to be lost. A. sclateri was split from the closely related A. punensis, but following SACC (2007) these two are reunited, with the name A. sclateri taking precedence. Therefore, the Puno Canastero is widespread and not considered endangered.
Snethlage
Xiphocolaptes franciscanus Snethlage 1927a, p. 8 (Brejo Januaria, left bank of the Rio São Francisco, Minas Gerais)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range East Brazil, west of the Rio São Francisco.
Known only from the type taken in Minas Gerais. Both Pinto (1952) and Meyer de Schauensee (1966) suggested that this bird might be a race of the White-throated Woodcreeper Xiphocolaptes albicollis, but it is now treated as a subspecies of Moustached Woodcreeper X. falcirostris (Collar et al. 1992; Marantz et al. 2003).
Lima
Xiphocolaptes albicollis villadenovae (corrected to villanovae on errata slip) Lima 1920, p. 104, fig. 1 (Villa Nova, Bahia, Brazil)
Status Data deficient.
Range Vila Nova, Bahia, Brazil.
Known only from the type. Status uncertain, but may well still be extant. Placed in the synonymy of Moustached Woodcreeper X. falcirostris by Hellmayr (1925), but considered by Pinto & Camargo (1961) and Marantz et al. (2003) to be either a race of the White-throated Woodcreeper X. albicollis or possibly a distinct species.
Miller
Sericornis nigroviridis Miller 1964, p. 2 (Edie Creek, Wau, Moroke district, eastern New Guinea)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known only from the unique type. Regarded as a melanistic specimen of the Buff-faced Scrub Wren Sericornis perspicillatus (Beehler 1978; Mayr et al. 1986).
(De Vis)
Sericornis tyrannula De Vis 1905, p. 42 (Charleville, southern Queensland)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Southern Queensland, Australia.
Known only from the type, now lost. Regarded as an immature of the Chestnut-rumped Heath Wren Calamanthus pyrrhopygius Parker (1984).
Mathews
Strepera graculina ashbyi Mathews 1913, p.78 (Black Spur, Victoria)
Status Status uncertain.
Range Grampians and south-west Victoria, Australia.
Listed as a morph of S. g. nebulosa of south-eastern Australia (Schodde & Mason 1999). Population has hybridised with S. g. nebulosa over much of its range, with a possible tiny population of pure-bred birds remaining. If it is a valid taxon, it is critically endangered if not already extinct.
Sharpe
Lalage melanothorax Sharpe 1879, p. 91 (Madras)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Western India.
Known only from the type in Tring. Considered an artefact composed of the head of the Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus and the body of the Black-headed Cuckoo-shrike Coracina melanoptera (Sharpe 1879).
Stresemann
Coracina tenuirostris edithae Stresemann 1932, p. 109 (Sulawesi)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South Sulawesi.
Known from a single specimen collected in 1931. Probably a vagrant of the Australian nominate race of Cicadabird.
Gmelin
Natka Shrike. Pennant 1785, p. 239
Lanius Natka Gmelin 1788, p. 309
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Nootka Sound, Vancouver.
Known only from Pennant’s description. Coues (1878) considered that it was not a shrike, and that it did not originate in North America. McAtee (1963) stated that it was unidentifiable.
(Baird)
Vireosylvia propinqua Baird 1866, p. 345 (in key), p. 348 (Cobán, Vera Paz =Alta Verapaz, Guatemala)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.
Known only from the type in Washington, D. C. Ridgway (1904) and Hellmayr (1935) considered this to be a hybrid between the Yellow-throated Vireo Vireo flavifrons and the Blue-headed Vireo V. solitarius.
Boddaert
Le Cassique de la Louisiane. Buffon 1775, p. 242
Cassique de la Louisiane. Daubenton 1771–86, pl. 646
White-headed Oriole. Latham 1782, p. 422
Oriolus violaceus Boddaert 1783
White-headed Oriole. Pennant 1785, p. 260
Oriolus ludovicianus Gmelin 1789, p. 387
Oriolus leucocephalus Latham 1790, p. 175
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Louisiana, United States.
