Type specimens and type localities of birds (Aves) collected by Gustav Adolf Fischer (1848 - 1886) in East Africa
Author
Frahnert, Sylke
Author
Turner, Donald A.
Author
Bracker, Cordula
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-08-18
5334
1
1
84
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5334.1.1
journal article
264230
10.11646/zootaxa.5334.1.1
86bd1537-578b-462b-ae18-c669bc6e0dce
1175-5326
8261358
5CA866F3-0375-4E09-89FC-DBB259BAE535
Nectarinia melanogastra
G.A.
Fischer & Reichenow, 1884b: 181
.
Now
:
Cinnyris melanogastrus
(G.A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1884)
; but see
Greenway et al. (1967: 266)
.
Holotype
(missing):
ZMB 27394
[B 18646, Fischer no. 782], male, collected at Nguruman, [
21.04.1883
].
Paratype
(missing):
ZMB 27395
[B 18646, Fischer no. 783], [juvenile male or female] collected at Nguruman, [
21.04.1883
].
Possible
Paratype
:
AMNH 690932
, male, collected at Nguruman, 04.[18]83
.
Type locality
:
Nguruman
[near the base of the Nguruman Escarpment,
Kajiado County
,
Kenya
], from the original description as well as locality of the
holotype
.
Remarks
: In the original description no type was chosen, and there were no inventory numbers for specimens provided, but
one specimen
and the locality Nguruman were given. Fischer (1884) listed
two male
specimens collected at the same locality and date for this species. One of them (no. 783) is a juvenile, and neither publication gives any information about the coloration of the specimen. Therefore, ZMB 27394 is regarded as the
holotype
for this species. ZMB 27395 was listed as a juvenile male in Fischer (1884), but as a female in the catalogue. However, as it was treated as
Nectarinia melanogastra
by Fischer (1884), the specimen is regarded as a
paratype
. A further specimen of
N. melanogastra
is housed in the AMNH (AMNH 690932). This specimen has a collector’s label very similar to those of Fischer found at the ZMB and ZMH, but not identical. The specimen may have been part of Fischer’s private collection (see
Reichenow 1878b
), and as with the Rothschild collection, it also reached the AMNH. As on the collector’s label the name
N. melanogastra
as well as the locality Nguruman and date “April 83” is mentioned, the specimen is regarded as a further (now the only available)
paratype
for this species although it is not mentioned in the published documentation (
Fischer & Reichenow 1884b
; Fischer 1884) as well as in
LeCroy (2010)
.
Both
ZMB 27394
and
ZMB 27395
were inventoried at the ZMB in
March 1884
and were mounted.
In
the catalogue it was noted that during the 1950s
ZMB 27394
was missing, suggesting that it was destroyed during
World War II
along with many other mounts in the ornithological collection.
The
whereabouts of the
paratype
(
ZMB 27395
) is unknown, and it seems probable that it was also destroyed during
World War II
.
On
21 April 1883
, Fischer was approaching the foot of the Nguruman Escarpment (on his way to Naivasha) and was in Masailand at c.
2°05’S
,
36°15’E
.