Deborah

In "The A.O.U. Check-list of North American Birds, 7th Edition, 1998", the
chickadees were moved from the genus Parus to the genus Poecile, based on
evidence which separated them from some of the Eurasian species of Parus (i.e.
Great Tit, Blue Tit, etc.)

In the 7th edition, the chickadees retained the same species names that they
had had when in the genus Parus.

In the new "42nd Supplement to the AOU Check-list of North American Birds" (The
Auk Vol. 117., No. 3, July 2000, pp 847-858) three of the species names were
corrected to reflect the fact that "poecile" is feminine whereas "parus" is
masculine.

P. atricapillus becomes P. atricapilla (Black-capped Chickadee)
P. hudsonicus becomes P. hudsonica (Boreal Chickadee)
P. cinctus becomes P. cincta (Gray-headed Chickadee)

== Michael Hobbs
== Washington Ornithological Society webmaster
== http://www.wos.org
== email: WOSweb at wos.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "Deborah Wisti-Peterson" <nyneve at u.washington.edu>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; "Deborah Wisti-Peterson"
<nyneve at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 2:22 PM
Subject: chickadee genus renamed?


>
> hello tweets,
>
> i seem to recall that recently the black-capped and chestnut-backed
> chickadees' genus was renamed from Poecile (because the name is in
> the feminine article?). is this true? if so, can anyone tell me what
> the new genus name is now? can anyone send the reference for the
> article or paper where this change was made?
>
> regards,
>
> Deborah Wisti-Peterson, Girl Scientist nyneve at u.washington.edu
> Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
> Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
> <><><>Graduate School: it's not just a job, it's an indenture!<><><>
>
>