Known only from the plate of Daubenton and the descriptions of Buffon and Pennant. McAtee (1963) considered it a partial albino, and unidentifiable. Clearly not an Old World oriole and if anywhere perhaps best placed with the icterids.
Ingram
Sphecotheres stalkeri Ingram 1908, p. 100 (Mt Elliot, near Townsville, Queensland, Australia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Queensland, Australia.
Known only from two specimens, both collected by Stalker. Believed to be a hybrid between two Australasian Figbird races, S. vieillotti vieilloti and S. v. flaviventris.
Mathews
Muscicapa atra Forster 1844, p. 171
Pomarea nigra tabuensis Mathews 1929, p. 60 (Tongatabu, Tonga Islands)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Tongatabu, Society Islands.
Known only from Forster’s description. Todd (1984) has shown that it was not a Pomarea, but a Polynesian Triller Lalage maculosa tabuensis.
Stresemann
Corvus difficilis Stresemann 1943, p. 125 (Malbon, Cloncurry district, north-western Queensland)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range North-western Queensland, Australia.
Known only from the type. Considered by Vaurie (1962) to be an abnormal specimen of the Australian Raven Corvus coronoides or a hybrid of C. coronoides and the Little Crow C. bennetti.
Brüggemann
Corvus fallax Brüggemann 1877, p. 76 (Celebes?)
Range Known only from the type.
Putative range Celebes?
Sharpe (1877) placed C. fallax in the synonymy of the Slender-billed Crow Corvus enca.
Brüggemann
Corvus modestus Brüggemann 1877, p. 77 (Celebes?)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Celebes?
Both Sharpe (1877) and Mathews (1930) put C. modestus in the synonymy of C. violaceus, which is itself now regarded as a subspecies of the Slender-billed Crow Corvus enca.
Currie
Cicinnurus lyogyrus R.P. Currie 1900, p. 497, pl. 17 (New Guinea)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known only from the type of unknown locality, an adult male in Washington D. C., obtained from A. Boucard. Generally considered to be a hybrid King Bird of Paradise C. regius × Magnificent Bird of Paradise Diphyllodes magnificus (Fuller 1995).
Ogilvie-Grant
Cicinnurus goodfellowi Ogilvie-Grant 1906, p. 39 (Cyclops Mountains, Humboldt’s Bay, Dutch New Guinea)
Putative range New Guinea.
Known from the type, an adult male, collected by Walter Goodfellow in August 1906 and now at Tring, and one other specimen in Berlin. Generally considered to be a hybrid King Bird of Paradise C. regius × Magnificent Bird of Paradise Diphyllodes magnificus (Fuller 1995).
Oustalet
Craspedophora Mantoui Oustalet 1891, p. 260 (North-west New Guinea)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range North-west New Guinea.
Known from nine specimens in Berlin, New York, Tring and Paris. Considered to be a hybrid Magnificent Riflebird Ptiloris magnificus × Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise Seleucidis melanoleucus (Fuller 1995).
Büttikofer
Craspedophora bruyni Büttikofer 1895a, p. 161 (Arfak Mountains)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range North-west New Guinea.
Known only from the type in the Leiden Museum, an adult male from the Arfak Mountains of north-west New Guinea. Considered to be a hybrid Magnificent Riflebird Ptiloris magnificus × Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise Seleucidis melanoleucus (Fuller 1995).
Meyer
Diphyllodes gulielmi III Meyer 1875, p. 31. (Waigeu = error)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known from about 24 specimens. Considered to be a hybrid Magnificent Bird of Paradise Diphyllodes magnificus × King Bird of Paradise Cicinnurus regius (Fuller 1979, 1995).
Rothschild
Epimachus astrapioides Rothschild 1897, p. 22 (Dutch New Guinea)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known only from the type, now in the Rothschild collection in New York. Considered to be a hybrid Black Sicklebill Epimachus fastuosus × Arfak Astrapia Astrapia nigra (Fuller 1995).
(Reichenow)
Paradisea mirabilis Reichenow 1901, p. 185 (Madang, Astrolabe Bay)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Astrolabe Bay, New Guinea.
