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Moving Your Life List from the Fifth to Sixth Edition of
"The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World."

Copyright (c) 2007, with all rights reserved, by Santa Barbara Software Products

Introduction
Changed names
Lumps

Splits
Genus revisions
Conclusion


INTRODUCTION

If your life list consists of checks next to species names in the fifth edition of Dr. Clements' book, information presented here will help you move it to the list of species names in the sixth edition of the book (2007: Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press). 
This information will also make it easy to record your fifth edition life list in a copy of our listing program BirdBase that uses the sixth edition species list.  And the information is in a BirdBase utility which almost completely automates transfer of data recorded in the program's fifth edition species list to the program's sixth edition species list.

Most of the information was received from Dr. Clements or was extracted from annual Supplements to the book's species list he published on his web site. Each type of taxonomical change that must be dealt with in moving your life list is considered in a separate section of this document.

You can print the document by clicking your Web browser's Print option.

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CHANGED NAMES

Many birds have sixth edition names different from their fifth edition names. But this can be handled if you keep the following in mind: Although changes in common names of birds are frequent and changes in scientific names of birds are frequent, changes in both the common name of a bird and that bird's scientific name are, fortunately, very infrequent. So if you cannot find a fifth edition bird in the sixth edition while comparing common names then look again while comparing scientific names, and vice versa. The reasons why common names change are often unclear. But for scientific names changes in the first of the two words forming them (the genus name) reflect taxonomical advances from DNA blood typing and other techniques. Changes in the second of the two words (the species name) occur rarely - except for changes in their endings to achieve gender and number agreement with the first word - because of the tradition that whoever initially describes a bird in the literature has the honor of assigning it a permanent scientific species name. Another tradition is to try to avoid using the same scientific species name more than once in any one family. And changing a bird's family hardly ever happens. Thus to find the new scientific name of a bird you usually must inspect only those in the bird's family. When you see one whose second word has the correct stem you probably have found it - but look for additional occurrences in the family of a second word with that stem.

Even when both the common and scientific names of a bird have been changed, in almost all cases you should still be able to match the new and old names. For example, the bird that appears in the fourth edition as Mascarene Black Petrel, Pseudobulweria aterrima is the Mascarene Petrel, Pterodroma aterrima in the fifth edition. Both its common name and genus name have been changed, but it is easy to match the new names with the old names. For another example, the Marquesas Swiftlet, Aerodramus ocista in a Supplement to the fourth edition species list is the Marquesan Swiftlet, Aerodramus ocistus in the fifth edition. Here the common name and the ending of the scientific species name have changed, but there is no problem in matching the new and old names.

If your best efforts are unsuccessful in finding a fifth edition bird in the sixth edition it was probably lumped. This change is considered in the next section.

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LUMPS

If species B on your fifth edition life list has been lumped (i.e., combined) with species A you should put species A on your sixth edition life list, whether or not species A was also on your fifth edition life list. If it was not on your fifth edition life list there is no change in your life list count. But if species A was also on your fifth edition life list then, alas, your life list count will be reduced by one.

Every lump that has been made from the publication of the fifth edition of Dr. Clements' book to the publication of the sixth edition is listed below. One line is used to describe each lump. With two exceptions, an abbreviated form is used for the second genus in a line, which is the same as the first genus.

Alauda japonica lumped with A. arvensis

Butorides sundevalli lumped with B. striata

Colaptes melanolaimus lumped with C. melanochloros

Copsychus stricklandii lumped with C. malabaricus

Corapipo leucorrhoa lumped with C. altera

Cranioleuca dissita lumped with C. vulpina

Dendrocopos nanus lumped with D. moluccensis

Diomedea amsterdamensis lumped with D. exulans

Heteromyias cinerefrons lumped with H. albispecularis

Hirundo domicola lumped with H. tahitica

Hirundo obsoleta lumped with Ptyonoprogne fuligula

Ixobrychus novaezelandiae lumped with I. minutus

Lonchura leucosticta lumped with L. tristissima

Lonchura nigriceps lumped with Spermestes bicolor

Motacilla lugens lumped with M. alba

Myrmotherula obscura lumped with M. ignota

Nothoprocta kalinowskii lumped with N. ornata

Phyllastrephus placidus lumped with P. cabanisi

Phyllomyias zeledoni lumped with P. burmeisteri

Phylloscopus nitidus lumped with P. trochiloides

Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus lumped with P. trochiloides

