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Bu.touGu, W. S. 1960. Practical invertebrate anatomy. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan.
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FiscHer, P. H., Duvat, M. & Rarry, A. 1933. Etudes sur les échanges respiratoires des littorines. Archives de zoologie
expérimentale et générale 74 (33): 627-634.
Koun, A. J. 1960a. Ecological notes on Conus (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in the Trincomalee region of Ceylon. Annals and
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Koun, A. J. 19606. Spawning behaviour, egg masses and larval development in Conus from the Indian Ocean. Bulletin of
the Bingham Oceanographic Collection, Yale University 17 (4): 1-51.
THIELE, J. 1910. Mollusca. B. Polyplacophora, Gastropoda marina, Bivalvia. In: SCHULTZE, L. Zoologische und anthro-
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ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM
ANNALE VAN DIE SUID-AFRIKAANSE MUSEUM
Volume 104 Band
February 1996 Februarie
Part 12 #£Deel
ON THE MOULT, BREEDING SEASON,
AND DISTINCTIVENESS
OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN AVOCETS
RECURVIROSTRA AVOSETTA
(AVES, CHARADRITI)
By
R. K. BROOKE
Cape Town Kaapstad
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ON THE MOULT, BREEDING SEASON AND DISTINCTIVENESS
OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN AVOCETS
RECURVIROSTRA AVOSETTA (AVES, CHARADRII)
By
R. K. BROOKE
Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town and
South African Museum
(With 1 figure and 2 tables)
[MS accepted 14 July 1995]
ABSTRACT
Evidence was sought for the occurrence of Palearctic-bred black-crowned avocets,
Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus, in southern Africa, primarily through time of moult of the
primaries. No specimen of even probable Palearctic origin was found in South African
collections. There is no reason to believe that Palearctic birds regularly come south of Lake
Turkana in northern Kenya. Active moult has been noted between August and March.
Breeding may take place at any time in southern Africa but July to October are the principal
egg-laying months. Breeding is widespread but highly opportunistic in dry areas. Many pairs
breed solitarily, small colonies are not rare, but colonies in excess of 100 pairs are known
only from the Etosha National Park, Namibig. Iris colour of adults does not serve to dis-
tinguish southern African-bred birds from Palearctic ones. Southern African birds are shorter
winged than Palearctic birds but probably have greater mass. There is no sexual dimorphism
in linear measurements, as there is in Palearctic birds.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PTLEROM IC HOM pee aac soe cece cc esis cio sism Gis os wists o Chi lates miee eis etme Se ace olan eee ele EOS EE SCOR Ian 395
ISOS, ac oee Beeps BIS EN OBRESEIS cer SHTEICIaTORL IE se attra ame alhi Peeper MN PEE i 396
NTOnIMOfsEe PrIMAnies rer cee cece sects sok eee See eee ast eE ees oticie mates Mere ae area tenner 396
Bicedin paseason) andidistrioution 2. vesan. cee sueueeelesacsbia selec coe ctncis Gabece seat ce neuter ae meee es 396
BVICASUREC MCN ES isis elateisaiere ef sicscie ss as old wigereisigire'a Siviserotsisnie sie erSias idole amie wiacneicleuimeleue cisco eme seememinee 397
FAST ATIC EDEN ALES: COLOULS yecagcencsccaencet ncaa foie cd eee Sia PARR e Mama eeieeS ene at maatiaee 400
COMSERV ALONG Ass aen saceenneac ce aemanccucetan stasemecsusaseeh aodemanccmadsenece saveumace toes aeeeeceee 400
PACKMOWICUSEMEN(Sa aoc e ccc ctatece cas ceeceaiesecsinc ne Moe eee ae alee sole sisted atin ta erecta neces 401
IRELCLETICES rere ep Seen cea acs etad seek oe aaa ROR NR eet na iinw de eiatd Seale renee ose cue sen ane 401
ADPENCIRGE OVNONVINY «crc accnese scence tnclasencuslacaisienme eae ommcibue hoemee ee aocumamecenmanaontas 403
ADPETICI X42 =P Breedin% LOCALITIES i. cco. ane sie cain ae sinaeieiere varseisrua cisejicte sie nclelaeeteete wa ae esie ealalos soles 404
INTRODUCTION
Whether or not Palearctic-bred black-crowned avocets Recurvirostra avo-
setta Linnaeus (see synonymy in Appendix 1) reach southern Africa is disputed
on a priori grounds in the absence of data. For instance, among recent workers,
Clancey (1980: 75) says ‘Perhaps mainly visitor from Palearctic’; Maclean
(1985: 261) says ‘some birds resident and nomadic; others possibly nonbreeding
Palearctic migrants’; Urban (1986: 196) says ‘southern African populations
probably Afrotropical in origin’, a view that Pinto (1983) takes in respect of
Angolan birds.
