Suiriri, Kirwan, Guy M., Steinheimer, Frank D., Raposo, Marcos A. & Zimmer, Kevin J., 2014

Kirwan, Guy M., Steinheimer, Frank D., Raposo, Marcos A. & Zimmer, Kevin J., 2014, Nomenclatural corrections, neotype designation and new subspecies description in the genus Suiriri (Aves: Passeriformes: Tyrannidae), Zootaxa 3784 (3), pp. 224-240 : 228

Burmeister’s Suiriri , subsp. nov.

As first noted by Reinhardt (1870) and subsequently speculated about to varying degrees by Cory and Hellmayr (1927), Hellmayr (1929) and, inter alia, Zimmer (1955), Traylor (1982) and Ridgely and Tudor (1994: 428), two morphotypes, a long-billed and a short-billed form, were long included within what was known as Suiriri suiriri affinis (yellow-bellied birds). However, it was not until the work of Zimmer et al. (2001) that it became apparent that these morphotypes also possess different vocalisations, and that the two forms occur alongside one another in perfect syntopy and wide sympatry. Nevertheless, Zimmer et al. (2001), in revealing the presence of this cryptic species, erred by applying the epithet affinis to the wrong taxon. This leaves the birds formerly known as Suiriri affinis , nec Burmeister, sensu Traylor (1979), Sibley and Monroe (1990), Ridgely and Tudor (1994), Zimmer et al. (2001), Dickinson (2003), Fitzpatrick (2004) and many others, without an available name. Given that relationships among different populations and the contact zones between different geographical forms are potentially subject to future revision, we elect here to follow most other recent authors and treat Suiriri affinis , nec Burmeister, as one of the three subspecies of S. suiriri . We therefore propose: