Musing on Naming

Busy prepping for the start of the summer semester today, so here's a few shots from other places:

American Robin, (Turdus migratorius), Waukegan Beach,
Lake Co, IL 5/7/2014

This is an American Robin (Turdus migratorius).

Northern Parula (Setophaga americana),
Tawas Point SP, Iosco Co, MI 5/24/2014

This one's a Northern Parula (Setophaga americana), one of the Wood-Warblers (Parulidae).

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris),
Waukegan Beach, Lake Co, IL 5/20/2012 

And this one's a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventris), one of the Tyrant Flycatchers (Tyrannidae).

What do these three have in common? They are all part of an explanation for why I insist on including scientific names, even when, as here, they have standardized common names as well.

I don't have a picture of a European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), never having traveled to Europe, but it isn't in the same family as ours. Ours is a Thrush (family Turdidae), whereas the European version is in the family Muscicapidae, or Old-World Flycatchers. Here's another example of an Old-World Flycatcher:

Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis), National Aviary,
Pittsburgh, PA 3/28/2012

This is an Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis), from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, PA. (Well worth the visit!) They're named Old-World Flycatchers to distinguish them from our Tyrant Flycatchers (family Tyrannidae), which aren't closely related at all!

Similarly, our Wood-Warblers got their name because of a perceived resemblance to Old-World Warblers (formerly Sylviidae, now split into several families). Here's an example, in the new family Phylloscopidae:


Arctic Warbler, (Phylloscopus borealis), Salmon Lake, Nome, AK 8/10/2012

This is an Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopus borealis), from Salmon Lake, north of Nome, AK.

Where did this hodge-podge of names come from? There are several sources of confusion. First, when the first Europeans began settling the New World, they naturally named the critters they saw after familiar species. (Sci-fi authors do this a lot, even today.) Once we started to learn how different things were here, the common names were in such everyday use that changing them would be impossible. Second, our ideas of avian taxonomy have changed a lot since the 18th and 19th century when most of the names were being worked out. So much so, in fact, that it would be amazing if common names still fit. Here's a couple of examples of that process:


Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus),
Lake Co, IL 11/2/2012

Rose-breasted Grosbeak, (Pheucticus ludovicianus),
Hardwick Pines SP, Crawford Co, MI 5/22/2012

These are both Grosbeaks, but the Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) is in the family Fringillidae and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) is in the family Cardinalidae. And speaking of the family Cardinalidae:



Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
Louisville Zoo, KY, 3/28/2012

Red-capped Cardinal (Paroaria capitata)
Lincoln Park Zoo, IL 11/30/2013

The one on the left is a Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). The one on the right is a Red-capped Cardinal (Paroaria capitata), which was thought to be in Cardinalidae when named, but is now considered to be a tanager, in the family Thraupidae. That's okay, though, because our North American tanagers are now considered to be in the family Cardinalidae!

Summer Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana),
Konza Prairie, Riley Co, KS 5/23/2013

The nice thing about using the scientific names is that it's very easy to simply reassign the groups to other groups, without having to change the finer details. So we could move the Piranga tanagers to the Cardinalidae without having to actually change their names. The price we pay, of course, is a set of common names that bears less resemblance to modern taxonomic ideas with every passing paper.

And that's why scientific names will continue to be used!