Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 12. Passeriformes: Ploceidae, Sturnidae, Buphagidae, Oriolidae, Dicruridae, Callaeidae, Grallinidae, Corcoracidae, Artamidae, Cracticidae, Ptilonorhynchidae, Cnemophilidae, Paradisaeidae, And Corvidae
Author
Lecroy, Mary
Department of Vertebrate Zoology (Ornithology) American Museum of Natural History
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
2014
2014-12-30
2014
393
1
165
journal article
7639
10.1206/885.1
48769858-fe3b-415b-9ac8-3feeb42a9bae
0003-0090
4629954
Passer rufidorsalis megarhynchos
C.L. Brehm
Passer rufidorsalis
C.L.
Brehm, 1855b: 277
(in N.- O.-Afrika).
Passer rufidorsalis megarhynchos
C.L.
Brehm, 1856: 376
(in Ostsudahn und sind bei
Chartum
).
Now
Passer domesticus rufidorsalis
C.L.
Brehm, 1855
. See
Hartert, 1918a: 15
;
Vaurie, 1959: 570– 571
;
Dickinson, 2003: 716
; and
Summers-Smith, 2009: 793–794
.
LECTOTYPE
:
AMNH 456520
, adult male, collected on the
Blue Nile
(
Blauer
Nil
, as on label),
Sudan
, on
25 October 1850
, by
A.E. Brehm. From
the
Brehm Collection
via the
Rothschild Collection.
COMMENTS: In the original description of
rufidorsalis
, Brehm
did not say how many specimens he had or identify a specimen that could be considered a type; however, the only locality mentioned was ‘‘N.-O-Afrika.’’
Hartert (1918a: 15)
discussed the species and considered the above specimen the type of
P. rufidorsalis
, thereby designating it the
lectotype
. Although the specimen is marked ‘‘
Passer rufidorsalis
medius’’
by Brehm, Hartert was unable to confirm that the name
‘‘medius’’
had ever been published. Later,
Vaurie (1959: 570)
restricted the type locality of
P. rufidorsalis
to
Kartoum
,
Sudan
. This restriction is not valid according to the Code (ICZN, 1999: 87, Art. 76.2), as the
Blue Nile
is the collecting locality of the
lectotype
, according to the label information.
Hartert (1918a: 15)
also thought that the same specimen fit
Brehm’s (1856: 376–377)
description of
Passer rufidorsalis megarhynchos
and was the type of both names. In his description of
megarhynchos
, Brehm divided his
P. rufidorsalis
into two subspecies,
megarhynchos
and
microrhynchos
, noting that he had specimens of both in both sexes. There are only two Brehm specimens labeled ‘‘
medius
’’ by him, the other being a female specimen also said to have come from the
Blue Nile
and collected on the same date. If AMNH 456520 is accepted as the
lectotype
of
megarhynchos
, then AMNH 456522, female, collected on the
Blue Nile
, on
25 October 1850
, by A.E. Brehm should be considered a
paralectotype
of
megarhynchos
.
Both
megarhynchos
and
microrhynchos
were said to live ‘‘in Ostsudahn und sind bei
Chartum
nicht eben selten,’’ but in the description of
P. rufidorsalis
, the only locality mentioned was northeast Africa. AMNH 456523, female, was collected at
Khartoum
on
30 September 1850
, but it is labeled ‘‘minor’’ by Brehm and was not discussed by Hartert.