Urolampra eupogon Cabanis

Mlíkovský, Jiří & Frahnert, Sylke, 2009, Type specimens and type localities of Peruvian birds described by Jean Cabanis on the basis of Konstanty Jelski's collections, Zootaxa 2171, pp. 29-47 : 32

Urolampra eupogon Cabanis

Urolampra eupogon Cabanis, 1874: 97 .

Now: Metallura eupogon ( Cabanis, 1874) . See Cory (1918: 268).

Type series: Cabanis (1874: 97) did not specify the number of specimens upon which he based this species, but described only an adult male (not mentioning sex of the specimen, but the description he provided is sufficient to identify it). However, he identified as this species two specimens simultaneously received and catalogued under a single number in the Accession Catalogue of the ZMB: an unsexed adult bird and a juvenile bird (no more relevant specimens were listed in this Catalogue). Although the juvenile was not mentioned in the description ( Cabanis 1874: 97), both these specimens should be considered syntypes of the species (see ICZN 1999, Art. 72.4.1.1). We found only the latter specimen in 2008.

Syntype (lost): ZMB 21908 (B-10023), unsexed [= 3] collected by Jelski on an unknown date [= May to September 1871] at "Maraynioc" [= Maraynioc, Peru].

Syntype: ZMB 21909 (B-10023), juv., collected by Jelski on an unknown date [= May to September 1871] at "Maraynioc" [= Maraynioc, Peru].

Type locality: "Maraynioc" ( Cabanis 1874: 97), i.e. Maraynioc, Peru [11.37°S, 75.40°W].

Remarks: Although Taczanowski (1889: 11) and Sztolcman & Domaniewski (1927: 111) suggested that the MIZ possesses a type specimen of this species, it never did so (see Mlíkovský 2009b for details). Warren (1966: 92) listed specimen BMNH 1887.3.22.1432 (ad. 3, collected by Jelski in 1871 at “Muraynioc” [= Maraynioc, Peru] as a syntype of this species. Salvin (1892: 155) more aptly listed this bird as “an authentic specimen”. Cabanis (1874) knew only one adult male, which was deposited in the ZMB and cannot be identical with the BMNH specimen. The BMNH specimen thus has no type status, although it is a topotype of Urolampra eupogon Cabanis.

Several authors incorrectly stated that this species was described in the genus Metallura Gould, 1847 (e.g. Elliot 1879a: 164, 1879b: 11, Taczanowski 1884a: 352, 1889: 11, Salvin 1892: 155, Boucard 1893: 72, Cory 1918: 268, Sztolcman & Domaniewski 1927: 111). In fact, Cabanis (1874: 97) described the species in the genus Urolampra Cabanis & Heine, 1860 (see also Hartert 1900: 163, Simon 1921: 381, Peters 1945: 119). Cabanis's name must thus be written in parentheses when the species name is combined with the genus Metallura ( ICZN 1999, Art. 51.3).

Taczanowski (1875: 544) synonymized Urolampra eupogon Cabanis, 1874 with Metallura hedvigae Taczanowski, 1874 , but later ( Taczanowski 1884a: 352, 1889: 11) reversed his opinion and listed hedvigae in the synonymy of eupogon . Salvin (1892: 155) showed that Cabanis's eupogon has a few weeks priority over the Taczanowski's hedvigae and most authors have used the name eupogon for this hummingbird (e.g. Boucard 1893: 72, Hartert 1900: 163, Cory 1918: 268, Simon 1921: 381, Peters 1945: 119, Meyer de Schauensee & Eisenmann 1966: 187, Fjeldså & Krabbe 1990: 283, Heindl & Schuchmann 1998, Heindl 1999, Dickinson 2003: 274), although Sztolcman & Domaniewski (1927: 111) again gave precedence to hedvigae without explanation.