Oenanthe oenanthe virago Meinertzhagen

Mary, Croy, History, Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural, At, Central Park West, Street, Th, York, New & Ny, 2005, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 6. Passeriformes: Prunellidae, Turdidae, Orthonychidae, Timaliidae, Paradoxornithidae, Picathartidae, And Polioptilidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2005 (292), pp. 1-132 : 25-26

Oenanthe oenanthe virago Meinertzhagen Oenanthe oenanthe virago Meinertzhagen, 1920:

20 (Mount Ida, Crete).

Now Oenanthe oenanthe libanotica (Hemprich

and Ehrenberg, 1833). See Keith et al., 1992:

510.

SYNTYPES: AMNH 583149, adult female, and AMNH 583150, adult male, collected on Nidha Plain, 5000 ft, Idhi Óros (5 Mt. Ida), 358189N, 248439E (USBGN, 1955d: 116), Crete, Greece, on 27 June 1920, by Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen. From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: The above two specimens, a breeding pair, said to be in the Rothschild Collection, were designated syntypes by Meinertzhagen in the original description. Hartert did not list these syntypes in any of his Rothschild Collection type lists, but both bear Rothschild type labels. Nidha Plain is the locality on the field labels and Mt. Ida is the locality given in the description.

Ripley (1964: 125) recognized O. o. virago. Vaurie (1959: 342) and Cramp (1988: 770) synonymized virago with O. o. oenanthe . Molecular studies of O. oenanthe are reported by Wink et al. (2002a, 2002b).

Saxicola seebohmi Dixon

Saxicola seebohmi Dixon, 1882: 563 (midway be­

tween Oued Taga and Djebel Mahmel).

Now Oenanthe oenanthe seebohmi ( Dixon, 1882) .

See Keith et al., 1992: 510.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 583232 , unsexed [adult male plumage], collected at 5500 ft, on Kef Mahmel , Aurès Massif, Algeria, on 2 May 1882, by Henry J. Elwes and Charles Dixon. From the Henry J. Elwes Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Dixon (1882: 563–564) noted ‘‘On the road from Oued Taga, when we were making the ascent of Djebel Mahmel, and about midway between those two places, we secured specimens of this novel and interesting Chat... As is usual in such cases, we failed to note the value of our prize, and only shot two males.’’ He did not designate a type. Hartert (1920: 471) noted that the above Rothschild specimen is marked ‘‘type’’ in what he believed to be Dixon’s hand and listed it as the type (5 lectotype); he also noted that a ‘‘Cotype’’ (5 paralectotype) was in BMNH. The BMNH specimen was listed by Warren and Harrison (1971: 499) as a syntype: BMNH Reg. no. 1898.9.1.2570, date of collection ‘‘ 5 Feb. 1882, on label, but more likely May... ’’. However, Dixon (1882: 553) noted that the trip between Oued Taga and Djebel Mahmel was completed in a single day and that their entire trip lasted from 28 April ( Dixon, 1882: 551) to 14 May ( Dixon, 1882: 557). Therefore, the date of collection of both specimens must be 2 May 1882, and the BMNH specimen is the paralectotype.

Keith et al. (1992: 510) consider O. o. seebohmi an ‘‘incipient species’’. Molecular studies of O. oenanthe are reported by Wink et al. (2002a, 2002b).

Kef Mahmel (7615 ft) is the second­highest peak of the Aurès Massif and is 15 mi south–southeast of Batna, 358349N, 068109E ( Seltzer, 1962: 925).