Systematics

Catherpes mexicanus var. conspersus Ridgway, 1873, American Naturalist 7:603.—near Fort Churchill, Lyon County, Nevada, USA.

The holotype, an adult male collected in the Washoe Mountains, near Fort Churchill, on 7 December 1867 by Robert Ridgway, is held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM 53425) (30 Deignan, H. G. (1961). Type specimens of birds in the United States National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 221:1–718. Close ).

Synonyms:
Catherpes mexicanus punctulatus Ridgway, 1882, Proceedings of the United States National Museum 5:343.—Forest Hill, Placer County, and Calaveras River, 30 miles [48 km] east of Stockton, Calaveras County, California, USA. Ridgway had five specimens to hand in describing punctulatus of which he designated two as types (syntypes): an adult male collected at Forest Hill on 7 October 1862 by Ferdinand Gruber, and an adult female taken at the Calaveras River by Lyman Belding on an unknown date in 1879, both of which are held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM 82715 and USNM 79154, respectively) (30 Deignan, H. G. (1961). Type specimens of birds in the United States National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 221:1–718. Close ). Described as intermediate in coloration between nominate mexicanus and C. m. conspersus, with size basically as latter.

Catherpes mexicanus polioptilus Oberholser, 1903, Auk 20:197.—Deer Mountain, elevation 6,500 ft [1,981 m], Chisos Mountains, Texas, USA (19 Oberholser, H. C. (1903). A review of the genus Catherpes. Auk 20(2):196–198. Close ). The holotype is an adult male collected by Harry C. Oberholser on 14 June 1901, and held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM 168350) (30 Deignan, H. G. (1961). Type specimens of birds in the United States National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 221:1–718. Close ).

Catherpes mexicanus griseus Aldrich, 1946, Proceedings of Biological Society of Washington 59:131.—Logy Creek, Yakima Indian Reservation, Yakima County, Washington, USA (24 Aldrich, J. W. (1946). New subspecies of birds from western North America. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 59:129–135. Close ). The holotype is an adult male collected by Stanley G. Jewett on 20 April 1943, and held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM 367804) (30 Deignan, H. G. (1961). Type specimens of birds in the United States National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 221:1–718. Close ). Described as being similar to both C. m. conspersus and (its synonym) C. m. punctulatus, but more grayish than either.

Catherpes mexicanus pallidior A. R. Phillips, 1986, The Known Birds of North and Middle America, Part I, p. 169.—Green River, Wyoming, USA (27 Phillips, A. R. (1986). The Known Birds of North and Middle America, Part I. Hirundinidae to Mimidae; Certhiidae. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, CO, USA. Close ). The holotype is a female collected on 20 September 1927 by J. E. Link, and held at the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (CM P101836). Considered the palest population of this species (28 Browning, M. R. (1990). Taxa of North American birds described from 1957 to 1987. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 103(2):432–451. Close ).

Catherpes mexicanus croizati A. R. Phillips, 1986, The Known Birds of North and Middle America, Part I, p. 170.—La Laguna, Sierra Laguna, Baja California Sur, Mexico (27 Phillips, A. R. (1986). The Known Birds of North and Middle America, Part I. Hirundinidae to Mimidae; Certhiidae. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, CO, USA. Close ). There are two syntypes, both females and collected on 26 January 1906 by Edward William Nelson and Edward Alphonso Goldman, and held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM 197518 and USNM 197517). Closest to the previous name in the coloration of the upperparts, being generally pale, and considered to be darker on the upperparts than C. m. conspersus and (its synonym) C. m. pallidior, being similar in this respect to two other names treated in synonymy here, griseus and punctulatus (28 Browning, M. R. (1990). Taxa of North American birds described from 1957 to 1987. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 103(2):432–451. Close ).

Western United States north to south-central British Columbia, east to Chisos Mountains of western Texas, south to Baja California Sur.

C. m. conspersus is paler on face, crown, and back, and is smaller than C. m. mexicanus (22 Bent, A. C. (1948). Life histories of North American nuthatches, wrens, thrashers, and their allies. United States National Museum Bulletin 195. Close ).

Certhia albifrons Giraud, 1841, A description of sixteen new species of North American birds, p. [17], plate [8].—Texas.

The holotype is an adult collected in “1838”, acquired by Jacob P. Giraud Jr., probably via the dealer John G. Bell, and held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM 47702) (30 Deignan, H. G. (1961). Type specimens of birds in the United States National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 221:1–718. Close ).

In United States, from southwestern Oklahoma to central and southwestern Texas, south to northeastern Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León).

The bill of C. m. albifrons averages longer than that of C. m. mexicanus, and its plumage paler, with the upperparts more grayish brown; and it has narrower black bars on the tail (7 Ridgway, R. (1904). The Birds of North and Middle America Part III. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 50. Close ).

Thryothorus mexicanus Swainson, 1829, Zoological Illustrations, Series 2, Volume 1, plate [11].—Real del Monte, Hidalgo, Mexico.

The whereabouts of the type material is unknown; extant specimens used by Swainson to describe new taxa are apparently held almost exclusively in two museums, the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, United Kingdom, and (to a lesser extent) the Natural History Museum, Tring, but neither institution holds any such material pertaining to this species; however, it has been suggested that some of his types may eventually surface in the Liverpool and Paris museums (31 Warren, R. L. M. (1966). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 1. Non-Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close , 32 Benson, C. W. (1999). Type specimens of bird skins in the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, United Kingdom. British Ornithologists’ Club Occasional Publications No. 4. Close ). Swainson’s Mexico types were all collected by William Bullock father and son (32 Benson, C. W. (1999). Type specimens of bird skins in the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, United Kingdom. British Ornithologists’ Club Occasional Publications No. 4. Close ).

Synonyms:
Catherpes mexicanus meliphonus Oberholser, 1930, Scientific Publications of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History 1:95.—Alamos [27°01′N, 108°58′E], Sonora, Mexico. The holotype is an adult male collected by M. Abbott Frazar on 14 February 1888, and held at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA (USNM 151924) (30 Deignan, H. G. (1961). Type specimens of birds in the United States National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 221:1–718. Close ). Described as differing from nominate mexicanus in being somewhat paler and smaller.
Catherpes mexicanus cantator A. R. Phillips, 1966, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 86:127—south end of Cerro de Buena Vista, 5 km west of Compostela, Nayarit, Mexico (33 Phillips, A. R. (1966). Further systematic notes on Mexican birds. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 86:86–94, 103–112, 125–131, 148–159. Close ). There are two syntypes, an adult pair (male and female) collected by Allan R. Phillips on 11 November 1956, and held at the Delaware Museum of Natural History (now Delaware Museum of Nature & Science), Greenville, Delaware, USA (DMNH 18473 and DMNH 18474). Described as being smaller than the nominate mexicanus, with a slenderer bill, and perhaps marginally darker in color (33 Phillips, A. R. (1966). Further systematic notes on Mexican birds. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 86:86–94, 103–112, 125–131, 148–159. Close ).

In Mexico, from Sonora and Chihuahua south to Colima and Oaxaca; also, disjunctly, in southwestern Chiapas.

Described under Plumages.