Coccothraustes vespertinus mexicanus Chapman

LeCroy, Mary, 2013, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 11. Passeriformes: Parulidae, Drepanididae, Vireonidae, Icteridae, Fringillinae, Carduelinae, Estrildidae, And Viduinae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2013 (381), pp. 1-155 : 83-84

Coccothraustes vespertinus mexicanus Chapman

Coccothraustes vespertinus mexicanus Chapman, 1897: 311 (Las Vigas, Vera Cruz, Mexico, alt., 8000 feet).

Now Hesperiphona vespertina montana Ridgway, 1874 . See Grinnell, 1917: 17–22; Hellmayr, 1938: 148–149; Howell et al., 1968: 304–305; Dickinson, 2003: 757; and Clement, 2010: 615–616.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 68480 , adult male, collected at Las Vigas , 8000 ft, 19.39N, 97.08W (Times atlas), Vera Cruz, Mexico, on 24 April 1897, by Mateo Trujillo and Frank M. Chapman.

COMMENTS: Chapman gave the AMNH number of the holotype in the original description and said that he had four males, four females, and a young male (taken on 21 April). Only two males, two female plumaged birds, and the immature male were found in AMNH; the remaining paratypes were probably among borrowed specimens. Paratypes in AMNH: City of Mexico, AMNH 41788, adult male, AMNH 41789, female, undated, from the G.N. Lawrence Collection, cataloged in 1889 and labeled mexicanus by Chapman; Las Vigas, AMNH 153359, immature male, 21 April 1897, AMNH 153360, adult male, 21 April 1897, AMNH 153361, [female plumage], 24 April 1897, all collected by Chapman. These last three paratypes and the holotype represent the four specimens that Chapman (1898: 42) later said that he collected at Las Vigas.

Grinnell (1917: 17–22), in a study of Hesperiphona vespertina showed that USNM 35150 from Mirador, Vera Cruz, Mexico, should be considered the type of H. v. montana Ridgway and that, therefore, H. v. mexicanus became a synonym of montana ( Grinnell, 1917: 18) . Hellmayr (1938: 148) agreed with this conclusion as did Deignan (1961: 606–607); also see below.

[ Coccothraustes vespertina montana Mearns , ex Ridg.]

The two specimens bearing AMNH type labels and marked as above, AMNH 52480 and AMNH 52490, have no standing as types. The type of Hesperiphona vespertina montana Ridgway, 1874 , is in USNM ( Grinnell, 1917: 17–22; Deignan, 1961: 606–607). AMNH 52480 is a female, collected at Fort Verde, Arizona, on 14 August 1885, by Mearns (no. 4163), long after Ridgway’s description in 1874, and is his ‘‘type’’ of the adult female ( Mearns, 1890: 247). AMNH 52490 is a male, collected at Oak Creek, near Fort Verde, Arizona, on 14 August 1885, by Mearns (no. 4165) and is discussed as a young male in first plumage ( Mearns, 1890: 248). Because they have long been in the type collection at AMNH with type labels, they remain there with an additional label to explain that they have no nomenclatural standing.

Deignan (1961: 606–607) discussed the Ridgway type of montana in USNM. Ridgway did not specifically designate a type when he named the form. Grinnell (1917: 18– 19) explained in detail why he considered USNM 35150 from near Mirador, near Vera Cruz, Mexico, to be the type of montana and so indicated in the original description (also, see above). Zimmer (1953: 213) accepted Grinnell’s explanation and added relevant details. Deignan accepted USNM 35150 as the type. But he adds: ‘‘Despite all this, the label of a skin from Cantonment Burgwyn, New Mexico (No. 11960), is the one that bears the words ‘Type of supposed ‘var. montana’–RR.’’ It is this specimen that Mearns (1890: 247) listed as the ‘‘type’’ of the adult male, USNM 11960, collected at Cantonment Burgwyn, New Mexico, on 3 June 1859, by W.W. Anderson, and noted that it was indistinguishable from nominate vespertina . I do not consider that Mearns, by listing this specimen as the ‘‘type’’ of the male of montana designated it the lectotype of the name montana because he also listed a ‘‘type’’ of the female, thus not treating a single specimen as the lectotype.

ESTRILDIDAE

Payne (2010: 235–248) has summarized the results of recent mitochondrial and nuclear DNA studies of Estrildidae .