Contributions to Avian Biogeography from the Archipelago and Lowlands of Bocas-Del-Toro, Panama

Abstract

New distributional information is summarized from avifaunal surveys conducted from 1987 to 1991 in the ornithologically unknown islands of the province of Bocas del Toro, Panama, and points on the adjacent mainland. These establish the region of the Laguna de Chiriqui to be of great biogeographic interest and complexity. New records include 3 species new to Panama, and 11 species and 3 subspecies new to Bocas del Toro. Two taxa of birds (Platyrinchus cancrominus and a form of Chlorophanes spiza) are relicts on islands and are not resident on the Panamanian mainland. Four pairs of species or subspecies (Anthracothorax prevostii/A. veraguensis, Glaucis aenea/G. hirsuta, Gymnopithys bicolor olivascens/G. b. bicolor, and Tangara inornata rava/T. i. languens) are shown for the first time to change abruptly over a narrow distance along the southern shore of the Laguna de Chiriqui.