Zosterops virens Sundevall, 1850: 101

Dean, W. Richard J., Åhlander, Erik & Johansson, Ulf S., 2022, Avian type localities and the type specimens collected by Johan August Wahlberg in southern Africa, Zootaxa 5134 (4), pp. 521-560 : 550-551

Zosterops virens Sundevall, 1850: 101 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: “ in Caffraria; tum inferiore, juxta P:t Natal, cum superiore sylvatica, ad 25° Lat:s. ”

CURRENT STATUS: Zosterops capensis virens Sundevall, 1850 ; Zosteropidae ( Dickinson & Christidis 2014: 520) .

STATUS REFERENCE: Recognised as a full species ( Zosterops virens ) by White 1963: 92–93 and Moreau 1967: 333 (both include atmorii Sharpe, 1877 and capensis Sundevall, 1850 ), and by Smith & Bowie 2005: 823–824 (who include atmorii, caniviridis Clancey, 1962, and capensis , as subspecies of Z. virens ). See the taxonomic note in Smith & Bowie (2005): 822–823), who state that “neither green ( Z. v. virens and Z. v. caniviridis ) nor grey ( Z. v. capensis and Z. v. atmorii ) morphs are genetically distinguishable based on present sampling; we have taken the conservative route and subsumed Z. v. caniviridis within Z. v. virens , and Z. v. atmorii within Z. v. capensis ”.

TYPE MATERIAL: Sundevall in his original description (1850:101) mentioned both males and females. According to his acquisition catalogue and catalogue of duplicates in combination, he must have had five specimens at hand for the description. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 34–35) referred to NRM 568709 [6675] as a “type”; which we treat as a lectotype designation of this male collected 15 August 1840 in Durban. The four paralectotypes are: NRM 568710 [6676], a female collected 12 June 1840 in Durban; NRM 90140115 [6674], a male collected 24 September 1843 in Matlapengberg; NRM 90140114 [6673], a male collected 29 June 1840 in Pietermaritzburg; and a male [4703] collected 30 September 1839 in Durban and sent on exchange to Berlin in 1853 (but not found in the ZMB database).

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: Durban , KwaZulu-Natal .

COMMENTS: There is no entry in the journal, but dates and places are in line with other specimens collected at the same time.