Publications by authors named "J V Remsen"

Because the generic name Elliotia proposed by us (Stiles et al. 2017a) was found to be preoccupied, we herein rename this genus, including a detailed diagnosis; the generic circumscription and type species remain unchanged. This change does not affect the generic reorganization of the Trochilini presented by Stiles et al.

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The generic nomenclature of the hummingbirds is unusually complicated. McGuire et al.'s (2014) recent phylogeny of the Trochilidae based on DNA sequence data has greatly clarified relationships within the family but conflicts strongly with the traditional classification of the family at the genus level, especially that of the largest and most recently derived clade, the Trochilini or "emeralds".

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The generic classification of the Trochilidae is unusually complicated because early authors, faced with a deluge of specimens with little or no data, often based species and genus names on superficial plumage characters derived from figured plates of varying artistic quality and reproduction. Working independently and with little knowledge of species distributions and with the fixation of type species for genera inconsistent or ignored, these authors produced a bewildering array of generic synonyms. The generic nomenclature of the largest and most recently derived clade of hummingbirds, the tribe Trochilini or "emeralds", presents an unusually tangled web.

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In our recently published revised classification of the Icteridae (Remsen et al. 2016), we used the family group name Cassicinae Bonaparte, 1853 on the assumption that its type genus was Cassicus Illiger, 1811. We have since confirmed, after kind advice from Thomas Donegan (pers.

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