The composite identity of Muscicapa virens Linnaeus, and a neotype designation for Eastern Wood Pewee Contopus virens (Tyrannidae)

Abstract

I reviewed the material basis of Muscicapa virens Linnaeus, 1766, long presumed to be the original description of Eastern Wood Pewee Contopus virens (Linnaeus), type species of the genus Contopus Cabanis, 1855, and found it to be an unidentifiable taxonomic composite. Linnaeus' (1766) account was partly based on Brisson's (1760) ‘Gobe-mouche Cendré de la Caroline’, which was based on (1) a non-extant specimen that, as demonstrated herein, was probably a species in the genus Empidonax Cabanis, 1855, and (2) Catesby’s (1731) ‘little brown Fly-catcher’, which was also a taxonomic composite. Linnaeus (1766) also included a novel character in his original description of M. virens—a white supercilium (‘superciliis albis’)—which is lacking in Eastern Wood Pewee, and was probably miscopied from Catesby’s (1731) description of ‘Red-eyed Fly-catcher’ (= Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus Linnaeus, 1766), which appeared on the same plate as the ‘little brown Fly-catcher’. In light of these ambiguities, after a thorough review of literature and relevant primary sources, I designate a neotype specimen for C. virens (Linnaeus) that stabilises nomenclature in accordance with prevailing use.