Melanocorypha arabs Brehm

LeCROY, M. A. R. Y., 2003, 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, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 278 (278), pp. 1-156 : 12

Melanocorypha arabs Brehm

Melanocorypha arabs Brehm, 1855: 122 (Verirrt sich aus dem steinigten Arabien zuweilen nach Europa).

Now Ammomanes deserti isabellinus (Temminck), 1823 .

See Hartert, 1918b: 19, and Cramp, 1988: 65.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 457689 , adult male[?], collected in Arabia Petraea, in October 1851, by A.E. Brehm. From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: On A.E. Brehm’s label, it appears that C.L. Brehm changed the sex determination to male from female, as originally marked.

In the original description Brehm did not indicate sex or date and indirectly indicated that the bird came from Arabia. Hartert (1918b: 19) found only two specimens, a male and a female, both of which are now in AMNH. He designated the male listed above as the lectotype ; the female, AMNH 457690 , is a paralectotype. Hartert (1918b: 19) noted that Brehm probably had never seen a European specimen but had included birds in his book that he thought might occur in Europe, so that bird­catchers might be able to identify them .

Arabia Petraea (meaning ‘‘rocky Arabia’’) is defined as the extreme NW section of the Arabian Peninsula, including the Sinai Peninsula ( Seltzer, 1962: 86).