Saxicola amphileuca Hemprich & Ehrenberg

Mlíkovský, Jiří & Frahnert, Sylke, 2011, Type specimens and type localities of birds collected during the Hemprich and Ehrenberg expedition to Lebanon in 1824, Zootaxa 2990, pp. 1-29 : 7-8

Saxicola amphileuca Hemprich & Ehrenberg

Saxicola amphileuca Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833: 54 .

Now. Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca (Güldenstädt, 1775) . See Hartert (1910: 687).

Type series. “Specimina 12 adsunt, syriaca omnia, Mares, Feminas, pullos.” (“we had 12 specimens, all from Syria, males, females, juveniles”) ( Hemprich & Ehrenberg 1833: 54). These 12 “Syrian” [= Lebanese] specimens form the type series of Saxicola amphileuca . However, the name amphileuca appears neither in Lichtenstein (1825, 1854), nor in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB, which makes the identification of syntypes difficult. The description of males given by Hemprich and Ehrenberg (1833: 54) is that of the pale-throated color morph of the Black-eared Wheatear, while their description of females and juveniles is less informative. There is a male Blackeared Wheatear with a pale throat in the ZMB collections ( ZMB 4786), which is labeled as Motacilla amphileuca and registered in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB as Saxicola aurita . This indicates that Lichtenstein applied the latter name to these wheatears (see also Lichtenstein 1854: 35). Lichtenstein’s (1825) list includes four S. aurita of unknown sex and age from an unknown locality (his Nr. 134–137), two S. aurita pulli from an unknown locality (his Nr. 139–140), 10 S. aurita “juv.” from Syria (his Nr. 147–155 and 183), and one S. aurita “juv.” from Arabia (his Nr. 206), i.e. 17 S. aurita overall, including 10 specimens said to have originated from Syria. Stresemann (1962: 387) suggested that Lichtenstein’s (1825) specimens Nr. 145–146 from an unknown locality, listed by Lichtenstein (1825) as “ S. stapazina Juv. ” and his specimens Nr. 147–155 from “ Syria ”, labeled by Hemprich (in Lichtenstein 1825) as S. fusca and by Lichtenstein (1825) as “ S. aurita Juv. ”, are all from “ Syria ” and belong to Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca Güldenstädt , although he did not provide an explanation, and did not comment on specimens Nr. 134–137, 139–140, 183 and 206. Only three specimens identified as Saxicola aurita and said to have come from “ Syrien ” were registered in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB ( ZMB 4786–4788). Two of them are juveniles. The original type series included an unknown number of juveniles, but—considering difficulties in identifying juvenile wheatears—it is impossible to say which specimens of juvenile wheatears were included by Hemprich and Ehrenberg (1833) in it and whether all of them belonged to the pale-throated color-morph of Oenanthe hispanica . Only one ZMB specimen, an adult pale-throated male ( ZMB 4786), is clearly assignable to the type series of S. amphileuca , because it bears an old label with the name Motacilla amphileuca , a newer label with the name Saxicola aurita , and both the newer label and the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB state that it originated from “ Syria ”. The status of the two juvenile specimens listed in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB as Saxicola amphileuca from “ Syrien ” remains uncertain.

Syntype. ZMB 4786, skin, 3, collected on an unknown date [= 18 May–6 August 1824] in “ Syrien ” (label, Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB) [= northern Lebanon]. This specimen was identified as Motacilla amphileuca on an accompanying label and as Saxicola aurita Temm. in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB.

Syntype (?): ZMB 4787, skin, “pullus” (= juvenile), collected in “April” [= 18 May–6 August 1824] in “ Syrien ” [= northern Lebanon]. The inscription “April” either refers to the month when the collection was delivered at the ZMB (see above), or is simply erroneous.

Syntype (?): ZMB 4788, mount, “pullus” (= juvenile), collected on an unknown date [= 18 May–6 Aug 1824] in “ Syrien ” [= northern Lebanon].

Type locality. Hemprich and Ehrenberg (1833: 54) said that all syntypes originated from “ Syria ”. Knowing their itinerary, we correct here the type locality to northern Lebanon between Beirut, Baalbek and Tripoli.

Remarks. Although the taxonomic identity of the lost syntypes is unknown, there is no evidence that it belonged to a different taxon that the surviving specimen. Hence, lectotypification is unnecessary. The surviving syntype is an adult male of the pale-throated color-morph of the Black-eared Wheatear Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca (Güldenstädt, 1775) .