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Résumé :
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The species-group composed of the eastern Brazilian taxa Synallaxis ruficapilla Vieillot, 1819, S. infuscata O. M. O. Pinto, 1950, and S. whitneyi Pacheco and Gonzaga, 1995 is particularly intriguing as it presents interesting nomenclatural, phenomenological, and conceptual issues in avian taxonomy. Synallaxis ruficapilla was described from a specimen collected in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro. Pinto (Pap Avulsos do Dep de Zool 9:361-364, 1950) noticed plumage differences between Pernambuco specimens and the southern specimens that led him to describe S. ruficapilla infuscata, a taxon subsequently elevated to specific status. Pacheco and Gonzaga (Ararajuba 3:3-11, 1995) described a new species, Synallaxis whitneyi, from specimens collected at Boa Nova, Bahia. Essentially, S. whitneyi is paler (gray) than S. infuscata but darker than the whitish-brown S. ruficapilla. Despite the intermediate position of Synallaxis whitneyi, Pacheco and Gonzaga (1995) defended its validity based on its unique vocalization and morphology. Thereafter, S. whitneyi was synonymized in S. cinerea, but this synonymy was deemed invalid by Stopiglia and Raposo (Zootaxa 1166:49-55, 2006). Our objective was to review the taxonomy of the Synallaxis ruficapilla species-group. Our analysis showed that only S. ruficapilla and S. infuscata can be considered valid species;, that S. whitneyi is a synonym of S. ruficapilla, and that S. ruficapilla shows complex geographic variation in morphology and voice that has led other authors to consider a geographic variant as a third species in the complex.
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