Known only from four specimens, all in New York. Considered to be a hybrid Lesser Bird of Paradise Paradisea minor × Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise, Seleucidis melanoleucus (Stresemann 1930; Fuller 1995).
Meyer
Lamprothorax wilhelminae Meyer 1894, Ap. 3 (Arfak Mountains)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Arfak Mountains, New Guinea.
Known only from three specimens, in Dresden, Leiden and New York. Considered to be a hybrid Superb Bird of Paradise Lophorina superba × Magnificent Bird of Paradise Diphyllodes magnificus (Fuller 1995).
Iredale
Paradisea bloodi Iredale 1948, p. 161 (Miniyip, Mt Hagen))
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Mount Hagen, central New Guinea.
Known only from an adult male collected by Captain Neptune B. Blood on September 20, 1944, now in Sydney. Considered to be a hybrid Raggiana Bird of Paradise Paradisaea raggiana × Blue Bird of Paradise P. rudolphi (Fuller 1979, 1995).
Reichenow
Paradisaea maria Reichenow 1894, p. 22 (Finisterre Mountains, New Guinea)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Finisterre Mountains, New Guinea.
Known from the type and possibly another specimen in the Berlin Museum, and four others in New York. Considered to be a hybrid between the Greater Bird of Paradise Paradisaea apoda or Raggiana Bird of Paradise P. raggiana and the Emperor Bird of Paradise P. guilielmi (Fuller 1979, 1995).
Menegaux
Paradisaea duivenbodei Menegaux 1913, p. 49 (Geelvink Bay = error, probably Astrolabe Bay, New Guinea).
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known only from the type, in Paris. Considered to be a hybrid Lesser Bird of Paradise Paradisaea minor finschi or Raggiana Bird of Paradise P. raggiana with Emperor Bird of Paradise P. guilielmi (Fuller 1995).
Rothschild
Paradisea mixta Rothschild 1921a, p. 127 (locality unknown, probably upper Ramu)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known only from the types. Considered by Stresemann (1930) and Fuller (1995) to be a hybrid Lesser Bird of Paradise Paradisea minor finschi × Raggiana Bird of Paradise P. raggiana augustaevictoriae.
Lowe
Paradisea apoda luptoni Lowe 1923, p. 110 (Marauke district)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Marauke district, New Guinea.
Known only from the type. Considered to be a hybrid between two races of the Greater Bird of Paradise, Paradisea apoda novaeguineae and P. a. salvadorii (Fuller 1995).
Rothschild
Parotia duivenbodei Rothschild 1900, p. 100 (Dutch New Guinea)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range New Guinea.
Known from a specimen in New York and another in Paris. Considered to be a hybrid Western Parotia Parotia sefilata and Superb Bird of Paradise Lophorina superba (Stresemann 1930).
(Lesson)
Strigiceps leucopogon Lesson 1840, p. 266 (Australia = error for Hawaiian Islands?)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Possibly Australia, but perhaps a Pacific island (Rothschild 1907a).
Unidentifiable. Known only from Lesson’s description, from a type now lost. Generally considered to be identical with the Kioea Chaetoptila angustipluma (see p. 251), but the description does not agree at all, and the provenance is in extreme doubt.
Ström
Parus ignotus Ström 1762, p. 240.
Parus ignotus Brünnich 1764, p. 73 (based on Ström)
Norway Titmouse. Latham 1781 p. 537
Strömian Titmouse. Pennant 1785, p. 426
Parus ignotus Gmelin, 1789, p. 1006
? Parus stromei Bonnaterre & Vieillot 1823, p. 504
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Norway.
Known only from the descriptions of Brünnich, Latham and Pennant, based on Ström. Synonymised under Great Tit Parus major (Gadow 1883).
Blanford
Periparus ater phaeonotus Blandford 1873, p. 88
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Zagros Mountains, south-west Iran.
Known only from a single specimen, originally one of four. Sometimes listed as extinct but Kirwan & Grieve (2010) suggest the type locality is in error, its range being much more widespread in Iran, and that the very similar extant subspecies P. a. gaddi should be synonomised under P. a. phaeonotus.
