Systematics

The genus Oreopholus (sometimes emended to Oreophilus) was introduced by Jardine and Selby, in 1835, specifically to accommodate this species; it enjoyed long and general acceptance through much of the rest of the 1800s and the first half of the 1900s (e.g., 27 Hellmayr, C. E. (1932). The birds of Chile. Publications of the Field Museum Natural History, Zoological Series 19:1–472. Close , 28 Peters, J. L. (1934). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 2. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA. Close , 29 Hellmayr, C. E., and B. Conover (1948). Catalogue of the Birds of the Americas and Adjacent Islands. Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History (Zoological Series) 13 pt. 1(3). Chicago. Close ). However, in 1958, Bock (30 Bock, W. J. (1958). A generic review of the plovers (Charadriinae, Aves). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 118:27–97. Close ) merged Oreopholus into Eudromias, and he was followed in this approach by a number of subsequent authors (e.g., 22 Blake, E. R. (1977). Manual of Neotropical Birds. Volume 1: Spheniscidae (Penguins) to Laridae (Gulls and Allies). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Close , 31 Stotz, D. F., J. W. Fitzpatrick, T. A. Parker, and D. K. Moskovits (1996). Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Close ). Early in 2000s, however, Baker et al. (32 Baker, A. J., S. L. Pereira, and T. A. Paton (2007). Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds. Biology Letters 3:205–209. Close ) firmly re-established the validity of Oreopholus, finding it was close a clade that included Phegornis, Charadrius, and Eudromias based on a multi-locus genetic phylogeny, a finding that has received some support in subsequent genetic studies (33 Barth, J. M., M. Matschiner, and B. C. Robertson (2013). Phylogenetic position and subspecies divergence of the endangered New Zealand Dotterel (Charadrius obscurus). PloS one 8(10):e78068. Close , 34 Černý, D., and R. Natale (2022). Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 177:107620. Close ; see Related Species). In contrast, based on phenotypic evidence, Livezey (35 Livezey, B. C. (2010). Phylogenetics of modern shorebirds (Charadriiformes) based on phenotypic evidence: analysis and discussion. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 160(3):567–618. Close ) thought Oreopholus to be more closely related to the genera Zonibyx and Eudromias.

Initially referred to as northern and southern populations, most taxonomic authorities now accept them as subspecies, based on differences in size and overall coloration (36 Dickinson, E. C., and J. V. Remsen, Editors (2013). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Fourth edition. Volume 1. Aves Press, Eastbourne, UK. Close , 37 del Hoyo, J., and N. J. Collar (2014). HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close , 38 Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood (2023). The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. Close , 39 Gill, F., D. Donsker, and P. Rasmussen, Editors (2023). IOC World Bird List (v13.1). Close ).

Two subspecies recognized here.

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SUBSPECIES

Oreopholus ruficollis pallidus Scientific name definitions

Systematics History

Oreophilus [sic] ruficollis pallidus Carriker, 1935, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 87:343.—San José (near Pimentel), dept. Lambayeque, Peru. (40 Carriker, M. A. (1935). Descriptions of new birds from Peru and Ecuador, with critical notes on other little-known species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 87:343–359. Close )

The holotype, an adult male collected on 9 May 1933 by Melbourne Armstrong Carriker, Jr. (1879–1965), is held at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia (ANSP 118112; 40 Carriker, M. A. (1935). Descriptions of new birds from Peru and Ecuador, with critical notes on other little-known species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 87:343–359. Close ). Carriker mentioned that he had also collected another male and a female (paratypes of the name pallidus) on the same date. Hellmayr and Conover (29 Hellmayr, C. E., and B. Conover (1948). Catalogue of the Birds of the Americas and Adjacent Islands. Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History (Zoological Series) 13 pt. 1(3). Chicago. Close ) considered that pallidus is probably a synonym of the nominate, but it was resurrected as valid by Meyer de Schauensee (21 Bond, J. (1955). Additional notes on Peruvian birds. 1. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 107:207–244. Close ).

Distribution

Coastal northwestern Peru (Piura to northern La Libertad).