Following the approach of Brooke & Herroelen (1988) on distinguishing
Afrotropical and Palearctic populations of the European bee-eater Merops
395
Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 104 (12), 1996: 395-404, 1 fig, 2 tables.
396 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM
apiaster Linnaeus, I thought it possible that a study of the timing of the post-
breeding moult of the primary wing feathers of specimens might elucidate the
problem of whether Palearctic-bred R. avosetta reach southern Africa on
migration. Palearctic birds lay eggs chiefly between April and June (Cramp &
Simmons 1983) and southern African ones chiefly between August and
November (Maclean 1985).
METHODS
Specimens from the natural history museums listed in Acknowledgements
were borrowed and examined at the South African Museum, along with that
institution’s collection. Southern Africa provided 26 specimens: the three Cape
Provinces 7, Namibia 17, KwaZulu-Natal 2; western Europe 7 specimens.
Breeding localities are given in Appendix 2.
MOULT OF THE PRIMARIES
The moult of the primaries in southern African R. avosetta is descendant,
and either symmetrical or close to it. Interrupted moult occurs in four of the
adult specimens examined, presumably to facilitate opportunistic breeding in
semi-arid and arid areas: two of these specimens are labelled as having gonads
in full breeding condition. Four specimens show evidence of wave moult or,
perhaps, resumption of moult at a point other than where it was interrupted.
Active moult was found in some southern African birds taken in August,
November, December, February, and March. Others taken between November
and February are in worn plumage, not fresh. In Palearctic birds, moult occurs
chiefly from July to September (Cramp & Simmons 1983). Since Palearctic
birds reach Morocco only in late August and would not reach Subsaharan Africa
until, probably, October (Cramp & Simmons 1983), I conclude that if Palearctic
birds occur in southern Africa, they do so in small numbers and have not been
among the specimens examined. They would be in fresh plumage at a time when
most southern African-bred birds were moulting their primaries or were in worn
plumage.
BREEDING SEASON AND DISTRIBUTION
It is clear from Table 1 that August is the principal month in which southern
African R. avosetta lay eggs, both in the winter rainfall south-western Cape and
in the summer rainfall areas. However, far more than in the south-western
Cape, opportunistic laying occurs in the semi-desert Karoo and regions to the
north when conditions are suitable (e.g. Winterbottom & Rowan 1962). The
November to May breeding records are examples of this. For instance, on
27 March 1989 I found a pair of avocets with two downy young on a farm dam
(Boomrivier) in Bushmanland between Pofadder and Kenhardt, where the
grandson of the owner told me that the dam had last held water in 1976.
Southern African R. avosetta are not obligate colonial breeders. Judging by
the Southern African Ornithological Society (SAOS) nest record cards, the
majority breed in small colonies of fewer than a dozen pairs and solitary
SOUTHERN AFRICAN AVOCETS RECURVIROSTRA AVOSETTA 397
breeding is not rare: I have only seen one colony, and that a small one. How-
ever, in the Etosha National Park, Namibia, large colonies with well over
100 breeding pairs may be found, at least in some years (Namibian nest record
card collection). These records were not used for breeding season analysis
(Table 1) since they would swamp the data from single pairs and small colonies
found elsewhere. ‘Intensive recording of a few colonies [in one area] is a major
source of bias in the patterns of these species’ (Benson et al. 1964: 31).
TABLE |
Southern African breeding records of Recurvirostra avosetta backdated to the months
in which the eggs were certainly or probably laid.
J A S O N D J 1s) M A M J
South-western Cape (predominantly winter rainfall)
4 68 50 14 1 _ _ = 1 1 _ 4
Outside the south-western Cape (predominantly summer rainfall)
15 26 1 12 5 7 3 1 5 10 3 4
Sources: Southern African Ornithological Society nest record card collection, the Namibian
nest record card collection other than those for the Etosha National Park, W. R. J. Dean’s
nest record card collection, Sandberg (1908), Wyndham (1942), Vincent (1945),
Broekhuysen & MacLeod (1948), MacLeod et al. (1951), Farkas (1962), Winterbottom &
Rowan (1962), Robson & Sinclair (1976), Berruti (1980), Anon. (1981), MacCallum (1985),
MacCallum & MacCallum (1985), Tarboton et al. (1987), Williams (1989), Tree (1992b),
Skinner (1993), and personal records.
