Francolinus Altumi G.A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1884b: 179

Frahnert, Sylke, Turner, Donald A. & Bracker, Cordula, 2023, Type specimens and type localities of birds (Aves) collected by Gustav Adolf Fischer (1848 - 1886) in East Africa, Zootaxa 5334 (1), pp. 1-84 : 10

Francolinus Altumi G.A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1884b: 179 .

Now: Pternistis hildebrandti altumi (G.A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1884) . See Reichenow (1901: 477); Peters (1934: 80), but see also Crowe et al. (1986) and Turner (2016).

Lectotype (herein designated, see below for explanation): ZMB 27402 (B 18682, Fischer no. 858), skin, former mount, male, collected at “Naiwascha”, 11.06.[18]83.

Excluded Paralectotype: ZMH 8214 (Fischer no. 679), skin, former mount, male, collected at Maurui, 03.02.[18]83 .

Type locality: “Naiwaschasee, Maeru Berg und an der Küste bei Maurui” (Lake Naivasha, Mount Meru and at the coast near Maurui ) [North Tanzania /South Kenya from Lake Naivasha, to the coast]; from original description, and designated here as “Naiwascha” [Lake Naivasha, Nakuru County, Kenya], the locality of the lectotype.

Remarks: In the original description, no type was chosen nor are there inventory numbers for specimens listed, but measurements for more than one individual were given. Fischer (1884) listed two specimens as Francolinus altumi (Fischer nos. 679 and 858) and mentioned that he had also seen this species “in Gross-Aruscha am MaeruBerge”. Thus, ZMB 27402 and ZMH 8214 were both the basis for the description of this species and would seem to be syntypes. ZMH 8214 was also mentioned as a type specimen for this species in Bolau (1898).

In the same publication (Fischer 1884) two other specimens (females, Fischer nos. 857, 909) were designated as Francolinus hildebrandti (Cabanis) , which means that females collected during that period were not considered to belong to altumi (see Turner 2016). Fischer no. 857 is now in Berlin (ZMB 27401), but no. 909 is missing. Neither belong to the type series of altumi .

As P. h. altumi has a restricted range in and west of the central Rift Valley , ZMH 8214 also represents the nominate form and must be excluded from the type series. Thus, we designate ZMB 27402 as lectotype for Francolinus altumi . Further we ascertain the type locality as “Naiwascha” [ Lake Naivasha , Nakuru County, Kenya], the locality of the lectotype .

Treatment of the form altumi has long varied among authors. It is distinguishable only in females, in which mottling on the mantle and breast is most evident in birds from the central Rift Valley in Kenya around lakes Nakuru and Naivasha, this decreases substantially in birds further south. Reichenow (1901) appeared not to recognize its validity, instead treating altumi as a synonym of hildebrandti . Later Crowe et al. (1986) considered that any geographical variation in hildebrandti was clinal and not well defined by any subspecific division, and so recommended it be regarded as monotypic.

There is no justification for the recognition of altumi , named and described solely on the basis of two males ( Turner 2016).

The name Francolinus altumi honors Bernard Altum (1824–1900), a well-known German ornithologist.