Avian type localities and the type specimens collected by Johan August Wahlberg in southern Africa
Author
Dean, W. Richard J.
0000-0002-6541-3565
Research Associate, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701 South Africa. wrjdean 01 @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 6541 - 3565 & Wolwekraal Conservation and Research Organisation, P. O. Box 47, Prince Albert 6930, South Africa. & South African Environmental Observation Network, Arid Lands Node, Kimberley, South Africa.
wrjdean01@gmail.com
Author
Åhlander, Erik
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Zoology, Box 50007, SE- 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden.
Author
Johansson, Ulf S.
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Zoology, Box 50007, SE- 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden.
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-05-12
5134
4
521
560
journal article
55543
10.11646/zootaxa.5134.4.3
6cdcd17b-e695-4d2b-9f19-d6c2cf59a722
1175-5326
6541737
79D78E49-C127-4EB8-BEA2-784B0BC65363
Anthus lineiventris
Sundevall, 1850: 100
.
VERBATIM
TYPE
LOCALITY: “
In Caffr. superiore, silvatico, circa
Limpopo
flumen
.
”
CURRENT STATUS:
Anthus lineiventris
Sundevall, 1850
;
Motacillidae (
Dickinson & Christidis 2014: 310
)
. Monotypic.
Anthus lineiventris stygium
Clancey, 1952
, is not recognized.
TYPE
MATERIAL: Sundevall in his original description (1850: 100) gives no indication that he had more than a single male at hand. The original type series probably consisted of
four specimens
(but Sundevall’s acquisition catalogue is very difficult to read for this species).
Gyldenstolpe (1926: 29)
referred to NRM 568732 [6538] as a “type”, here treated as a
lectotype
designation of this adult male collected
2 October 1843
at Spitskop (1) (Spitzkop) according to the skin label, but Saulspoort according to
Gyldenstolpe (1926: 29)
(see below). The
three paralectotypes
are: NRM 90169719 [6537], a juvenile male collected
5 December 1843
near the Crocodile River; NRM 534116 [6539], a mounted female collected
5 December 1843
near the Crocodile River; and RMNH.
AVES
.123244 [6540], a juvenile male, collected
5 December 1843
near the Crocodile River, sent on exchange to Leiden in 1850.
VERIFIED
TYPE
LOCALITY:
Spitskop
(1) (
24° 52’ south
,
26° 40’ east
),
North West Province
.
COMMENTS:
Type
locality restricted to Dwars Berge (= Dwarsberge), Marico District,
North West Province
,
South Africa
, by
Gyldenstolpe (1934: 291)
. Dwarsberge is to the west of Spitskop (1) on
Figure 3
. The reasoning and basis behind Gyldenstolpe’s restricted
type
locality and change from the label data is not known. It is almost impossible, given the information in Wahlberg’s journal, to identify the precise
type
locality of
Anthus lineiventris
, and the label locality of Spitskop (1) should be accepted as the TL. Wahlberg’s movements in September and early October are vague. According to
Brinck (1955)
he arrived at Matlapengberg on
14 September 1843
. His journal only records “travel” after leaving the Matlapengberg (
25° 18’ south
,
26° 45’ east
) on 17 September. However,
two specimens
collected on 24 September are labelled Matlapengberg, and it may be that he returned to Matlapengberg for a few days, or that the skins are incorrectly dated on the labels. On 28 September he recorded setting off for “Lubblabergen” (Dubblabergen?), an unidentified place that could be Dwarsberge. There are no localities given in the journal between Matlapengberg and Saulspoort, except that he “passed around the end of Leroma [on 9 October] and continued on the other side of the mountain” to (eventually, three days later) reach Saulspoort on 12 October. There is an implication that the night of 9 October was spent at Pilanesberg. The various localities are shown in
Figure 3
.