Breeding localities obtained from the literature, nest record card collections
and personal observations are listed in Appendix 2 and mapped in Figure 1. It
must be understood that in most cases opportunistic breeding takes place at
these sites only when suitable waters are available. There is no fixed breeding
range as in some species. Despite Pinto’s (1983) doubts, R. avosetta probably
also breeds at times in semi-arid south-western Angola.
MEASUREMENTS
Roberts (1932) pointed out that southern African R. avosetta were shorter
winged than those of the Palearctic (214-222 mm vs 220-235 mm). This point
does not seem to have been followed up. Measurements of specimens examined
are presented in Table 2 from which it appears that the point is well made. Cul-
men lengths in both sexes are equivalent to those of females in western Europe
given by Roselaar in Cramp & Simmons (1983). Tarsus lengths in both sexes
are intermediate between those of males and females in western Europe (Cramp
& Simmons 1983). Southern African birds do not show the sexual dimorphism
in these characters shown by Palearctic birds.
Urban’s (1986) mass data for R. avosetta are confused. The figures for
15 southern African birds ranging between 270 and 390 g are entered twice.
Four females from Botswana are stated to weigh 202-217 g. These are the wing
lengths given by Ginn (1976) for four females, and not weights at all.
Present knowledge of mass data shows that southern African birds appear to
be heavier than east African or Palearctic birds, though the difference is not
398 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM
significant. For southern Africa, Summers & Waltner (1979) gave 270-390 g,
av. (15) 318.7 g (used by Maclean 1985 and Urban 1986). SAFRING’s mass
data file gives 274.5-366 g, av. (13) 326.9 g. Setting aside the females from
Botswana mentioned above, Urban (1986) gave the masses of two males from
Botswana as 375.8 and 385.9 g: these figures come from Ginn (1976). Ginn
(1976) added for females 311.1-348.1 g, av. (6) 324 g.
q4°S
a
a —
aK) oe
ZIMBABWE
NAMIBIA
BOTSWANA =
OY as " |
26 — aa an
30 —
oh he
14 18 22 28 30 34
10°E
Fig. 1. Map showing southern African localities where Recurvirostra avosetta has bred
(listed in Appendix 2).
For east Africa, Britton (1970) gave 225-305 g, av. (5) 266 g for unsexed
birds, 270 g for one female and 285 g for one male. Urban (1986) added
195-265 g for 15 unsexed birds and SAFRING’s mass data file 225-310 g,
av. (10) 274.8 g, s.d. 25.39. Masses of adult Palearctic birds given by Roselaar
in Cramp & Simmons (1983) range 219-435 g, av. (42) 298.2 g. It appears that
the shorter wing length of southern African birds is not reflected in a lower
mass than in Palearctic birds, allowing for the larger sample of Palearctic birds.
Southern African birds may actually be even heavier on average than Palearctic
birds.
399
SOUTHERN AFRICAN AVOCETS RECURVIROSTRA AVOSETTA
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400 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM
IRIS AND PLUMAGE COLOURS
Tree (1992a) has recently pointed out that all the adult southern African
R. avosetta he has handled have had red irides, not brown as in Palearctic birds
(Cramp & Simmons 1983). This observation is supported by some published
colour photographs: Newman (1979: 99), Frandsen (1982: 98), Ginn (1989:
256), Hockey (1991: 53), but not by Nichol’s breeding bird (1971: 71) and
Sinclair (1984: 117), both of which have brown irides. An examination of the
FitzPatrick Institute’s slide collection revealed 38 slides showing a red iris and
24 showing a brown one. Some of the birds with brown irides may well have
been immatures, as stated by Tree (1992a). Seven were sitting on nests. From
details of the background, it is clear that in several cases multiple slides were
taken of particular individuals, and that it would not be warranted to claim that
seven separate birds with brown irides were photographed on the nest in the
Western Cape Province. To reduce the number of brown-eyed adults still
further, at least one shows a red iris in some slides. It is clear that the majority
of southern African adult R. avosetta have red irides.
However, the iris colour of Palearctic birds seems to have been markedly
over-simplified by Cramp & Simmons (1983). In the primary literature, Hartert
(1921) stated that the iris colour is dark red-brown to nut-brown, but does not
mention a sex linkage. Meinertzhagen (1943) and Glutz von Blotzheim et al.
