Nomenclature of the Hawaiian Akialoas and Nukupuus (Aves: Drepanidini)

TLDR: From a review of evidence concerning dates of pub- lication, it is concluded that for nomenclatural purposes Hemignathus and Het- erorhynchus were pubUshed simultaneously and HemignATHus has precedence according to the first reviser principle.

Abstract: Storrs L. Olson and Helen F. James Etepartment of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, U.S.A Abstract.•The generic names Hemignathus Lichtenstein, 1839, and Het- erorhynchus Lafresnaye, 1839, often used for the akialoas and the nukupuus, respectively, have the same type species {Hemignathus lucidus) so ifthe akialoas are given the status of a separate genus or subgenus, there is no generic-level name available for them. From a review of evidence concerning dates of pub- lication we conclude that for nomenclatural purposes Hemignathus and Het- erorhynchus were pubUshed simultaneously and Hemignathus has precedence according to the first reviser principle. The correct citation for the Oahu Akialoa is shown to be Drepanis ellisiana G. R. Gray (1859) rather than Hemignathus lichtensteini Wilson (1889). The name Hemignathus stejnegeri Wilson (1889) has priority over H. procerus Cabanis (1890) and is restored for the Kauai Akialoa. As no other name is available for akialoas, the new generic name Akialoa is proposed here (type species Certhia obscura Gmelin). The new names resulting from these nomenclatural changes are listed. In the spectacular Hawaiian radiation of cardueline finches of the tribe Drepanidini, there are few more distinctive birds than the akialoas and nukupuus, which consti- tute the genus Hemignathus in the sense of Amadon (1950) and other authors, before and after him. The akialoas comprise five named taxa (one fossil) of medium-sized to large drepanidines with very long, decurved bills, the upper and lower parts ofwhich are ofnearly equal length (Fig. 1). Similar prob- ing bills have evolved in various other groups of arboreal birds such as the babblers {Xiphirhynchus: Timaliidae), sunbirds {Ar- achnothera: Nectariniidae), woodcreepers (Campyloramphus: Dendrocolaptidae), and the woodhoopoes (Phoeniculidae). In the nukupuus (four named taxa, including the akiapolaau oiHav/au•Heterorhynchus wil- soni Rothschild), the upper jaw is likewise prolonged into a long, decurved probe, but the lower is much shorter (Fig. 1) and is used for pounding, prying, and pecking. The bill morphology of nukupuus is unique and has no parallel among other birds. Unfortunately, upon these birds are heaped some of the most convoluted no- menclatural problems, at both the generic and specific levels, to be found in any group of Hawaiian birds. Numerous authors, par- ticularly in the earlier literature, maintained Hemignathus and Heterorhynchus as dis- tinct genera (e.g., Rothschild 1893d, Bryan 1901). Since the revision of Amadon (1950), however, Heterorhynchus has usually been treated as a subgenus oi Hemignathus (e.g., Greenway 1968, American Ornithologists' Union 1983). As we shall see, this is no- menclaturally incorrect, as both generic names have the same type species. Pratt (1979) greatly expanded the genus Hemignathus by including in it the ama- kihis (Loxops virens, L. parva, and L. sag- ittirostris sensu Amadon 1950), which he placed in the subgenus Viridonia Rothschild 1892). At the same time he continued to