(Chasen)
Euptilosus nieuwenhuisii inexspectatus Chasen 1939 p. 184 (Upper Kayan River, central Borneo)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Central Borneo.
This supposed subspecies is known from only one specimen collected in 1937, but the Blue-wattled Bulbul Pycnontus nieuwenhuisii itself may be of hybrid origin and so an invalid taxon (Williams 2002).
Meinertzhagen
Sylvia ticehursti Meinertzhagen 1939, p. 69 (Tinghir = Tinrhir, Ouarzazate district, Moroccan Sahara)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Ouarzazate, Morocco.
Known only from the type, a female. Considered an aberrant Tristram’s Warbler S. deserticola maroccana, or a hybrid S. d. maroccana × Desert Warbler S. nana deserti (Bairlein 2006).
Nicoll
Sylvia norissae Nicoll 1917, p. 28 (north side of Lake Kar-n, Fayoum, Egypt)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Nile Delta region, Egypt.
Not recorded since the 1940s, but probably a colour morph of Sardinian Warbler Sylvia melanocephala momus (Cabot & Urdiales 2005).
Audubon
Regulus cuvieri Audubon 1829, pl. 55 (Fatland Ford, about 10 miles west of Norristown, Pennsylvania)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Pennsylvania, United States.
Known only from Aububon’s description and plate of a specimen obtained in June 1812. From the fact that a number of his drawings of birds obtained about this time were later destroyed, it has been considered that the published plate may have been based to some extent on memory. Mayr et al. (1986) relegated it to the synonymy of the Golden-crowned Kinglet R. satrapa.
Meyer de Schauensee & Ripley
Malacocichla vanderbilti Meyer de Schauensee & Ripley 1940, p. 351, pl. 20 (Koengki, Atjeh, north Sumatra)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Atjeh, north Sumatra.
Known only from the type, collected by George Vanderbilt. Now known to be an immature specimen of the Sumatran race of Horsfield’s Babbler Malacocincla sepiaria barussana (Hoogerwerf 1966, Mees, 1995).
Kumerloeve
Panurus biarmicus kosswigi Kumerloeve 1958, p.197 (Amik Gölü, southern Turkey)
Status Doubtful taxon, but requires further study.
Range Amik Gölü, southern Turkey and north-west Syria.
The Amik Gölü population has not been seen since 1962 due to the drainage of its wetland habitat. Considered valid by Roselaar (1995), but probably synonymous with nominate Bearded Tit P. b. biarmicus (Kirwan 2006).
(Forbes)
Necropsar leguati Forbes 1898, p. 34, pl. 1 (no locality)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Rodrigues, Mascarenes in error. Specimen comes from Martinique in the West Indies.
Known only from the type in the Liverpool Museum. Although there was little supporting evidence, the specimen was originally and erroneously thought to have come from Rodrigues Island in the Mascarenes. Now known to be an albinistic trembler of the genus Cinclocerthia from the West Indies (Olson et al. 2005).
Hachisuka
Testudophaga bicolor Hachisuka 1937d, p. 212 (Islet au Mât)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Rodrigues, Mascarene Islands.
The Rodrigues Starling Necropsar rodericanus was described from subfossil remains and from a description by Tafforet (see p. 273), who mentioned the starling’s ability to predate or scavenge giant tortoises or turtles. Hachisuka (1953) compared it with the closely related, but generally frugivorous Réunion Starling Fregilupus varius (see p. 271), and suggested that as the Rodrigues Starling could not possibly prey on such large prey items as giant tortoises and turtles, it was probably frugivorous as well. Therefore Hachisuka, based entirely on Tafforet’s description, concluded that Tafforet had in fact observed a small crow or chough, not a starling, naming it Testudophaga bicolor. The basis for this assignation is based entirely on the muddled imagination of Hachisuka, and thus must be disregarded as pure fantasy.
