Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 10. Passeriformes: Emberizidae: Emberizinae, Catamblyrhynchinae, Cardinalinae, Thraupinae, And Tersininae
Author
LeCroy, Mary
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
2012
2012-06-21
2012
368
1
125
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/775.1
journal article
10.1206/775.1
0003-0090
5399454
Geospiza acutirostris
Ridgway
Geospiza acutirostris
Ridgway, 1894: 363
(Tower Island,
Galapagos
).
Now
Geospiza difficilis difficilis
Sharpe, 1888
. See
Hellmayr, 1938: 132–133
,
Paynter, 1970b: 162
, and Dickinson, 2003: 795.
HOLOTYPE
:
AMNH 517637
, unsexed [black adult male plumage], collected on Genovesa (5 Tower) Island,
00.20N
,
89.58W
(
Paynter, 1993
),
Galapagos Islands
,
Ecuador
. From the
G. Baur Collection
via the Rothschild Collection.
COMMENTS: In the original description, Ridgway gave only the measurements in inches of the type, which was stated to be from Tower Island and in G. Baur’s collection, and mentioned that there were
seven specimens
, four of which were in black plumage. This description was repeated by
Ridgway (1896b: 531–532)
and the bill is illustrated in pl. LVII, fig. 21. AMNH 517637 bears an unnumbered USNM type label with the name, locality, Baur’s name, and the number 661 (probably Baur’s field number, but not cited in the description), indicating that it was the specimen Ridgway intended as the type. It bears as well a Rothschild type label with the name, locality, the number 661, and a reference to the description. Ridgway’s measurements of the type were given in tenths of inches, which
Rothschild and Hartert (1899: 162)
said were correctly given. Measurements in millimeters given by
Ridgway (1901: 506)
were not said to be of the type, but are a direct conversion from the inches given earlier. A footnote on p. 507 noted that the type was by that time in the Rothschild Collection.
Hartert (1919: 152)
listed the type without adding any information. Ridgway’s measurements (in millimeters) of the type were: wing 62.23, tail, 40.13, culmen 13.97, depth of bill at base 7.62. My measurements of AMNH 517637 are: wing 63.0, tail 39.5, culmen 14.0, bill depth 8.0. Because the
two type
labels which AMNH 517637 bears indicate that it is Ridgway’s selected type and the measurements are very close, I consider it the
holotype
. It is unclear whether Ridgway’s wing measurement was made before or after skinning.
Contra Ridgway, there are eight Baur specimens of
acutirostris
in AMNH from the Rothschild Collection. All of them are ‘‘ex spirits.’’ Three of them, including the type, are black males, one is unsexed but blackish, and four are females.
Paratypes
in AMNH are:
AMNH 517630–517636
. There seems to be no way to tell which three of the
four females
Ridgway examined, nor is it clear whether they were made into skins before Ridgway saw them or whether this was done by Rothschild. All of them are labeled
acutirostris
on the Rothschild label. In the absence of further information, I have considered the
seven specimens
in addition to the
holotype
to be
paratypes
of
acutirostris
.
Geospiza scandens septentrionalis
Rothschild