Sarcoramphus Duméril

Mlíkovský, Jiří, 2015, The type specimens, type localities and nomenclature of Sarcoramphus vultures (Aves: Cathartidae), with a note on their speciation, Zootaxa 3918 (4), pp. 579-586 : 579-580

Sarcoramphus Duméril

This genus was described by André Marie Constant Duméril (1774–1860) in his Zoologie Analytique, dated in standard reference books from 1806 (e.g., Hellmayr & Conover 1949: 3; Blake 1977: 263; Stresemann & Amadon 1979: 278; Dickinson 2003: 93). However, Duméril’s book went through two printings, and although both bear the date 1806 on their title-pages, the first printing was published in 1805 ( Bour 2010; Gregory 2010; Gregory & Dickinson 2011). The generic name Sarcoramphus thus dates from 1805 rather than 1806 (see also Dickinson & Remsen 2013: 233).

The type species of Sarcoramphus has been given either as Vultur gryphus Linnaeus (1758: 86) (e.g., G.R. Gray 1840: 1; Sharpe 1874: 20) or as Vultur papa Linnaeus (1758: 86) (e.g., Allen 1907: 38; Stresemann & Amadon 1979: 278; Dickinson & Remsen 2013: 233), which requires clarification.

Duméril (1805: 32) created the genus Sarcoramphus without included nominal species. Humboldt (1805: 31; for a German translation see Humboldt 1806: 136) included cuntur Duméril in Sarcoramphus and this species would be the type of Sarcoramphus by subsequent monotypy (Art. 69.3 of the Code) if cuntur were available for the purposes of zoological nomenclature. Humboldt (1805: 31) attributed cuntur to Duméril, who appears not to have created this name, and listed it in the synonymy of Vultur gryphus Linnaeus (1758: 86) . The word "cuntur" was known as a vernacular name to Europeans already in the 17th century (e.g., J. Ray in Willughby 1678: 277; Sloane 1694). It was first used as the specific name cuntur by Forster (1781: 40), who created it as a new replacement name for Vultur gryphus Linnaeus (1758: 86) , which follows from the context of Forster's book. Forster’s (1781: 40) reference to “Lud. Patricius ap. Gesner. A. p. 206. Ruch. s. Ruck. Marco Paolo” means that he believed that the species was recorded also from the Old World.

Ludwig Friedrich von Froriep (1779–1847) translated Duméril's book into German and amended it. He (Froriep in Duméril 1806: 33) first included a single nominal species in Sarcoramphus , viz. Vultur papa Linnaeus, 1758 . Therein, Vultur papa Linnaeus, 1758 became the type of Sarcoramphus Duméril, 1805 , by subsequent monotypy.

Standard reference books in ornithology (e.g., Peters 1931: 189; Hellmayr & Conover 1949: 3; Stresemann & Amadon 1979: 278; Dickinson & Remsen 2013: 233) state that Vultur papa Linnaeus, 1758 , was designated as the type species of Sarcoramphus Duméril, 1805 , by Vigors (1825: 381, footnote, 384). However, Vigors's (1825) action is antedated by that of Froriep (in Duméril 1806).

G.R. Gray (1840: 1) designated Vultur gryphus Linnaeus, 1758 , as the type of Sarcoramphus Duméril. His action is invalid, because it was preceded by Froriep’s (in Duméril 1806) action (Art. 69.1 of the Code).

Agassiz (1847: 331) emended Sarcoramphus to Sarcorhamphus , but these spellings are deemed to be identical (Art. 58.6 of the Code); Agassiz's Sarcorhamphus is thus not a new name, although it is an unjustified emendation (Art. 33.2.3 of the Code).