Sushkin’s Bean Goose Anser neglectus has Not Been a Phenotype or a Color Variation of the Western Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis fabalis and Probably Obtains a Full Species Status, Following the ‘Tobias Criteria’

Authors: Jacques Van Impe*

DOI: 10.23880/izab-16000346

Volume 5, Issue 1

Abstract

This study was the result of a comprehensive literature review. The well-known Russian ornithologist Prof. Dr. Peter Sushkin described Anser neglectus as a distinct species from Bashkiria (Bashkortostan, East European Russia) in 1897. Since that time, there has been a long-standing debate over the taxonomic position of A. neglectus. Many taxonomists have argued that A. neglectus has been a synonym or a color variation of the Western Taiga Bean Goose Anser fabalis fabalis. Some contemporary taxonomists maintain this view, but the author of this study follows the thesis of the discoverer and the earliest authors who studied this new species. Anser neglectus, though a typical Western Taiga Bean Goose, distinguished itself from A. f. fabalis and from other taxa of the Bean Goose by its plumage, its field identification, by its specific “Gé-gé” call, the size of its bill, and by its preference for dry and warm winter haunts. As I concluded in former papers, this taxon should therefore be considered as a separate, distinct species, if we follow the many papers written in the past and the new quantitative criteria for species delimitation in bird systematics.

Keywords: Anser neglectus; Anser fabalis fabalis; Taxonomic position; Species; Tunguska catastrophe

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