Chloropsis kinabaluensis Sharpe, 1887

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 : 92-93

Chloropsis kinabaluensis Sharpe

Chloropsis kinabaluensis Sharpe, 1887: 445 ( Kina

Balu).

Now Chloropsis cochinchinensis kinabaluensis Sharpe,

1887. See Smythies and Cranbrook, 1981: 284.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 564862 , adult female, collected on Mt. Kinabalu, 4000 ft, ca. 06°03′N, 116°32′E (Times Atlas), Sabah, Malayasia, on [24 February 1887], by John Whitehead (no. 1005). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Whitehead (1893: 185) usually sent to Sharpe, ahead of the bulk of his collection, two specimens of anything he thought was new. He knew that these two birds were male and female of the same form ( Sharpe and Whitehead, 1889b: 273; Whitehead, 1893: 219) and had sent them ahead to Sharpe as such. Sharpe at first thought they represented two new taxa, named each, and then later ( Sharpe and Whitehead, 1889b: 272) synonymized them. In so doing, he chose to use the name Chloropsis kinabaluensis , stating: ‘‘I retain the name of kinabaluensis for the bird, because it is almost certain to be found to be an inhabitant of Kina Balu only, and, secondly, because there are other allied species with a yellow collar, so that the name of flavocincta is not distinctive’’ ( Sharpe and Whitehead, 1889b: 272). Hartert (1922b: 366) noted that flavocincta has line priority over kinabaluensis , a concept not supported by the Code, and used the former name; most works published subsequent to 1922 have used flavocincta also. However, Sharpe (in Sharpe and Whitehead, 1889b: 273) was the first reviser and correctly chose to use kinabaluensis .

In his original description of the two taxa, Sharpe (1887: 445) gave no date of collection, but described only adults. I am convinced that the two specimens listed above, the first two adults collected by Whitehead, are the two specimens upon which Sharpe based his two taxa and, as such, are holotypes. Both are noted as types by Sharpe on their labels and were listed as types by Hartert (1922b: 366). The female specimen is now missing the printed Whitehead label, and the small Whitehead field label has only the field number ‘‘1005’’ and ‘‘f[emale]’’; on the reverse it has the name and ‘‘type’’ written. It probably did have a printed label that has become lost. I have used the date given by Hartert (1922b: 366), 24 February 1887, but placed it in brackets.

The list of specimens reported on by Sharpe and Whitehead (1889b: 272) is not a complete listing of specimens collected on both the 1887 and 1888 Kinabalu expeditions. However, the specimens of Chloropsis listed as ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ are the male and female cited above as the holotypes of the two taxa. Specimen ‘‘g’’ is AMNH 564864, an immature male collected on 24 February 1887. This specimen can have no standing as a type, as the description of C. flavocincta was based on an adult male. Specimens ‘‘c’’ and ‘‘d’’, adult male and female collected on 5 March 1887, and ‘‘e’’, an adult female collected on 2 April 1887, are not in AMNH; given that Sharpe described flavocincta and kinabaluensis from the two specimens sent ahead by Whitehead, they are not considered here to be part of a type series, even though collected early enough. Specimen ‘‘f’’, a female collected on 11 May 1888, was collected after the original descriptions were published.

There are six additional Kinabalu specimens in AMNH, all collected in 1888. The dates and field numbers on these specimens are from 16 January 1888 (no. 1871) to 10 May 1888 (no. 2575). One of these, AMNH 564867 (no. 2575), is an immature male mentioned by Sharpe and Whitehead (1889b: 272) but not listed in their list of specimens ; the other five were not listed or mentioned. There are two specimens in BMNH also not mentioned by Sharpe and Whitehead (1889b: 272): BMNH 1898.10 .2.13, female, 26 February 1887, and BMNH 1898.10 .2.14, male, 11 May 1888 (F. Steinheimer, personal commun.) .

According to Smythies and Cranbrook (1981: 284), some authors consider Chloropsis cochinchinensis kinabaluensis a full species.