(Gmelin)
Pacific Shrike. Latham 1781, p. 164
Lanius pacificus Gmelin 1788, p. 306
Status Doubtful taxon. Known only from Latham’s description, based on a specimen formerly in the Banksian Collection but no longer extant.
Range South Pacific.
The description is considered to be based on Coracias striata = Striated Starling Aplonis striata.
(La Touche)
Heteroxenicus joannae La Touche 1922, p. 21
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range China.
Known only from the type, a female, at Harvard, collected at Mengtse, Yunnan on May 3, 1921. Now placed in the synonymy of the Black-throated Robin Luscinia obscura (Cheng 1987).
(Gmelin)
Sandwich Thrush. Latham 1871–85, p. 39 (Sandwich Islands = Hawaiian Islands)
Turdus sandwichensis Gmelin 1789, p. 813
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Hawaii.
Known only from Latham’s description. Considered to be a possible immature Hawaii ’Elepaio Chasiempis sandwichensis (Olson 1989).
(Ogawa)
Merula celaenops yakushimensis Ogawa 1905, p. 180 (Yakushima, northern Riukiu Islands)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Yakushima, Ryukyu Islands.
Formerly occurred on the island of Yakushima, where the last known specimen was collected on September 14, 1911. Mayr & Paynter (1964) recognise no races of the Izu Islands Thrush, and this race is relegated to a synonym of M. celaenops.
Bannerman
Saxicola dacotiae murielae Bannerman 1913b
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Alegranza and Montaña Clara, north of Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Considered to be an anomalous population of the nominate Canary Islands Chat, S. d. dacotiae (Collar & Stuart 1985). The type specimens all fall within the range of individual variation of the extant taxon (Taylor & Clement 2006).
Meise
Rhinomyias colonus subsolanus Meise 1932, p. 80 (East Sulawesi)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Known only from the type, now lost. Considered dubious (BirdLife International 2011).
Madarász
Cinclus olympicus Madarász 1903, p. 6 (Trodos Mountains, Cyprus)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Mountains of Cyprus.
Believed extinct since 1939, but the reason for its extinction is not known. Vaurie (1955a) disputed its validity, as did Bannerman & Bannerman (1958); the Cyprus birds appear to be inseparable from Caucasus populations.
Hachisuka
Cinnyris picta Hachisuka 1941, p. 52
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Basilan, Philippine Islands.
Known only from the type, presumed to be a male collected between May 1925 and April 1926. Considered an artefact, made up in part from an Olive-backed Sunbird C. jugularis (Ripley 1950).
(Müller)
Bruante de l’Ile de Bourbon. Daubenton 1771–86, pl. 321, fig. 2
Fringilla bruante P. L. S. Müller 1776b, supplement p. 164 (based on Daubenton)
Le Mordré. Buffon 1778, p. 366
Emberiza fuscofulva Boddaert 1783, p. 20
Bourbon Bunting. Latham 1783, p. 210
Emberiza borbonica Gmelin 1789, p. 886 (Réunion)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Réunion, Mascarene Islands.
Known only from the plate of Daubenton, based on a specimen no longer extant. Considered to represent the Madagascar Fody F. madagascariensis (Cheke & Hume 2008).
Sclater
Euphonia vittata Sclater 1861b, p. 129 (Brazil)
Tanagra catasticta Oberholser 1918, p. 125
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Brazil.
Known only from the type, a male trade skin of ‘Rio’ (Brazilian) make, in Tring. Hellmayr (1936) considered it to be a probable hybrid between the Chestnut-bellied Euphonia E. pectoralis and Orange-bellied Euphonia E. xanthogaster.
(Müller)
Grosbec appellé queue en eventail de Virginie. Daubenton 1770–86, no. 380
Loxia laticauda Müller 1776b, supplement, p. 151
Loxia flabellum Boddaert 1783, p. 23
Loxia flabellifera Gmelin 1788, p. 850
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Virginia, United States.
Known only from Buffon’s description and the accompanying plate in Daubenton’s Planches Enluminées. Sharpe (1888) thought that it represented a female and a young male of the Blue Grosbeak Passerina caerulea.