Pogoniulus makawai lumped with P. bilineatus

Polioptila maranonica lumped with P. plumbea

Psalidoprocne antinorii lumped with P. pristoptera

Psalidoprocne chalybea lumped with P. pristoptera

Psalidoprocne holomelas lumped with P. pristoptera

Psalidoprocne mangebettorum lumped with P. pristoptera

Psalidoprocne oleaginea lumped with P. pristoptera

Psalidoprocne orientalis lumped with P. pristoptera

Psalidoprocne petiti lumped with P. pristoptera

Pseudocolaptes johnsoni lumped with P. lawrencii

Pteroglossus erythropygius lumped with P. torquatus

Pteroglossus mariae lumped with P. azara

Pteroglossus sanguineus lumped with P. torquatus

Ramphastos citreolaemus lumped with R. vitellinus

Ramphastos culminatus lumped with R. vitellinus

Ramphastos cuvieri lumped with R. tucanus

Ramphastos swainsonii lumped with R. ambiguus

Scytalopus infasciatus lumped with S. griseicollis

Scytalopus nigracans lumped with S. atratus

Zoothera horsfieldi lumped with Z. dauma

Zoothera major lumped with Z. dauma

Zosterops kulambangrae lumped with Z. rendovae

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SPLITS

Lumps are disliked by most birders since they tend to decrease life list counts and definitely increase the difficulty of keeping life lists up to date. Splits also increase the difficulty. But this is more than compensated for by the fact that splits can increase life list counts.

Whether or not a split is going to let you increase your life list count depends on whether or not you have seen both of the species resulting from the split. You can often determine if you have - providing you wrote multiple locations next to the check for the split species - by comparing the locations with the ranges of the two species. Brief descriptions of the ranges of each species are in the sixth edition of the book. And detailed range information is in our range data program BirdArea.

The list below shows every split that has been made from the publication of the fifth edition of Dr. Clements' book to the publication of the sixth edition. One line is used to describe each split. With a few exceptions the abbreviated form described above is used for the second genus in a line. The species produced by a split has been  inserted in the same genus as the species that was split, or in the new genus of the species that was split if its genus was changed, usually right after the species that was split.

