Ian Paulsen says that Olsen and Larsson, in their new gull book, have made some interesting changes in taxonomy, such as
2) Heuglin's Gull is split from Lesser Black-backed Gull
3) Vega and American Herring Gulls are split from Herring Gull
Ian asks, "Are these standard splits in the works or ha[ve they] jumped the gun on the
splits?" Ian, I don't know what a "standard split" would mean. Do you mean "official," as in the official AOU list? But look: opinions differ, and even if the AOU or BOU or some other organization of ornithologists were to adopt these changes, it would still be a matter of weighing opinions. Some of the changes you list are adjustments in the circumpolar smithsonianus-vegae-heuglini-argentatus complex, which may be the world's finest example of a complicated superspecies. Taxa such as vegae and heuglini are semispecies, but there's no official way to designate a semispecies, so some folks will want to call them subspecies and others will call them species. I haven't read the book; maybe these guys have new information about gene flow or lack of it between populations. If so, that may be the basis for their proposals. Otherwise, you pays your money to join the game and you takes your choice.

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503