Gmelin
Yellow-bellied Grosbeak. Pennant 1785, p. 351
Loxia virginica Gmelin 1788, p. 849
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Virginia, United States.
Known only from the descriptions of Pennant and Latham, clearly from the same specimen. Unidentifiable, and ‘not an American bird’ (McAtee 1963).
Gmelin
Le Grisalbin. Buffon 1770–86, p. 467
Grosbec de Virginie. Daubenton 1770–86, 393, no. 1
Grey Grosbeak. Pennant 1785, p. 352
Loxia grisea Gmelin 1788, p. 857
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Virginia, United States.
Known only from Buffon’s description and Daubenton’s accompanying plate. Gmelin’s name was formerly used for the bird now known as Sporophila intermedia, the Grey Seedeater. Unidentifiable, and ‘not an American bird’ (McAtee 1963).
Linnaeus
Loxia butyracea Linnaeus 1758, p. 174 (India)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range India.
Known only from Linnaeus’s description. Unidentifiable.
(Linnaeus)
Chloris indicus. Edwards 1747, p. 84
Fringilla butyracea Linnaeus 1758, p. 181 (Madeira)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Madeira.
Known only from the descriptions of Edwards and Linnaeus. Never identified.
(Rothschild)
Oreomyza perkinsi Rothschild 1900, p. 129 (Puulehua, Hawaii)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Hawaii.
Known only from the type, a male, collected on Hawaii on 25 September 1891 by Perkins, in the Kona region of Hawaii. Considered to be a hybrid Common ’Amakihi Viridonia virens × Hawaiian Creeper Paroreomyza mana (Bryan & Greenway 1944; Amadon 1950).
Rothschild & Hartert
Sassius simplex Rothschild & Hartert 1926, p. 51 (no locality)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from the type, of unknown origin. Considered an artefact (Olson & Schifter 1989).
(Ridgway)
Aegiothus (flavirostris var) brewsteri Ridgway 1872, p. 434 (Waltham, Massachussets)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Massachusetts, United States.
Known only from the type specimen, collected on November 1, 1870. Considered by the AOU (1957) to be a hybrid Common Redpoll Carduelis flammea × Pine Siskin Spinus pinus.
(Ridgway)
Muscicapa minuta Wilson 1812, p. 62, pl. 50, fig. 5 (New Jersey)
Sylvania microcephala Ridgway 1885b, p. 354
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range New Jersey, United States.
Known only from the descriptions of Wilson (and later Audubon 1829). Chapman (1888) listed it as hypothetical.
Gmelin
Le figuier à gorge jaune. Buffon, 1770–86, p. 288
Ficedula ludoviciana Brisson 1760, p. 500, pl. 26, fig.4
Louisiane Warbler. Pennant 1785, p. 407
Motacilla ludoviciana Gmelin 1789, p. 983
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Louisiana, United States.
Known only from the descriptions of Pennant and others. Considered unidentifiable (McAtee 1963).
Gmelin
Le figuier a gorge jaune. Buffon 1770–86, p. 317
Orange-bellied Warbler. Pennant 1785, p. 410
Motacilla fulva Gmelin 1789, p. 973
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Louisiana, United States.
Known only from the descriptions of Pennant and others. Considered unidentifiable (McAtee 1963).
Gmelin
Le figuier a demi collier. Buffon 1770–86, p. 316
Half-collared Warbler. Pennant 1785, p. 410
Motacilla semitorquata Gmelin 1789, p. 972
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Louisiana, United States.
Known only from the descriptions of Pennant and others. Considered unidentifiable (McAtee 1963).
(Brisson)
Little Brown Sparrow? Catesby 1731, p. 35
Passerculus simpliciter Klein 1750, p. 89
Passer virginianus Brisson 1760, p. 101
Rush Warbler. Latham 1783, p. 420
Bush? Warbler. Pennant 1785, p. 415
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Carolina and Virginia, United States.
Known only from the description of Catesby, from which are derived those of Pennant and others. Considered unidentifiable (McAtee 1963).
(Linnaeus)
American Nightingale. Edwards 1750, p. 121, pl. 121, fig. 2
Motacilla calidris Linnaeus 1758, p. 184 (based on Edwards)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Jamaica.
