A new Peruvian race of Crypturellus obsoletus

LIBRARY OF THE

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v.39
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NATURAL HISTORY.
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f-sJ FIELDIANA • ZOOLOGY

Published by
CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Volume 39 August 31, 1961 No. 51

A New Peruvian Race of
Crypturellus obsoletus

Emmet R. Blake

Curator, Division of Birds

In recent years Chicago Natural History Museum has received
from Celestino Kalinowski of Cuzco, Peru, a number of small but
decidedly interesting collections of birds made in the Marcapata
Valley, a source of the Rio Inambari, which drains the eastern flank
of the Andes in the Departments of Cuzco and Puno. While work-
ing over one of the earlier collections from Marcapata my associate,
Mr. Melvin A. Traylor, noted that a single immature Crypturellus
collected at San Andres (2200 meters) June 8, 1951, differed con-
siderably from any known species but the lack of adequate material
discouraged formal action.

Recently two mature specimens of this bird were received in a
collection made in the vicinity of Hacienda Cadena, some 20 kilo-
meters from San Andres and at a lower altitude (1400 meters). It is
now certain that an undescribed tinamou of very distinctive appear-
ance occupies the Subtropical Zone of the Marcapata Valley, and it
is appropriate that this bird be named in honor of Mr. Traylor.

Crypturellus obsoletus traylori, new subspecies

Type. — Chicago Natural History Museum No. 22971 (Conover
Collection), from eight kilometers south of Hacienda Cadena, Mar-
capata Valley, Department of Cuzco, Peru. Altitude 1400 meters.
Adult male collected September 5, 1960, by Celestino Kalinowski.

Diagnosis. — Nearest C. o. punensis (Chubb) of extreme south-
eastern Peru (north-central Puno) and Bolivia but sides of head and
neck, and entire upper parts fuscous black; under parts much darker
and more extensively chestnut; barring of the posterior flanks and
lower belly blacker and more sharply defined.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-17728

No. 925 573 THE UBKUY BF

NOV 27 1

NATURAL MXIWu

574 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 39

Measurements. — Male (type): wing, 151; exposed oilmen, ± 22;
tarsus, 43. Female: wing, 157; exposed culmen, 23; tarsus, 45.

Range. — Known only from San Andres (altitude 2200 meters)
and Hacienda Cadena (altitude 1400 meters) in the Subtropical Zone
of the Marcapata Valley, Department of Cuzco, southeastern Peru.

Discussion. — The brown tinamou (C. obsoletus) of South America
is a distinctive forest species characterized by brown or rufous upper
parts, essentially ochraceous to chestnut under parts (pale buffy gray
in griseiventris) , and a fuscous (not black) head shading to pale
gray on the throat. Barring is confined to the posterior under parts.
The six forms recognized by Hellmayr and Conover (1942) are more
or less isolated populations inhabiting the mountains of northwestern
Venezuela, the eastern flank (chiefly) of the Andes south to Bolivia,
the Rio Tapajos, and northwestern Mato Grosso (Rio Jamary, Vil-
hena) south to eastern Paraguay, southeastern Brazil, and extreme
northeastern Argentina (Misiones). Uniformity of plumage within
the several races is usual, but ochraceiventris of Peru is relatively
variable in respect to the brightness of the reddish upper parts and
the extent of the ochraceous coloring on the under parts.

Two Peruvian races have virtually contiguous ranges in the Cuzco-
Puno region but the characters of each appear to be retained with
little or no modification even by populations in closest proximity.
The northernmost form (ochraceiventris), distinguished by its dis-
tinctly chestnut rufous upper parts, is known both from the moun-
tains of Huanuco, Junin, and Ayacucho, and from the lowlands of
extreme eastern Cuzco (Balceadero, Rio Nusiniscato) in the vicinity
of Quincemil, lower Marcapata Valley. Birds from Ayacucho (Mon-
terico) are said to form the transition to punensis but both Balcea-
dero specimens in Chicago Natural History Museum agree well with
more northern examples of ochraceiventris although the two specimens
come from a locality scarcely 80 miles distant from the type locality
of brown-backed punensis.

The black dorsal plumage of traylori is an abrupt and complete
departure from the brown or rufous coloring common to all other
races of C. obsoletus. As no bird of similar plumage has been found
in other populations of this species it is unlikely that melanism ac-
counts for the appearance of traylori. In saturation of its chestnut
under parts the type of traylori is unmatched by any specimen of
C. obsoletus that I have examined, but the somewhat paler female
(same date and locality) agrees very well ventrally with exception-
ally dark and richly colored individuals of both ochraceiventris (male,

F

*v o ■ 5 I BLAKE: NEW PERUVIAN TINAMOU 575

Chinchao, Peru) and punensis (female, Incachaca, Bolivia) in Chi-
cago Natural History Museum. It is noteworthy that the unique
characters of traylori are evident even in immature birds, as shown
by the plumage of a half-grown male (San Andres) which differs from
ochraceiventris and punensis of comparable age exactly as do the re-
spective adults.

The status of traylori, whether a distinct species or but a well-
marked race of C. obsoletus, is at present uncertain. Its presence in
the Marcapata Valley, where another race of obsoletus also occurs
(at a slightly lower altitude), strongly favors the former concept.
However, the appearance of sympatry between traylori and C. o.
ochraceiventris may be misleading, for the topography of the Cuzco-
Puno region is so complex that the two populations may not, in fact,
come into contact. For this reason I am inclined to consider traylori
a race of C. obsoletus until more is known of its distribution.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED

C. o. cerviniventris. — Venezuela: La Azulita, Merida, 1.

C. o. castaneus. — Ecuador: Conception, Loreto, 1.

C. o. ochraceiventris. — Peru: Chinchao, Huanuco, 1; Chancha-
mayo, Junin, 5; Balceadero and Juajyumbe, lower Marcapata Val-
ley, Cuzco, 3.

C. o. traylori. — Peru: San Andres and Hacienda Cadena, middle
Marcapata Valley, Cuzco, 3.

C. o. punensis. — Bolivia: Incachaca, Cochabamba, 9.

C. o. griseiventris. — Brazil: Santarem, Para, 1; Caxiricatuba and
Tauary, Rio Tapajos, 5.

C. o. obsoletus. — Brazil: Fazenda Cayoa, Sao Paulo, 5; Puerto
Segundo, Baia, 1 ; Rio Grande, 1 ; Jaguariahyva, Parana, 2. — Argen-
tina: Santa Ana, Gisela, and Eldorado, Misiones, 6. — Paraguay:
Santa Barbara, 1.

REFERENCE

Hellmayr, Charles, and Conover, Boardman

1942. Catalogue of birds of the Americas. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 13,
pt. 1, no. 1, vi and 636 pp.