On June 27 2018 the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) released the latest version of its world bird list (V8.2):

Gill, F & D Donsker (Eds). 2018. IOC World Bird List (v 8.2). doi :  10.14344/IOC.ML.8.2.

For the first time the number of non-extinct species in the list topped 10700, with the total now standing at 10711 – 4297 Non-Passerines and 6414 Passerines.

The details of the changes in the v8.2 release can be found by clicking on the Updates tab on the World Bird Names website. There is a summary of the major amendments below, but first let’s consider some immediate implications …

If you’ve ever seen a black-and-white Magpie in Hong Kong, or Seoul, or at the Great Wall of China, then you can add Oriental Magpie Pica serica to your life list. If you’ve seen one in north-west Africa, then that’s another ‘armchair tick’: Maghreb Magpie Pica mauritanica. This is because the Eurasian Magpie Pica pica complex has been redefined, creating and additional four species.

On the negative front, I’m afraid that if your only records of Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis are from the Canary Islands, or Egypt, or the Middle East, or India, you’ll have to strike this species off your list, as it has now been decided that these birds are all subspecies of Great Grey Shrike. The only place where Lanius meridionalis is resident is southern France and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar), with some birds wintering in north-west Africa. Consequently, the species has been renamed Iberian Grey Shrike.

There have been some more esoteric implications of the revisions in 8.2. For example, the warblers in south-west Cambodia and extreme south-east Thailand that were previously thought to be subspecies of Kloss’s Leaf Warbler have been reclassified as a subspecies of Davison’s Leaf Warbler. This reassignment is part of a wholesale redefinition and resequencing of the family Phylloscopidae – Leaf Warblers and Allies, which merges all the members of the former Seicercus genus into the single Phylloscopidae genus Phylloscopus.

The changes made to the IOC bird list during 2018 have had a major impact on one of the All the World’s Birds (ATWB) titles in particular: Focus on INDIAN SUBCONTINENT VOLUME 2: PASSERINES. To see these updates click here. For details of how the 8.1 and 8.2 IOC bird list changes have affected bird species that are regularly present in the Western Palearctic region, click here.

2019 editions of all currently available ATWB eBooks will be published in August 2018. Another blog post will make the announcement when they are ready to download.

So, as promised earlier, here is a summary of the 8.2 changes.

New to science

Megascops Screech Owls  +1 species  Santa Marta Screech Owl

Machaeropterus Manakins  + 1 species  Painted Manakin

Myzomela Honeyeaters  +1 species  Rote Myzomela

Splits

Thamnistes Antshrikes  +1 species

Psophodes Whipbirds  +1 species

Edolisoma Cicadabirds  +1 species

Rhipidura Fantails  +1

Pica Magpies  +4

Lophorina Birds-of-paradise  +2

Cyornis Jungle Flycatchers  +1

Sporophila Seedeaters  +1

Lumps

Megascops Screech Owls  -2  [Napo Screech Owl, Colombian Screech Owl]

Cranioleuca Ovenbirds  -1  [Baron’s Spinetail]

Re-defintion and re-sequencing of families

All species that were formerly members of families Tephrodornithidae – Woodshrikes and Allies and Prionopidae – Helmetshrikes have been transferred to the extended family Vangidae – Vangas and Allies.

The Cuckooshrikes family Campephagidae has been re-defined with the addition of new genera, and has been re-sequenced.

Family Phylloscopidae – Leaf Warblers and Allies has been redefined and resequenced.

Family Locustellidae – Grassbirds and Allies has been redefined and requenced.

In the IOC bird list there are now 10711 extant species (net +12) assigned to 244 families (-2). All 8.1 and 8.2 updates will be reflected in the 2019 editions of the ATWB Companion Guides.

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To see all the currently available titles in the ‘All the World’s Birds’ series, search in the Books section of your local Amazon site for ATWB. Or, click here to see all ATWB titles on Amazon US; or here to see all ATWB titles on Amazon UK.