Aethopyga bella split from A. shelleyi

Alario leucolaemus split from Serinus alario

Amytornis ballarae split from A. purnelli

Amytornis merrotsyi split from A. striatus

Anas carolinensis split from A. crecca

Anthus nyassae split from A. similis

Apteryx mantelli split from A. australis

Apteryx rowi split from A. australis

Aquila hastata split from A. pomarina

Aratinga alticola split from A. mitrata

Arses lorealis split from A. telescopthalmus

Aulacorhynchus albivitta split from A. prasinus

Aulacorhynchus atrogularis split from A. prasinus

Aulacorhynchus caeruleogularis split from A. prasinus

Aulacorhynchus cognatus split from A. prasinus

Aulacorhynchus lautus split from A. prasinus

Aulacorhynchus wagleri split from A. prasinus

Automolus paraensis split from A. infuscatus

Baeolophys atricristatus split from B. bicolor

Bleda notata split from B. eximia

Branta hutchinsii split from B. canadensis

Buteo poecilochrous split from B. polysoma

Calandrella erlangeri split from C. blanfordi

Calendulauda alopex split from Mirafra africanoides

Calonectris edwardsii split from C. diomedea

Capito auratus split from C. niger

Caprimulgus andamanicus split from C. macrurus

Caracara cheriway split from C. plancus

Cecropsis badia split from Hirundo daurica

Chaetura fumosa split from C. spinicauda

Chaetura ocypetes split from C. brachyura

Chaetura ocypetes split from C. brachyura

Chersomanes beesleyi split from C. albofasciata

Chlamydotis macqueenii split from C. undulata

Corvus cornix split from C. corone

Corvus edithae split from C. ruficollis

Cracticus argenteus split from C. torquatus

Cranioleuca vulpecula split from C. vulpina

Cuculus fugax split from C. fugax

Cuculus hyperythrus split from C. fugax

Cyanistes teneriffae split from C. caeruleus

Cyanoramphus cookii split from C. novaezelandiae

Cyanoramphus saissetti split from C. novaezelandiae

Dendragapus fuliginosus split from D. obscurus

Dendroica delicata split from D. adelaidae

Dendroica subita split from D. adelaidae

Dicrurus modestus split from D. adsimilis

Egretta gularis split from E. garzetta

Emberiza vincenti split from E. capensis

Estrilda kandti split from E. atricapilla

Ficedula albicilla split from F. parva

Ficedula speculigera split from F. hypoleuca

Formicarius monileger split from F. analis

Gallinago delicata split from G. gallinago

Geotrygon leucometopius split from G. caniceps

Gyps tenuirostris split from G. indicus

Harpactes mackloti split from H. reinwardtii

Harpactes mackloti split from H. reinwardtii

Hemispingus auricularis split from H. atropileus

Hemispingus piurae split from H. melanotis

Hemitriccus griseipectus split from H. zosterops

Hippolais opaca split from H. pallida

Hylocharis humboldtii split from H. grayi

Hypnelus bicinctus split from H. ruficollis

Icterus croconotus split from I. icterus

Icterus fuertesi split from I. spurius

Icterus jamacaii split from I. icterus

Icterus prosthemelas split from I. dominicensis

Inezia caudata split from I. subflava

Knipolegus franciscanus split from K. aterrimus

Lagonosticta fuscocrissa split from Ortygospiza atricollis

Laniarius amboimensis split from L. luehderi

Laniarius brauni split from L. luehderi

Laniarius poensis split from L. fuelleborni

Lepidocolaptes falcinellus split from L. squamatus

Loxia megaplaga split from L. leucoptera

Loxia megaplaga split from L. leucoptera

Loxigilla barbadensis split from L. noctis

Machaeropterus striolatus split from M. regulus

Megascops napensis split from Otus vermiculatus

Megascops roraimae split from Otus vermiculatus

Melanerpes pulcher split from M. chrysauchen

Melaniparus guineensis split from M. leucomelas

Mirafra affinis split from M. assamica

Mirafra erythrocephala split from M. assamica

Mirafra fasciolata split from M. apiata

Mirafra microptera split from M. assamica

Motacilla tschutschensis split from M. flava

Muscisaxicola griseus split from M. alpina

Myiarga nanna split from M. inquieta

Myophonus borneensis split from M. glaucinus

Myophonus castaneus split from M. glaucinus

Myrmotherula ignota split from M. brachyura

Neopelma chrysolophum split from N. aurifrons

Ninox japonica split from N. scutulata

Ninox randi split from N. scutulata

Notharchus swainsoni split from N. macrorhynchos

Ochthoeca frontalis split from Silvicultrix frontalis

Ochthoeca spodionota split from Silvicultrix frontalis

Ochthoeca thoracica split from O. cinnamomeiventris

Onychorhynchus mexicanus split from O. coronatus

Onychorhynchus occidentalis split from O. coronatus

Orthonyx novaeguineae split from O. temminckii

Otus mayottensis split from O. rutilus

Parmoptila jamesoni split from P. rubrifrons