Identification Summary

Subspecies pallidus is paler and grayer (less brownish) on the upperparts, paler and whiter on the underparts, and smaller than nominate (22 Blake, E. R. (1977). Manual of Neotropical Birds. Volume 1: Spheniscidae (Penguins) to Laridae (Gulls and Allies). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Close ). Measurements: wing length of males 146.5‒151.0 mm (mean 148.7 mm, n =2); wing of female 148.5 mm (n = 1); tail length 73‒82 mm (mean 77 mm, n = 3); tarsus length 45‒48 mm (mean 47 mm, n = 3; 22 Blake, E. R. (1977). Manual of Neotropical Birds. Volume 1: Spheniscidae (Penguins) to Laridae (Gulls and Allies). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Close ).

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SUBSPECIES

Oreopholus ruficollis ruficollis Scientific name definitions

Systematics History

Ch[aradrius]. ruficollis Wagler, 1829, Isis von Oken 22, col. 653.—Canelones, Uruguay. (17 Wagler, J. G. (1829). Beiträge und Bemerkungen zu dem ersten Bande feines Systema Avium. Isis von Oken 22: col. 645–664. Close )

Wagler (17 Wagler, J. G. (1829). Beiträge und Bemerkungen zu dem ersten Bande feines Systema Avium. Isis von Oken 22: col. 645–664. Close ) mentioned that the specimen on which his original description was based is in the Berlin museum, and Hellmayr and Conover (29 Hellmayr, C. E., and B. Conover (1948). Catalogue of the Birds of the Americas and Adjacent Islands. Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History (Zoological Series) 13 pt. 1(3). Chicago. Close ) confirmed that the holotype is in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.

Synonyms:
Oreopholus totanirostris Jardine and Selby, 1835, Illustrations of Ornithology, Volume 3, p. 93, Plate 151.—Andes in Chile. From multiple specimens received by John Gould from an unknown source, one (presumably the individual illustrated by Selby) was transmitted to Jardine in May 1835 for description of the novelty, along with a drawing of the bird by Edward Lear (1812‒1888) (see 41 Sauer, G. C. (1998). John Gould the Bird Man: Correspondence with a chronology of his life and works. Volume 1: through 1838. Maurizio Martino, Mansfield Centre, CT, USA. Close :90, 98); its current whereabouts are unknown. From their correspondence (41 Sauer, G. C. (1998). John Gould the Bird Man: Correspondence with a chronology of his life and works. Volume 1: through 1838. Maurizio Martino, Mansfield Centre, CT, USA. Close ), it is evident that, although Gould retained duplicates, Jardine saw only one specimen prior to publication of the relevant volume of the Illustrations of Ornithology, meaning that any of the other specimens originally received by Gould cannot be considered types. Jardine’s collection (ca. 8,000 specimens) was dispersed via a public auction in June 1886 after his death; although the sale catalog mentions this species, there is no indication that the specimen concerned was a type. Some of Jardine’s types are now in the Natural History Museum, Tring (42 Warren, R. L. M. (1966). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 1. Non-Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close , 43 Warren, R. L. M., and C. J. O. Harrison (1971). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 2. Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close ) and the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, UK (44 Benson, C. W. (1999). Type specimens of bird skins in the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, UK. British Ornithologists’ Club Occasional Publications No. 4. Close ), but that of Oreopholus totanirostris is not among them, and Benson mentioned that “Further Jardine type material is probably lost (perhaps sold for fly-fishing, as Sharpe 45 Sharpe, R. B. (1906). The History of the Collections Contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. Volume 2. Birds. British Museum, London, UK. Close :360, bitterly comments).” Lowe proposed to recognize totanirostris as a Chilean subspecies of Oreopholus ruficollis, but this notion was firmly rejected by Hellmayr (27 Hellmayr, C. E. (1932). The birds of Chile. Publications of the Field Museum Natural History, Zoological Series 19:1–472. Close ).

