On 16 September an ABA Code-3 Rose-throated Becard (Pachyramphus aglaiae) was reported from between Willow Lake #3 and #4 at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.
In the ABA Area, Rose-throated Becards come from geographically isolated populations. Short-billed Arizona birds are representatives of P. a. albiventris from western Mexico. The females are buffy-white ventrally and the males have pale rose throat patches whereas south Texas birds, P. a. gravis, have long bills. The coastal Mexican population females are richer buff ventrally and the males have deep rose throat patches.
Relationships in the genus Pachramphus (becards) have long been controversial. In 1990, Sibley and Ahlquist considered the genera Tityra, Schiffornis and Pachyramphus to form a distinct group and they placed them all in the Tyrannidae, Tyrant Flycatchers. In the late 1990s, following the work by Prum et al., the group was removed from the Tyrannidae and placed in the Cotingidae, the Cotingas. In 2004, Chesser found this group was more closely related to manakins so in 2005 the South American Checklist Committee (SACC) removed Pachyramphus from the Cotingidae and temporarily placed them into Incertae Sedis (uncertain position). In 2006 Ericson et al. established that the group should be placed in a new family, Tityridae, where they will likely remain.
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