(1977) stated that males have red or red-brown irides and females hazel irides.
Hayman ef al. (1986) stated that the colour is brown, but their illustration shows
a bird with a red-brown iris. It appears that iris colour is not a practical means
of separating Palearctic and southern African R. avosetta.
There is some tendency for southern African birds to have more melanin,
or lesser areas of white, in the inner primaries than in Palearctic birds. But
again, the character is not absolute and cannot by itself be used to distinguish
Palearctic and southern African-bred R. avosetta.
CONSERVATION
The mensural data presented above and in Table 2, support the view that
southern African breeding R. avosetta do not form part of the population that
breeds in the Palearctic. That Palearctic birds do reach Subsaharan Africa is
shown by a ringing recovery from Senegal (Glutz von Blotzheim et al. 1977).
In addition, the great flocks seen locally in west Africa during the northern
winter, summarized in Urban (1986), are almost certainly Palearctic birds in
their winter quarters. Britton (1980) considered the regular occurrence of
Palearctic birds to be doubtful in East Africa south of Lake Turkana. This
seems a correct appreciation and is supported by Dowsett (1978), Cramp &
Simmons (1983) and Urban (1986).
It has been shown above that southern African breeding black-crowned
avocets R. avosetta are a distinct biological entity. Some consideration should
therefore be given to the need for conservation of southern African breeding
birds. Drainage and alteration of wetlands has deprived them of some breeding
sites, as on the Cape Flats where the sites mentioned by Wyndham (1942),
Broekhuysen & MacLeod (1948) and MacLeod et al. (1951) have almost
SOUTHERN AFRICAN AVOCETS RECURVIROSTRA AVOSETTA 401
entirely been drained and built over. But the species readily breeds at man-made
waterbodies when conditions are suitable. Because it is predominantly an inhabi-
tant of drier areas, it breeds opportunistically, and unpredictably, at temporarily
suitable sites. Temporarily suitable sites may dry up before the young have
fledged. They are then subject to mammalian predation. This could be mitigated
by adding water to such sites, but in semi-arid areas such water is not normally
available.
Active management on behalf of R. avosetta does not seem to be needed in
the absence of widespread threats to its well-being as a breeding species. Fur-
thermore, it is exceedingly difficult to institute proactive conservation for a
species without a fixed breeding range.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am obliged to the directors and ornithologists of the Durban Natural
Science Museum, the East London Museum, the South African Museum, Cape
Town, the State Museum, Windhoek, the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, and the
Institute of Taxonomic Zoology, Amsterdam, for access to or the loan of speci-
mens. I am obliged to Dr T. B. Oatley, officer in charge of SAFRING, for mass
data and for the loan of SAOS nest recoyd cards; to Mr J. A. Harrison, officer
in charge of SABAP, for a list of breeding localities in the atlas data as at the
end of 1990; to Dr C. J. Brown for photocopies of Namibian nest record cards;
to Mr W. R. J. Dean for photocopies of his nest record cards; and to Dr D. W.
Snow for highly pertinent comments on an earlier version of this work.
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412-413. London: H. F. & G. Witherby.
Newman, K. 1979. Birdlife in southern Africa. Johannesburg: Macmillan, South Africa.
NIcHOL, W. 1971. Suid-Afrikaanse voéls fotobeelde in kleur, met beskrywings. Cape
Town: Tafelberg-Uitgewers.
Pinto, A. A. DAR. 1983. Ornitologia de Angola 1. Lisbon: Instituto de Investigagao
Cientifica Tropical.
REICHENOW, A. 1900. Die Vogel Afrikas 1. Neudamm: Neumann.
Roperts, A. 1932. Migration of African birds. Ostrich 3 (3): 97-109.
Rosson, N. F. & SINCLAIR, J. C. 1976. Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta. In: New
distributional data. Ostrich 47 (4): 218.
SANDBERG, A. 1908. The fauna of the Barotse valley. Proceedings of the Rhodesia
Scientific Association 7: 31-42.
SEEBOHM, H. 1887. The geographical distribution of the Charadriidae or the plovers,
sandpipers, snipes, and their allies. London: Sotheran.
SHARPE, R. B. 1896. Catalogue of the Limicolae in the collection of the British Museum.
Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum 24: i-xii, 1-794.
SINcLAIR, J. C. 1984. Jan Sinclair’s field guide to the birds of southern Africa. Cape
Town: Struik Publishers.
SKEAD, C. J. 1967. Ecology of birds in the eastern Cape Province. Ostrich suppl. 7:
1-103.