Known only from the description of Edwards, and never satisfactorily identified.
Gmelin
Awatcha Warbler. Pennant 1785, p. 422 (possibly based on Pallas’s manuscript)
Motacilla awatcha Gmelin 1789, p. 986
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Kamtchatka.
Known only from Pennant’s description. Unidentifiable.
Gmelin
Long-billed Warbler. Pennant 1785, p. 420 (possibly based on Pallas’s manuscript)
Motacilla camtschatkensis Gmelin 1789, p. 986
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Kamtchatka.
Known only from Pennant’s description. Bechstein (1795) considered it to be an earlier name for Acrocephalus palustris. Unidentifiable.
(Langdon)
Helminthophaga cincinatiensis Langdon 1880, p. 119 (Madisonville, Hamilton County, Ohio)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Ohio, United States.
Known only from the type. Considered to represent a hybrid Blue-winged Warbler Vermivora pinus × Kentucky Warbler Oporornis formosus (Ridgway 1880; Graves 1988).
(Latham)
Sylvia cucullata Latham 1790, p. 528 (no locality)
Cowled Warbler. Latham 1801a, supplement p. 243
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Unknown.
Known only from Latham’s description, based on a specimen in the Leverian Museum. Not identifiable with any known species, but the name was formerly used, incorrectly, for Masked Yellowthroat Geothlypis aequinoctialis.
(Audubon)
Sylvia carbonata Audubon 1829, pl. 60 (near Henderson, Kentucky)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Kentucky, United States.
Known only from Audubon’s description, and plate of two specimens obtained in May 1811. Considered synonymous with the Cape May Warbler Dendroica tigrina (Jardine 1876), or a hybrid between Cape May Warbler and Blackpoll Warbler Dendroica striata (Coues 1884).
(Wilson)
Sylvia montana Wilson 1812, p. 113, pl. 44, fig. 2 (near the Blue Mountains, Virginia)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Virginia, United States.
Known only from the plates of Wilson and Audubon. Equated with Black-throated Green Warbler Dendroica virens (Mayr et al. 1986).
Haller
Dendroica potomac Haller 1940, p. 50 (12 miles south of Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range West Virginia, United States.
Known from a few specimens; generally regarded as a hybrid Yellow-throated Warbler Dendroica dominica × Northern Parula Parula americana (Dunn & Garnett 1997).
Yellow-tail Flycatcher. Edwards 1758, pl. 257, p. 101
Muscicapa ruticilla (part) Gmelin 1788, pt. 1, p. 935
Putative range Hispaniola, West Indies.
Known only from Edwards’s and Pennant’s descriptions. Unidentifiable.
(Cassin)
Cassicus melanurus Cassin 1867, p. 66 (Guayquil, Ecuador)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Guayquil, Ecuador.
Known only from the type. Meyer de Schauensee (1945) concluded that it is an artefact, being a typical example of a Mountain Cacique Cacicus chrysonotus leucoramphus with yellow feathers glued below.
Gil Lletget
Icterus xantholemus Gil Lletget 1918, p. 340 (Ecuador)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Ecuador.
Known only from the type, collected sometime between 1862 and 1865 by Don Manuel Villavicencio. Considered a possible hybrid, or immature Yellow-tailed Oriole I. mesomelas (Meyer de Schauensee 1966).
Sparrman
Emberiza Maelbyensis Sparrman 1786, tab. 21
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Maelby, Sweden.
Known only from Sparrman’s plate. Unidentifiable.
Linnaeus
Hortulanus Ludovicianus. Brisson 1760, p. 278
L’Ortolan de la Louisiane. Buffon 1770–86, p. 325
Louisiane Bunting. Pennant 1785, p. 363
Emberiza Ludovicia Linnaeus 1766, p. 310
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Louisiana, United States.
Known from the descriptions of Brisson and Buffon, from which those of Pennant and Latham derive. Unidentifiable, and ‘not an American bird’ (McAtee 1963).
