TYPE SPECIMENS OF BIRDS IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. PART 5. PASSERIFORMES: ALAUDIDAE, HIRUNDINIDAE, MOTACILLIDAE, CAMPEPHAGIDAE, PYCNONOTIDAE, IRENIDAE, LANIIDAE, VANGIDAE, BOMBYCILLIDAE, DULIDAE, CINCLIDAE, TROGLODYTIDAE, AND MIMIDAE
Author
LeCROY, M. A. R. Y.
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
2003
2003-09-30
278
278
1
156
http://dx.doi.org/10.1206/0003-0090(2003)278<0001:tsobit>2.0.co;2
journal article
10.1206/0003-0090(2003)278<0001:tsobit>2.0.co;2
0003-0090
Nesomimus bauri
Ridgway
Nesomimus bauri
Ridgway, 1894: 357
(Tower Island).
Now
Nesomimus trifasciatus bauri
Ridgway, 1894
. See
Davis and Miller, 1960: 448
.
LECTOTYPE
:
AMNH 504397
, unsexed, collected on
Isla Genovesa
(=
Tower Island
),
00°20′N
,
89°58′W
(
Paynter, 1993: 211
),
Galapagos Islands
,
Ecuador
, on
2 September 1891
, by
Dr. G. A. Baur
(no. 695).
From
the
Rothschild Collection.
COMMENTS
: In the original description,
Ridgway (1894: 357–358)
gave the collecting date as
2 September 1891
for his
three specimens
from Tower Island in Dr. Baur’s Collection. He did not give the sex of the type nor the collector’s number, although he had written it on the USNM type label attached to the above specimen.
Rothschild and Hartert (1899: 146)
did not state how many Baur specimens they had. Four Baur specimens from Tower Island came to AMNH, three of them collected on
2 September 1891
. These
three specimens
would have been
syntypes
.
Hartert (1920: 478)
, citing Baur’s field number, designated the above specimen the
lectotype
. The
paralectotypes
are AMNH 504398, male, and AMNH 504411, female. AMNH 504010 is unsexed and undated. All
four specimens
had been in spirits.
Brewer and MacKay (2001: 222)
considered
bauri
a subspecies of
N. parvulus
.
Harporhynchus curvirostris
var.
palmeri
(Ridgway MS) Coues
Harporhynchus curvirostris
var.
palmeri
(Ridgway MS)
Coues, 1872: 351
(Tucson,
Arizona
).
Now
Toxostoma curvirostre palmeri
(Coues (ex Ridgway MS), 1872). See
Phillips, 1986: 190
,
Tweit, 1996: 3
, and
Brewer and MacKay, 2001: 237
.
HOLOTYPE
:
AMNH 85850
, unsexed adult, collected at Tucson,
Arizona
, by
Lt. Charles Bendire
, in 1872. From the
George B. Sennett Collection
(no. 2541).
COMMENTS
: In the original description, Coues stated that this name was from a Ridgway manuscript and that it was ‘‘Described from 61589, Mus. Smiths. Inst., Tucson,
Arizona
, Bendire.’’
Hellmayr (1934: 299)
stated that the
type
was in the
United States
National Museum, but did not indicate that he had seen it.
Deignan (1961: 410– 413)
did not mention it. This
type
seems to be another example of specimen exchange between the Smithsonian Institution and George B. Sennett (see above under
Thryothorus ludovicianus lomitensis
). A study of the five labels attached to this specimen indicates that it was catalogd as no.
61589 in
the Smithsonian Institution (although the number 61590 appears on one tag and is crossed out). The two Smithsonian Institution labels give the name as ‘‘
Harporhynchus curvirostris
var.
palmeri
Ridgway’’ and one, while printed with the Smithsonian Institution name, is also printed: ‘‘Explorations in Dakota/Dr. Elliott Coues,
U.S.A.
’’. This has been changed, in a hand unknown, to: ‘‘Explorations in
Arizona
/Lt. C. Bendire’’ and is noted on the reverse: ‘‘Presented by Coues to S.I.’’ It does not bear a Smithsonian Institution
type
label and was apparently given to or exchanged with Sennett without its
type
status having been recognized. It then came to AMNH with the Sennett Collection in 1904. The statement on the AMNH
type
label, ‘‘fide C.W. Richmond,
Jan. 1921
’’, indicates that Richmond recognized it as the
type
of
palmeri
at that time. Storrs Olson (personal commun.) found that this specimen was one of a lot of 12 collected [by] and received from Lt. Bendire and entered in the catalog on
20 June 1872
. It was originally entered on that date as
Harporhynchus palmeri
, even though Coues’s description (a mere footnote) was not published until October. As Coues indicates that it was a Ridgway MS name, the MS must have been in existence before
20 June 1872
. The catalog indicates that the specimen went to Sennett on
27 Aug 1879
. The entry is now underlined in red and annotated in pencil ‘‘
Type
! Now in Am. Mus.’’ These were obviously added after the horse got out of the barn. 61590 is a ground dove [
Columbina passerina
] and has nothing to do with the thrasher. Nor is there any indication that the specimen was ‘‘Presented by Coues to S.I.’’
Two additional numbers appear on this specimen: ‘‘No. 259?’’ and ‘‘1708’’. These numbers do not correspond to the numbers on any of Sennett’s specimen lists in the Department of Ornithology Archives. The specimen is a mummy.
Recent DNA studies by
Zink et al. (1999
,
2000
) indicated that the ‘‘Palmeri group’’ of subspecies merit recognition as a full species, but they recomended further studies before formal taxonomic recognition.