Changes to the Irish List, March 2015.
The tenth report of the Taxonomic Sub-Committee of the BOU Records Committee (TSC) (Sangster et al. 2015) has been published. The report should be consulted for the full exposition of the TSC's decisions. The following recommendation included in the report is applicable to the Irish List and has been adopted by the IRBC.
Recent studies based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences has clarified the relationships among larks, which revises the list order as follows:
- Woodlark Lullula arborea
- Skylark Alauda arvensis
- Shore Lark Eremophila alpestris
- Short-toed Lark Calandrella brachydactyla
Additional recommendations in the report have no relevance to the Irish List at present although they may become applicable in the future. A PDF version of the latest Irish List may be downloaded here.
References
Sangster, G., Collinson, J.M., Crochet, P-A., Kirwan, G.M., Knox, A.G., Parkin, D.T. & Votier, S.C. 2015. Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: 10th report. Ibis 157(1): 193-200.