(Gmelin)
Norton Finch. Latham 1783, p. 274
Fringilla nortoniensis Gmelin 1789, p. 922
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Norton Sound, Alaska.
Known only from the descriptions of Latham and Pennant. Unidentifiable (McAtee 1963).
(Gmelin)
Aoonalashkan Oriole. Latham 1782, p. 447
Unalaschka Oriole. Pennant 1785, p. 261
Oriolus aunalaschkensis Gmelin 1788, p. 394
Putative range Unalaska, Aleutian Islands.
Known only from the descriptions of Pennant and Latham. Unidentifiable (McAtee 1963).
(Gmelin)
Hudsonian White-headed Oriole. Pennant 1785, p. 260
Oriolus hudsonius Gmelin 1788, p. 387
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range Hudson’s Bay, Canada.
Known only from Pennant’s description of a specimen, now lost, in the Leverian Museum. McAtee (1963) considered it a partial albino, and unidentifiable.
Arnold
Ammodramus henslowii houstonensis Arnold 1983, p. 505 (Houston, Texas)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Texas.
Now considered to fall within the range of variation seen in A. henslowii (Browning 1990).
Gabrielson & Lincoln
Melospiza melodia amaka Gabrielson & Lincoln 1951, p. 253 (Amak Island, Aleutians)
Status Invalid taxon.
Range Amak Island, Aleutians, Alaska.
The island’s population of song sparrows disappeared at the start of the 1980s;the form amaka is now considered synonymous with Aleutian Song Sparrow M. m. sanaka (Pruett et al. 2003).
(Swarth)
Cactospiza giffordi Swarth 1929, p. 32 (Indefatigable Island, Galápagos)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Indefatigable Island, Galápago Islands.
Known only from the type, an adult male collected by E. W. Gifford on January 18, 1906. Considered an aberrant Woodpecker Finch C. pallidus or hybrid C. pallidus × Warbler Finch Certhidea olivacea (Lack 1947; Paynter 1970).
Swarth
Camarhynchus conjunctus Swarth 1929, p. 33 (Charles Island, Galápagos)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Charles Island, Galápagos Islands.
Known from two specimens, both adult males collected by Rollo Beck on February 28, 1906. Now considered to be a hybrid Small Tree Finch Camarhynchus parvulus × Warbler Finch Certhidea olivacea (McCarthy 2006).
Swarth
Camarhynchus aureus Swarth 1929, p. 32 (Chatham Island, Galápagos)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range Chatham Island, Galápagos Islands.
Known only from the type, an adult male collected by E. W. Gifford on January 25, 1906. Now considered to be a hybrid Small Tree Finch Camarhynchus parvulus × Warbler Finch Certhidea olivacea (McCarthy 2006).
Angelini
Paroaria humberti Angelini 1901, p. 17 (South America)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range South America.
Known only from the type in the Zoological Museum, Rome, an aviary bird. Considered to be a melanistic specimen of the Red-cowled Cardinal Paroaria dominicana (Hellmayr 1938).
(Sclater)
Calliste gouldi Sclater 1886, p. 849 (south-eastern Brazil)
Status Invalid taxon.
Putative range South-eastern Brazil.
Known only from the type in Tring, and a second specimen in the Rivoli (Massena) Collection in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Bond (1947) and Storer (1970) considered it to be a hybrid Brassy-breasted Tanager Tangara desmaresti × Gilt-edged Tanager Tangara cyanoventris.
Berlioz
Tangara arnaulti Berlioz 1927, p. 95 (South America)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Putative range South America.
Known only from the type, in Paris, a cage bird of uncertain origin. Considered a hybrid Chestnut-backed Tanager T. preciosa × Burnished-buff Tanager T. cayana (Storer 1970).
Sclater & Salvin
Chlorophanes purpurascens Sclater & Salvin 1873, p. 157 (Venezuela)
Status Doubtful taxon.
Range Unknown, but probably Trinidad.
Known only from the type, an adult male in Tring of uncertain origin. Considered to be a hybrid Red-legged Honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus × Green Honeycreeper Chlorophanes spiza (Storer 1957).