Primary molt in Psophia and simpler molt summary tables

Molt summary tables reveal the sequence and mode of flight feather replacement and how these feathers are divided into independent replacement series. These tables are relatively new, and the first illustration for generating molt summary tables used a temperate passerine. But primary replacement in temperate passerines is far too simple to address the complexities of generating summary tables for:(i) species with primaries divided into more than one replacement series, (ii) species with stepwise primary replacement, (iii) species that do not replace all their flight feathers annually, and (iv) species for which flight feather replacement has been studied for the entire wing. Here, we review complications that arise in the development of molt summary tables and offer solutions that remove ambiguity both in the direction that molt proceeds through the wing and in the recognition of nodal and terminal feathers, which start and stop waves of feather replacement. We use these modified molt summary tables to describe the sequence of primary replacement in trumpeters, a group for which primary replacement is reported to be reverse that of most other birds, but for which there has never been a detailed study of primary replacement. Using the 80 specimens of Psophia crepitans at the American Museum of Natural History, we develop molt tables that show that the sequence of primary replacement is, indeed, proximal. Further, summary tables reveal that Psophia crepitans has its primaries divided into two replacement series, one beginning at outermost primary P10, and the other beginning at P3. One juvenile confirms these primaries as the beginning of the two replacement series in the wing of Psophia crepitans .