Dryoscopus major mossambicus G.A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1880a:141

Frahnert, Sylke, Turner, Donald A. & Bracker, Cordula, 2023, Type specimens and type localities of birds (Aves) collected by Gustav Adolf Fischer (1848 - 1886) in East Africa, Zootaxa 5334 (1), pp. 1-84 : 27

Dryoscopus major mossambicus G.A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1880a:141 .

Now: Laniarius aethiopicus mossambicus (G.A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1880) . See Dickinson & Christidis (2014); but see also Mayr & Greenway (1960: 329); White (1962b: 27).

Holotype: ZMB 24922 (B 16562, Fischer no. 225), skin, former mount, collected at “Mossambique”, [05.1879].

Type locality: “ Mossambique ” [ Mozambique Island, Nampula Province, Mozambique], from the original description as well as locality of the holotype.

Remarks: The original description clearly refers to one specimen with no. 225 (ZMB 24922). As no further specimen is mentioned, ZMB 24922 is the holotype for this species. The specimen was inventoried at the ZMB in January 1881 and was mounted. In the catalogue it was mentioned that it is the type for Dryoscopus major mossambicus in 1881. Thus it is probable that the specimen was not directly inventoried when it arrived. As Fischer was in Zanzibar in May 1879 and there is no complete collecting date for the specimen given, it would seem that it was obtained on behalf of Fischer. The spelling “Mossambique” clearly indicated the island in 1880. Its name later became that of the country of Mozambique following its independence from Portugal (when earlier known as Portuguese East Africa).