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Vol. 81, pp. 485-490 30 December 1968 
PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 
PENTLAND'S TINAMOU IN ARGENTINA 
(AVES: TINAMIDAE) 
By Richard C. Banks and Wayne H. Bohl 
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife; U.S. National Museum, 
Washington, D.C., and Foreign Game Investigation Program, 
Utah State University, Logan, Utah 
Field work in Argentina in 1965 and 1966 by personnel of the 
Foreign Game Investigation Program, of the Bureau of Sport 
Fisheries and Wildlife, had as one of its results the accumula- 
tion of a collection of nearly 300 specimens of tinamous, 
which have been deposited in the U.S. National Museum. 
Among these was a series of 15 Pentland's Tinamou, Notho- 
procta pentlandii (Gray), from the provinces of Mendoza, 
San Luis, and Cordoba, at or near the southern end of the 
range of the species (Hellmayr and Conover, 1942; OLrog, 
1963). Comparison of these southern specimens with others 
from the more northerly provinces of Catamarca, Tucuman, 
and Salta and from Bolivia revealed that two distinct southern 
populations were represented — a previously undescribed one 
in Mendoza and one in the Sierras de San Luis and Cordoba. 
There are thus three subspecies in Argentina, as follows. 
Nothoprocta pentlandii pentlandii (Gray) 
Range: From the Bolivian departments of Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz, 
Cochabamba, and La Paz south along the Andean foothills of western 
Argentina to southern Catamarca. 
Comments: Comparison of this subspecies with others is made below. 
This is the only subspecies currently listed as occurring in Argentina by 
Olrog (1963), who did not recognize the next form. The type locality is 
in the Bolivian Andes. 
Nothoprocta pentlandii doeringi Cabanis 
Range: Sierras de San Luis and Cordoba, central Argentina. 
Diagnosis: Similar to the northerly nominate race in size (Table 1) 
48— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 81, 1968 (485) 
486 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 
but grayer in the general tone of the dorsum, resulting from gray rather 
than brown feather edgings; more heavily spotted on the upper breast, 
and with a less extensive pale area centrally on the abdomen. 
Comments: Nothoprocta doeringi was named by Cabanis ( 1878 ) on 
the basis of a specimen sent to him from Sierra Chica, near Cordoba. 
Sclater (1879) noted that this population was closely aUied to N. 
pentlandii, and Sclater and Hudson (1889) considered the name 
doeringi synonymous with pentlandii. The name applied by Cabanis 
to the population of the Sierra Cordoba has seldom been used since 
that time. Examination of the series of four fully grown birds available 
to us from that mountain range reveals that that population is distinct 
from the nominate form, as indicated above. Further, five specimens 
from the Sierra de San Luis, in San Luis Province, are not separable 
from the Cordoba birds. The name bestowed by Cabanis is available 
and must apply to these populations, which are apparently isolated from 
other populations by lowlands containing unsuitable habitat. 
One specimen of IV. p. pentlandii from near La Merced, Catamarca, 
which of those examined is the nearest geographically to the Cordoba 
population, shows an approach to N. p. doeringi in the grayness of the 
dorsal coloration. 
As far as we are aware, the occurrence of this species of tinamou in 
the Province of San Luis has not previously been reported. 
Nothoprocta pentlandii mendozae new subspecies 
Holotype: USNM 530855; female, Quebrada de Canota, Mendoza 
Province, Argentina; collected 7 May, 1966, by Wayne H. Bohl, original 
number 100. 
Diagnosis: Differs from N. p. pentlandii and iV. p. doeringi by having 
a much longer bill ( Table 1 ) and additionally from pentlandii by a 
sUghtly longer wing, on the average. The general tone of the dorsal 
coloration is gray, rather than brown, this appearance resulting from 
the color of the lateral edges of the back feathers. In this respect, 
mendozae is similar to doeringi but quite distinct from pentlandii. The 
breast is more heavily spotted than in pentlandii and the abdomen is 
darker than in either pentlandii or doeringi, being suffused with pale 
gray or grayish-brown rather than buff. 
Range: Known definitely only from the northwestern corner of the 
Province of Mendoza, Argentina. Other reports of N. pentlandii from 
Mendoza (Sanzin, 1917; Reed, 1919) and from northern Neuquen 
(Okog, 1963) probably also apply to birds of this subspecies. 
Comments: BiU size is the most distinctive character of the subspecies 
2V. p. mendozae. The bill averages approximately 15 per cent longer 
in members of this population than in either pentlandii or doeringi 
(Table 1), and there is no overlap in the samples available to us. 
Wing length is slightly greater in mendozae than in pentlandii, but 
Pentland's Tinamou 
487 
Table 1. Measurements (mm.) and weight (gm.) of subspecies of 
Nothoprocta pentlandii in Argentina. 
pentlandii 
doeringi 
7nendozae 
Wing 
N 
Range 
Mean 
10 
120.2-142.8 
133.6 
9 
123.0-143.2 
135.4 
6 
134.5-145.7 
139.3 
BiU 
N 
Range 
Mean 
9 
21.0-24.0 
22.6 
9 
21.0-25.1 
23.3 
5 
26.3-27.6 
26.9 
Tarsus plus 
Middle Toe 
N 
Range 
Mean 
10 
60.2-67.8 
65.0 
9 
60.2-68.4 
65.1 
6 
65.2-68.6 
66.9 
Weight 
N 
Range 
Mean 
2 
255-305 
280.0 
10 
211-330 
265.7 
14 
301-384 
339.9 
doeringi is intermediate in this regard. Similarly, the length of the tarsus 
and middle toe combined is greater, on the average, in mendozae than 
in the other subspecies. The general impression of greater size in 
mendozae is borne out by a consideration of weight. Fourteen specimens 
of mendozae averaged 340 gm., whereas ten doeringi averaged only 266 
gm. In both instances, equal numbers of each sex were considered; not 
all birds weighed were saved as specimens. Two examples of pentlandii, 
both males, weighed 255 and 305 gm. 
