Nomenclatural and taxonomic status of bird taxa (Aves) described by an ornithological swindler, Josef Prokop Pražák (1870 – 1904)
Author
Mlíkovský, Jiří
text
Zootaxa
2011
3005
45
68
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.202788
37c1b93e-9c92-45e1-a140-5fe4810c5b16
1175-5326
202788
Carduelis elegans alpestris
Pražák
[
Carduelis elegans
]
alpestris
Pražák, 1894d
: 84
.
NOW.
Carduelis carduelis carduelis
(Linnaeus, 1758)
. See
Hartert (1903: 67)
.
Remarks.
Carduelis carduelis
was a popular cage bird in
Bohemia
and local bird catchers distinguished several varieties according to minute differences in plumage coloration, body size, song or habitat preferences (e.g.
Šír 1890
: 109–110).
Pražák (1894d: 83–84)
provided scientific names for three of these varieties, including smallish, plain-colored garden birds (
hortensis
), largish birds breeding outside of villages (
sylvestris
), and brightly colored, good singing birds, believed to breed mainly at higher elevations (
alpestris
).
Pražák (1894d: 83–84)
provided descriptions for these three forms, which he called “gute Subspecies” (“good subspecies”) (
Pražák 1894d: 82
). In consequence, all these names are available for nomenclatural purposes, although
Pražák (1894d)
did not specify their
type
series.
Pražák (1894d: 84)
did not specify the
type
locality of
C. e. alpestris
, but listed examples of localities where these birds were common. All of these localities lie within
Bohemia
and I thus consider
Bohemia
as the
type
locality of
Carduelis elegans alpestris
Pražák.
Hartert (1903: 67)
incorrectly said that
Pražák (1894d)
described this form as
Fringilla alpestris
.