The identity of Félix de Azara's "Alondras" and implications for Neotropical pipit nomenclature (Aves, Motacillidae: Anthus).

Félix de Azara described five species of "Alondra" in his seminal work on birds of Paraguay in 1805. Two of these are pipits Anthus: No. 146 Alondra Chií and No. 147 Alondra Correndera. Vieillot (1818) then formally described the two based entirely on Azara's descriptions, respectively Anthus chii and Anthus correndera. The former has long been considered unidentifiable, though it has also been used frequently as a valid name for the Yellowish Pipit Anthus lutescens. The latter of the two names has been in valid usage since its description for the Correndera Pipit A. correndera of southern and Andean South America. In this paper we confirm that the description of No. 146 Alondra Chií is clearly identifiable and Anthus chii is the valid name for the Yellowish Pipit under the Principle of Priority, and Anthus turdinus of Merrem is a junior synonym of it. The description No. 147 Alondra Correndera is shown to refer to Ochre-breasted Pipit A. nattereri and not A. correndera as currently understood. However, the two names have been in constant usage for their respective species since their description, and thus we designate a neotype of the Correndera Pipit for current A. correndera under Article 75.6 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature to conserve current usage and avoid unnecessary nomenclatural confusion.

Protecting important sites for biodiversity contributes to meeting global conservation targets.

Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone of conservation efforts and now cover nearly 13% of the world's land surface, with the world's governments committed to expand this to 17%. However, as biodiversity continues to decline, the effectiveness of PAs in reducing the extinction risk of species remains largely untested. We analyzed PA coverage and trends in species' extinction risk at globally significant sites for conserving birds (10,993 Important Bird Areas, IBAs) and highly threatened vertebrates and conifers (588 Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, AZEs) (referred to collectively hereafter as 'important sites'). Species occurring in important sites with greater PA coverage experienced smaller increases in extinction risk over recent decades: the increase was half as large for bird species with>50% of the IBAs at which they occur completely covered by PAs, and a third lower for birds, mammals and amphibians restricted to protected AZEs (compared with unprotected or partially protected sites). Globally, half of the important sites for biodiversity conservation remain unprotected (49% of IBAs, 51% of AZEs). While PA coverage of important sites has increased over time, the proportion of PA area covering important sites, as opposed to less important land, has declined (by 0.45-1.14% annually since 1950 for IBAs and 0.79-1.49% annually for AZEs). Thus, while appropriately located PAs may slow the rate at which species are driven towards extinction, recent PA network expansion has under-represented important sites. We conclude that better targeted expansion of PA networks would help to improve biodiversity trends.

Distribution and status of the Rufous-tailed Jacamar Galbula ruficauda (Aves: Galbulidae) in Paraguay / Distribución y estado del Jacamar Galbula ruficauda (Aves: Galbulidae) en Paraguay

Rufous-tailed Jacamar Galbula ruficauda is known from few records in Paraguay, all during the last 20 years. The species has been recorded in the northern Chaco and Paraguayan Pantanal, with all confirmed records from Alto Paraguay department. Here we summarise all reports and localities of the species in Paraguay to date. The species is categorized as Data Deficient at the national level, but may be more widely distributed than is currently recognised.

Galbula ruficauda es una especie que cuenta con pocos registros a lo largo de 20 años en Paraguay. La especie ha sido observada en la zona norte del Chaco y Pantanal paraguayo, departamento Alto Paraguay. En este trabajo reportamos los registros y localidades de ocurrencia de la especie en el país. Actualmente se encuentra en la categoría de Datos Insuficientes a nivel nacional, aunque puede ser que su distribución sea más amplia.