Discussion 
Pentland's Tinamou is a bird of moderate to high elevations; all speci- 
mens taken in the course of field work by FGIP personnel were at 
elevations of 3000 feet or above. Thus the low country in the extreme 
northwest portion of Cordoba and the extreme southeast part of 
Catamarca, containing the Salinas Grandes, would be an effective banker 
providing for the isolation of iV. p. doeringi from N. p. pentlandii. 
Similarly low-lying country to the west of the Sierra de San Luis, either 
to the east or west of the Alto Pencosco, separates doeringi from 
mendozae. The Rio Bermejo and its tributaries in northern San Juan 
Province represent a possible barrier between mendozae and pentlandii; 
the country is considerably more arid to the south and west of the rios 
Troya, Bermejo, and Desaguadero than to the north and east. 
Olrog ( 1963 ) has divided Argentina into a number of ornithological 
zones. The distribution of the subspecies of Pentland's Tinamou out- 
lined in the previous paragraph fits well the zonation mapped by Olrog. 
488 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 
Nothoprocta p. pentlandii is distributed roughly in the "Subzona Sub- 
tropical Occidental" (p. 14), N. p. doeringi in the "Subzona Chaquena 
Occidental" and N. p. mendozae in the "Subzona Chacoandina" (p. 26). 
The three subspecies discussed above were also compared with a pop- 
ulation from well north of the range of N. p. pentlandii, called N. p. 
oustaleti Berlepsch and Stolzmann by Helknayr and Conover ( 1942 ) . 
The sample of this form examined averages considerably larger than 
any of the southern races of N. pentlandii in length of wing and of 
tarsus and middle toe. Differences in color and in feather pattern are 
so great that it is difficult to consider oustaleti conspecific with the forms 
of pentlandii seen. Indeed, oustaleti was considered to be a distinct 
species by Peters (1931). 
Special comment should be made on the methods of measurement 
used in this study. The scutellation of the tarsus and middle toe is 
extremely variable in the vicinity of the juncture of these two elements. 
This variability made it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain measure- 
ments of either segment that would be comparable from one individual 
to another. However, a single scute could be used as the boundary 
point between tarsus and toe on a single specimen, and adding the 
measurements for these two segments yields a figure more nearly com- 
parable between populations than either measurement alone. The bill 
chord was measured from the tip to the point of the "V" formed by 
the cere. Sexual dimorphism in size is slight (a maximum of 3 per cent) 
with a population, and measurements for both sexes are combined be- 
cause of the small nimiber of specimens available. 
We wish to acknowledge gratefully the assistance in the field of Srs. 
Luis Arturo, Ernesto Roco, and Peter Miles. Dr. Gardiner Bump 
provided assistance in many ways. 
Specimens Examined 
N. p. pentlandii. (9) — Bolivia: Cochabamba: Vacas, 2752 and 3800 
m. (3); Arani, 2752 m. (1); Pocona, 2700 m. (1). Argentina: Salta: 
25 mi. W Salta, 5500 ft., (1); Tucuman: San Pedro de Colalao (2); 
Catamarca: near La Merced, 4000 ft. (1). 
N. p. doeringi. (10)— Argentina: Cordoba: La Falda, 3000-3200 ft., 
(3); La Cumbre (1 plus 6 chicks); San Luis: vie. El Volcan, 3000- 
3400 ft. (4); 7 mi. SW San Francisco, between 2400 and 2800 ft. (1). 
N. p. mendozae. (6) — Argentina: Mendoza: Quebrada de Canota, 
4800-6200 ft. (5); 2 mi. SW Puesto Hoyada, 4500 ft. (1). 
N. p. ? oustaleti. (6) — Peru: Lima: San Mateo (2); Huinco (1); 
Apurimac: Andahuaylas Hda., La Laguna, 3040 m. (1); Ecuador: Loja: 
Malacatos, 5000 ft. (2). 
Bolivian specimens of pentlandii and all oustaleti were borrowed 
from the Chicago Museum of Natural History through the courtesy of 
Emmet R. Blake. All other specimens are in the U. S. National Museum. 
Penthnd's Tinamou 489 
LlTERATXJElE ClTED 
Cabanis, J. 1878. Ueber eine Sammlung von Vogeln der Argentinis- 
chen Republik. Jour. f. Ornith., 26: 194-199. 
Hellmayk, C. E., and B. Conover. 1942. Catalogue of Birds of the 
Americas and the Adjacent Islands. Part I, No. 1, Field 
Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., Vol. 13, pt. I, no. 1. 
Olrog, C. C. 1963. Lista y Distribucion de las Aves Argentinas. 
Opera Lilloana IX, Institute Miguel Lillo, Univ. Nac. de 
Tucuman. 377 p. 
Peters, J. L. 1931. Check-Hst of Birds of the World. Vol. 1. Harvard 
Univ. Press, Cambridge. 345 pp. 
Reed, C. S. 1919. Breves notas acera de nidos y huevos de algunas 
aves de la cordillera de Mendoza. Homero, 1: 267-273. 
Sanzin, R. 1917. Lista de aves Mendocinas. Hornero, 1: 147-152. 
ScLATER, P. L. 1879. [On a collection of birds.] Proc. Zool. Soc. 
London for 1879: 460-461. 
ScLATER, P. L., ANB W. H. HuDSON. 1889. Argentine Ornithology. 
Vol. II. London. 251 pp.