Dromicus lessonii R. P. Lesson, 1844, L’Écho du Monde Savant 11, col. 617.—Valparaiso. The holotype was collected by Lesson’s brother Pierre Adolphe Lesson (1805–1888) during the voyage of the Coquille in the early 1820s; Hellmayr and Conover (29 Hellmayr, C. E., and B. Conover (1948). Catalogue of the Birds of the Americas and Adjacent Islands. Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History (Zoological Series) 13 pt. 1(3). Chicago. Close ) reported that the specimen is in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, but it was not listed by Voisin and Voisin (46 Voisin, C., and J.-F. Voisin (2012). List of Type Specimens of Birds in the Collections of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris, France). 23. Charadriiformes (Part 2: Rostratulidae, Haematopodidae, Charadriidae, Scolopacidae, Recurvirostridae, Glareolidae). Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series 181(5):27–58. Close ). Lesson subsequently admitted that his name was a synonym of Jardine and Selby’s.

Oreophilus [sic] ruficollis simonsi Chubb, 1919, Ibis (11)1: 262.—Challapata, 3,750 m, and Uyuni, 3,660 m, Bolivia. The type series comprises four syntypes collected by Perry Oveitt Simons (1869–1901) held in the Natural History Museum, Tring, of which one adult male was collected at Challapata on 10 October 1901 (NHMUK 1902.3.13.1690); two further males and a female were all taken at Uyuni in November 1901 (42 Warren, R. L. M. (1966). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 1. Non-Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close ). These must have been among some of the last bird specimens collected by Simons, who was murdered by his Argentine guide in late December of the same year.

Distribution

Southern Peru (irregularly from Lima) south through western Bolivia, Chile, and western and north-central Argentina to Tierra del Fuego; non-breeding east to eastern Argentina and southeastern Brazil.

Identification Summary

Described under Plumages.

Based on a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study (34 Černý, D., and R. Natale (2022). Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 177:107620. Close ), within Charadriidae, there are a handful of species that form long branches on the phylogeny whose relationships within the family are unresolved, among them: Tawny-throated Dotterel, Pied Plover (Hoploxypterus cayanus), Diademed Sandpiper-Plover (Phegornis mitchellii), and Rufous-chested Dotterel (Zonibyx modestus). In some analyses, the Tawny-throated Dotterel appears to be at the base of a large clade of plovers that includes Charadrius, Phegornis, Eudromias, and Zonibyx (e.g., 32 Baker, A. J., S. L. Pereira, and T. A. Paton (2007). Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds. Biology Letters 3:205–209. Close , 33 Barth, J. M., M. Matschiner, and B. C. Robertson (2013). Phylogenetic position and subspecies divergence of the endangered New Zealand Dotterel (Charadrius obscurus). PloS one 8(10):e78068. Close , 34 Černý, D., and R. Natale (2022). Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 177:107620. Close ), but in others, it is part of an unresolved polytomy (34 Černý, D., and R. Natale (2022). Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 177:107620. Close , 47 Johnson, O. (2023). Proposal (#979) to South American Classification Committee: Revise the taxonomy of the Charadriidae (in 8 parts, A-H). https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCprop979.htm Close ).

Never reported and considered unlikely to occur.

Vernacular Names

In Argentina, it is called “Chorlaco,” “Chorlito,” “Chorlo,” “Chorlo Campestre,” “Chorlo Canela,” “Chorlo Colorado,” “Chorlo de Campo,” “Chorlo de Garganta Oxidada,” “Chorlo de Loma,” “Chorlo de Vientre Negro,” “Chorlo Garganta Tostada,” “Chorlo Pampa,” “Chorlo Rastrojero,” “Pachurrón,” “Pampero,” “Pollo de Campo,” “Talulo,” “Tinta,” “Tinta-yesgüí,” “Tiula,v “Yesgüí” (48 de la Peña, M. R. (2016). Aves argentinas: descripción, comportamiento, reproducción y distribución. Charadriidae a Trochilidae. Comunicaciones del Museo Provincial de Ciencias Naturales “Florentino Ameghino” 20:154–158. Close ), and “Chorlo Cabezón” (49 Salvador, S. (2017). Depredadores de adultos, juveniles, volantones, pichones y huevos de aves en Argentina y Chile. Informe inédito. Villa María, Córdoba, Argentina Close ).

In Brazil, it is known as “batuíra-de-papo-ferrugineo” (50 Sick, H. (1993). Birds in Brazil: A Natural History. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. Close ).

In Bolivia, it is known as “Chorlo de Garganta Rufa” (birdsofbolivia.org) or “Tiutira” (Aymara language; 51 Asociación Armonía (1995). Lista de las Aves de Bolivia. 4th Edición. Asociación Armonía, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Close ).

In Chile, it is called “Chorlo de Campo” (a reference to the species’ habitat; 52 Barros, R., A. Jaramillo, and F. Schmitt (2015). Lista de las Aves de Chile 2014. La Chiricoca 20:79–100. Close ), “Chorlo del Campo” (9 Goodall, J. D., A. W. Johnson, and R. A. Phillipi (1951). Las Aves de Chile: su Conocimiento y sus Costumbres. Platt Establecimientos Gráficos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Close ), and “Pollo del Campo” (53 Gigoux, E. E. (1942). Aves del Valle de Copiapó de Mar a Cordillera y lugares adyacentes. Boletín Mensual del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural 20:19–26. Close ). Particularly in the Llanos de Huentelauquén, the species is referred to as “Pachurrón," “Turrión,” or “Talulo” (54 Pardo, B., I. Barraza, A. Briceño, M. Castro, I. Flores, A. Jara, E. López, P. Palma, and M. Soto (2018). Saber campesino sobre el chorlo de campo (Oreopholus ruficollis) en el sitio Ramsar Las Salinas de Huentelauquén. Brotes Científicos 2:35–42. Close ). In Turi, it is called “Chuchuri” or “Tiutila” (55 Peña, L. (1961). Results of research in the Antofagasta ranges of Chile and Bolivia. I. Birds. Explorations in the Antofagasta range, with observations on the fauna and flora. Postilla 49:3–42. Close ).

In Ecuador, it is called “Chorlo Cabezón Cuellicanelo” (56 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1 and 2. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, USA. Close ).

In Peru and Uruguay, it is known as “Chorlo de Campo” (57 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2010). Aves de Perú. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close , 58 Plenge, M. A. (2017). Lista de las Aves de Perú. Available at: https://sites.google.com/site/boletinunop/checklist. Close , 59 Rocca, P., and J. Aldabe (2012). Chorlos y playeros migratorios de la Laguna de Rocha: Manual para su identificacion y conservacion. Aves Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay Close ).

Scientific Name

The genus Oreopholus derives from the Greek word ορεοπολος oreopolos, translated as haunting mountains, referring to the species’ habitat (i.e., the Andes; 60 Jobling, J. A. (2010). Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. A. & C. Black, London, UK. Close ). The specific epithet ruficollis has as its root the Latin rufus collis, translated as red collar, referring to the neck plumage (60 Jobling, J. A. (2010). Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. A. & C. Black, London, UK. Close ).

A fossilized femur assigned to the extinct species Oreopholus orcesi was found in 1970, in the Late Pleistocene site known as “La Carolina,” on the arid Santa Elena Peninsula in southwestern Ecuador (61 Campbell, K. E. (1976). The late Pleistocene avifauna of La Carolina, southwestern Ecuador. Smithsonian Contributions in Paleobiology 27:155–168. Close ). It was diagnosed as follows: “Femur agrees with that of Oreopholus and differs from that of all other genera of South American plovers (with possible exception of Zonibyx, Pluvianellus, and Phegornis, which were not available for comparison). Measurements (in mm) of the holotype, with those of one specimen of O. ruficollis (in parentheses), are as follows: length from external condyle to iliac facet, 29.7 (30.0); width of proximal end, 5.9 (6.2); width of distal end, 6.0 (6.1); least width of shaft, 2.5 (2.4)” (61 Campbell, K. E. (1976). The late Pleistocene avifauna of La Carolina, southwestern Ecuador. Smithsonian Contributions in Paleobiology 27:155–168. Close ).