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TREE, A. J. 1992b. The first successful breeding of avocets in Zimbabwe. Honeyguide 38
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WILLIAMS, J. 1989. Avocet and pratincole nesting at Chegutu. Honeyguide 35 (2): 71-73.
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—74,
SOUTHERN AFRICAN AVOCETS RECURVIROSTRA AVOSETTA 403
APPENDIX 1
Synonymy of Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus based primarily on Seebohm
(1887), Sharpe (1896), Reichenow (1900) and Hartert (1921).
Recurvirostra Linnaeus, 1758: 151. Type by monotypy Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus.
Scolopax Linnaeus, 1758: 145. Type by tautonomy Scolopax rusticola Linnaeus.
Avocetta Brisson, 1760: 538. Type by virtual tauttonomy Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus.
Himantopus Brisson, 1760: 46. Type by tautonomy Charadrius himantopus Linnaeus.
Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus, 1758: 151. Oland, Sweden.
Scolopax avocetta Scopoli, 1769: 92. Europe.
Avocetta recurvirostra Boddaert, 1783: 21. A typographical transposition of Linnaeus’s name
whose reference number is correctly given; probably not a use of Brisson’s generic
name.
Avocetta europaea Dumont, 1816: 339. Nom. nov. pro R. avosetta Linnaeus.
Recurvirostra tephroleuca Vieillot, 1820: 360. Senegal. Based on an immature or partly
leucistic specimen.
Recurvirostra fissipes C. L. Brehm, 1831: 686. Pomeranian coast of Germany.
Recurvirostra helebi A. E. Brehm, 1854: 84. Egypt.
Recurvirostra helevi A. E. Brehm, 1855: 326. Invalid correction of R. helebi A. E. Brehm.
Recurvirostra avosetta natans A. E. Brehm, 1866. Nomen nudum.
Recurvirostra sinensis Swinhoe, 1867: 401. Amoy (= Xiamen), China.
Himantopus avocetta Seebohm, 1885: 74. Europe.
404 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM
APPENDIX 2
Localities at which Recurvirostra avosetta have been recorded breeding in
southern Africa based on the Southern African Ornithological Society’s nest
record card collection (including author’s records), the Namibian nest record
card collection, the Dean nest record card collection, Southern African Bird
Atlas Project (SABAP) up to the end of 1990, and literature cited.
Western Cape Province: Rimmerskraal (Bredasdorp), Springfield Estates (Bredasdorp),
Alderman’s Farm (Somerset West), Eerste River estuary (Somerset West), Faure (Stellen-
bosch), Swartklip and other pans on the Cape Flats (Wyndham 1942; Broekhuysen &
MacLeod 1948; MacLeod et al. 1951), Strandfontein Sewage Works (Cape Flats), Rietvlei
(Milnerton), Bloubergstrand, Vissershok (Bellville), Occultdale (Durbanville),
Melkbosstrand, Duinefontein (Melkbosstrand), between Darling and Yzerfontein,
Yzerfontein, Saldanha, Langebaanweg, Gansefontein (Hopefield), between Langebaanweg
and Vredenburg, Velddrif (Layard & Sharpe 1884), Piketberg, Wadrifsoutpan, Barrydale,
Ladismith, Prince Albert, Nieuweveld Mnts (north of Beaufort West), Saucyskuil (south-east
of Beaufort West), Uniondale.
Eastern Cape Province: Aberdeen, Cradock (Skead 1967).
Northern Cape Province: Rietfontein Salt Works (coast of southern Namaqualand) (SAM),
Garies, Colesberg (Layard & Sharpe 1884), Groblershoop, 25 km north of Loxton,
Rooipoort (Middelpos), Calvinia, Kootjieskolk, between Williston and Carnarvon, between
Nieuwouldtville and Loeriesfontein, between Loeriesfontein and Kenhardt, Commissioner’s
Pan, Brandvlei, Boomrivier (between Kenhardt and Pofadder), between Pofadder and
Aggeneys, Brandvlei, De Aar, between Kimberley and Griekwastad, Barkly West.
Orange Free State Province: Luckoff, Sophiasdal (Bloemfontein), Bultfontein.
KwaZulu-Natal Province: Lake St Lucia (Robson & Sinclair 1976; Berruti 1980).
Eastern Transvaal Province: Near Amersfoort (Tarboton ef al. 1987).
Gauteng Province: Rondebult (Johannesburg) (Tarboton et al. 1987), Blesbok Spruit
(Springs), Nooitgedacht (Nigel).
