Almost half of the 400+ species described in Félix de Azara’s “Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paraguay y Rio de la Plata” were new to science… Click to show full abstract
Almost half of the 400+ species described in Félix de Azara’s “Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paraguay y Rio de la Plata” were new to science at the time of its publication; however, not all of these have yet been correctly identified. Azara’s No. 21 “Gavilán pardo obscuro” has long been misidentified as a dark phase of the Short-tailed Hawk Buteo brachyurus. However, the description of plumage, jizz, habitat and measurements are inconsistent with that species and Azara’s No. 21 can, in fact, be convincingly identified as a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk Buteo swainsoni, the earliest Paraguayan report of this species. No scientific names were apparently ever based on Azara No. 21.
               
Click one of the above tabs to view related content.