Two New Birds from the Ivory Coastby Melvin A. Traylor
Received 26th January, 1970The following notes are based on collections made by Daniel Parelius in the Ivory Coast. His early collections were reported on by Traylor and Parelius (1967) and his most recent collection was made in the summer of 1969.
Campethera nivosaThe woodpecker
Campethera nivosa is a forest bird of both upper and lower Guinea. In lower Guinea it is confined to the forest, in either virgin or second growth (Chapin, 1939: 577). In upper Guinea, however, Bannerman 1933 : 433) says that it extends into open bush country in Ghana and Sierra Leone. When Bannerman’s Ghana localities are examined, the most northern is Kumasi, at ca. 70 N. and still in the southern third of the country.
In the Ivory Coast, Parelius has collected a good series of
nivosa at Abidjan in the forest region along the coast, and also a male and female from a small patch of gallery forest near Korhogo, in the drier woodland area at ca. 90 30' N., thus far outside the normal range of the species. The latter two specimens are remarkable in having much longer wings than any other population of the species. The male was reported in Traylor and Parelius (1967: 103), and its exceptional wing length noted. With the finding of a second specimen showing the same character, this unique population must be recognized as:
Campethera nivosa maxima subsp. nov.
Type: adult collected at Korhogo, Ivory Coast, 22nd March, 1965, by Daniel Parelius. Field Museum of Natural History No. 277146.
Diagnosis: similar in colour to
C. n. nivosa, but with much longer wing; larger to the same degree than
C. n. efulensis, if that form is considered distinct from
nivosa.
Measurements of type: wing 98, tail 47, bill 21.5, tarsus 19 mm.
Range: as far as known, confined to a small patch of gallery forest, south-west of Korhogo, northern Ivory Coast.
Remarks: this race is much larger in wing size than any other West African populations. Comparative wing measurements in mm. are: (see table at
www.mocavo.com/Bulletin-of-the-British-Ornithologists-Club-1969-1970-Volume-89-90/214032/329#329)
The specimens from the bush country of Ghana and Sierra Leone, that Bannerman mentions, are included in his measurements, so it is evident that
maxima is not a generally distributed savanna race, replacing
nivosa north of the forest. Considering the degree of difference between maxima and the nivosa population at Abidjan only 300 miles to the south, there must be complete isolation between them at the present time. Any regular genetic interchange between them would certainly swamp the numerically much smaller population maxima.
The Ivory Coast is not so well collected that positive statements concerning the distribution of species can be made with any confidence. However, the area between Abidjan and Korhogo around Bouake and Beoumi, a mixture of savanna and forest, is probably the best known region of the country, and since the species is not known from there, it probably does not occur between the forest proper and Korhogo. Whether
maxima is a relict from the time when the upper Guinea forest was more extensive, or the result of a fortuitous invasion under present conditions, cannot be determined.
Source:Traylor, M.A. 1970. New birds from the Ivory Coast. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 90(3): 78–80.
www.mocavo.com/Bulletin-of-the-British-Ornithologists-Club-1969-1970-Volume-89-90/214032/329#328