North-west Province: Vryburg, Barberspan (Farkas 1962).
Botswana: Kgoro Pan (Skinner 1993), Tshane Pan (Anon. 1981).
Namibia: Ausisfontein, Hoanib Salt Pan, Klein Oase by Hoarisib River (all three in Skeleton
Coast Park), Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Neute Dam (Keetmanshoop), Damaraland
(Andersson & Gurney 1872), Halali (Etosha National Park).
Zambia: Zambezi River (Barotseland) (Sandberg 1908).
Zimbabwe: Darwendale Dam (MacCallum 1985; MacCallum & MacCallum 1985), Chegutu
(Williams 1989; Tree 19925).
6. SYSTEMATIC papers must conform to the /nternational code of zoological nomenclature (particu-
larly Articles 22 and 51).
Names of new taxa, combinations, synonyms, etc., when used for the first time, must be followed
by the appropriate Latin (not English) abbreviation, e.g. gen. nov., sp. nov., comb. nov., syn. nov.,
etc.
An author’s name when cited must follow the name of the taxon without intervening punctuation
and not be abbreviated; if the year is added, a comma must separate author’s name and year. The
author’s name (and date, if cited) must be placed in parentheses if a species or subspecies is trans-
ferred from its original genus. The name of a subsequent user of a scientific name must be separated
from the scientific name by a colon.
Synonymy arrangement should be according to chronology of names, i.e. all published scientific
names by which the species previously has been designated are listed in chronological order, with all
references to that name following in chronological order, e.g.:
Family Nuculanidae
Nuculana (Lembulus) bicuspidata (Gould, 1845)
Figs 14-15A
Nucula (Leda) bicuspidata Gould, 1845: 37.
Leda plicifera A. Adams, 1856: 50.
Laeda bicuspidata Hanley, 1859: 118, pl. 228 (fig. 73). Sowerby, 1871: pl. 2 (fig. 8a—b).
Nucula largillierti Philippi, 1861: 87.
Leda bicuspidata: Nicklés, 1950: 163, fig. 301; 1955: 110. Barnard, 1964: 234, figs 8-9.
Note punctuation in the above example:
comma separates author’s name and year
semicolon separates more than one reference by the same author
full stop separates references by different authors
figures of plates are enclosed in parentheses to distinguish them from text-figures
dash, not comma, separates consecutive numbers.
Synonymy arrangement according to chronobogy of bibliographic references, whereby the year is
placed in front of each entry, and the synonym repeated in full for each entry, is not acceptable.
In describing new species, one specimen must be designated as the holotype; other specimens
mentioned in the original description are to be designated paratypes; additional material not regarded
as paratypes should be listed separately. The complete data (registration number, depository, descrip-
tion of specimen, locality, collector, date) of the holotype and paratypes must be recorded, e.g.:
Holotype
SAM-A13535 in the South African Museum, Cape Town. Adult female from mid-tide region, King’s Beach, Port Eliza-
beth (33°51’S 25°39’E), collected by A. Smith, 15 January 1973.
Note standard form of writing South African Museum registration numbers and date.
7. SPECIAL HOUSE RULES
Capital initial letters
(a) The Figures, Maps and Tables of the paper when referred to in the text
e.g. ‘. . . the Figure depicting C. namacolus ...’: ‘. . . in C. namacolus (Fig. 10) .. .’
(b) The prefixes of prefixed surnames in all languages, when used in the text, if not preceded by
initials or full names
e.g. DuToit but A.L.du Toit; Von Huene but F. von Huene
(c) Scientific names, but not their vernacular derivatives
e.g.Therocephalia, but therocephalian
Punctuation should be loose, omitting all not strictly necessary
Reference to the author should preferably be expressed in the third person
Roman numerals should be converted to arabic, except when forming part of the title of a book or
article, such as
‘Revision of the Crustacea. Part VIII. The Amphipoda.’
Specific name must not stand alone, but be preceded by the generic name or its abbreviation to initial
capital letter, provided the same generic name is used consecutively. The generic name should
not be abbreviated at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph.
Name of new genus or species is not to be included in the title; it should be included in the abstract,
counter to Recommendation 23 of the Code, to meet the requirements of Biological Abstracts.
“wily
3 9088 01206 7203
R. K. BROOKE
ON THE MOULT, BREEDING SEASON,
AND DISTINCTIVENESS
OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN AVOCETS
RECURVIROSTRA AVOSETTA (AVES, CHARADRII)