Passer cordofanicus split from P. motitensis

Passer rufocinctus split from P. motitensis

Passer shelleyi split from P. motitensis

Phoenicopterus roseus split from P. ruber

Phyllomyias urichi split from P. reiseri

Phylloscopus canariensis split from P. collybita

Phylloscopus forresti split from P. proregulus

Phylloscopus humei split from P. inornatus

Phylloscopus ibericusi split from P. collybita

Phylloscopus orientalis split from P. bonelli

Pica hudsonia split from P. pica

Picoides arizonae split from P. stricklandi

Picoides dorsalis split from P. tridactylus

Ploceus katangae split from P. velatus

Ploceus ruweti split from P. reichardi

Ploceus vitellinus split from P. velatus

Prionops rufiventris split from P. caniceps

Pseudoseisura unirufa split from P. cristata

Pterodroma atrata split from P. arminjoniana

Pterodroma sandwichensis split from P. phaeopygia

Puffinus mauretanicus split from P. yelkouan

Pyrrhura amazonum split from P. picta

Pyrrhura caeruleiceps split from P. picta

Pyrrhura eisenmanni split from P. picta

Pyrrhura lucianii split from P. picta

Pyrrhura peruviana split from P. picta

Pyrrhura roseifrons split from P. picta

Pyrrhura snethlage split from P. picta

Pyrrhura subandina split from P. picta

Pytila lineata split from P. phoenicoptera

Rhipidura albiscapa split from R. fuliginosa

Rhipidura dryas split from R. rufifrons

Rhynchostruthus louisae split from R. socotranus

Riparia diluta split from R. riparia

Rosratula australis split from R. benghalensis

Rostratula australis split from R. benghalensis

Seicercus soror split from S. burkii

Seicercus tephrocephalus split from S. burkii

Seicercus valentini split from S. burkii

Seicercus whistleri split from S. burkii

Serinus corsicanus split from S. citrinella

Serinus flavivertex split from S. canicollis

Serinus frontalis split from S. citrinelloides

Serinus hyposticutus split from S. citrinelloides

Serinus melanochrous split from S. burtoni

Serinus reichenowi split from S. atrogularis

Serinus whytii split from S. striolatus

Sphecotheres vieilloti split from S. viridis

Spizaetus floris split from S. cirrhatus

Sula granti split from S. dactylatra

Sylvia balearic split from S. sarda

Sylvia crassirostris split from S. hortensis

Sylvia deserti split from S. nana

Sylvia margelanica split from S. minula

Topaza pyra split from T. pella

Turdoides hartlaubii split from T. leucopygius

Turdoides sharpei split from T. melanops

Xiphorhynchus chunchotambo split from X. ocellatus

Xiphorhynchus elegans split from X. spixii

Xiphorhynchus guttatoides split from X. guttatus

Xiphorhynchus juruanus split from X. spixii

Zoothera joiceyi split from Z. dumasi

Zoothera leucolaema split from Z. interpres

Zoothera mendeni split from Z. erythronota

Zoserops stalkeri split from Z. atrifrons

Zosterops nehrkorni split from Z. atrifrons

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GENUS REVISIONS

Taxonomical revisions of two genera have taken place since publication of the fifth edition. These revisions added new species to a genus. But they are not newly discovered species. Nor are they splits since the added species do not spring from individual species already in the genus. Specifically, Dr. Clements added species in the genus Larus between the species thayeri and ichthyaetus.  He also made various revisions for species in the genus Atlapetes between the species rufinucha and semirufus.

If for these two genera some of its species are on your life list compare the location at which you saw each of them with the ranges of all the species in the genus, using the range information in the sixth edition of the book or the more detailed range information in our range data program BirdArea. Such comparisons may suggest replacing a species originally on your life list by a different one. If you saw a species in several locations it is possible that you will decide to replace it by more than one different species, or retain it but add one or more different species to your life list.

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CONCLUSION

If serious birders should take your life list seriously, putting it on the sixth edition species list should be done accurately. This document provides most of the information needed to do so.

We would appreciate your telling other birders that the document is available at our web site birdbase.com and we believe they would appreciate it also. An effective way to do this is to send a message to a mailing list such as BirdChat or EuroBirdNet or to a news group like rec.birds or uk.rec.birdwatching.

You can print this document by using your Web browser's Print option.

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