Other Scientific Names
Pipilo aberti [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)], Pipilo aberti [Stotz et al. (1996)], Pipilo aberti [BirdLife International (2004, 2008)], Pyrgisoma aberti
Abert's Towhee (Melozone) [XC700559]
by Richard E. Webster from Portal, Arizona, United States (call)
Abert's Towhee (Melozone aberti) [XC613835]
by Scott Crabtree from San Simon Cienega, Cochise County, Arizona, United States (call, song)
Subspecies
Formerly placed in genus Pipilo and sometimes in Melozone. Molecular analysis indicates that California Towhee (Melozone crissalis) is a sister-taxon. Geographical variation clinal.
Proposed subspecies voorhiesi (described from c. 15 km south of Tucson, in Arizona) treated as synonym of dumeticolus.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
dumeticolus (Baird, 1852) - South-western USA from south-western Utah south through Colorado Valley in south-eastern Nevada to south-eastern California, and eastern along Gila R in southern Arizona, also extreme north-western Mexico (extreme northern Baja California and north-western Sonora).
aberti (Baird, 1852) - South-western USA in southern Arizona and south-western New Mexico.
vorhiesi (Phillips, 1962) - Southern Arizona (Tucson region) to extreme south-western New Mexico.