Petrochelidon nigricans socialis Stresemann

LeCROY, M. A. R. Y., 2003, TYPE SPECIMENS OF BIRDS IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. PART 5. PASSERIFORMES: ALAUDIDAE, HIRUNDINIDAE, MOTACILLIDAE, CAMPEPHAGIDAE, PYCNONOTIDAE, IRENIDAE, LANIIDAE, VANGIDAE, BOMBYCILLIDAE, DULIDAE, CINCLIDAE, TROGLODYTIDAE, AND MIMIDAE, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 278 (278), pp. 1-156 : 38

Petrochelidon nigricans socialis Stresemann

Petrochelidon nigricans socialis Stresemann, 1923: 26 (Roma) .

Now Petrochelidon nigricans neglecta Mathews, 1912 . See Peters, 1960b: 119, and Schodde and Mason, 1999: 676.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 560741 , near adult male, collected on Romang Island , 07°34′S, 127°27′E (Times Atlas), Indonesia, on 9 August 1902, by Heinrich Kühn (no. 5366). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Stresemann based his description on measurements given by Hellmayr (1914: 64). Hellmayr (1914: 1) stated that in studying the Haniel collection from Timor, he had worked in the Rothschild Museum, and in addition to Everett’s Timor collection, he had studied Kühn’s collection from the Southwest Islands (including Romang and Babar). The wing measurements of 102–105 mm given by Hellmayr (1914: 64) are stated to be from Romang and Babar specimens and are undoubtedly from those obtained by Kühn. He collected two specimens of Petrochelidon nigricans on Romang ( Hartert, 1904b: 204) and two on Babar ( Hartert, 1906a: 296); all four are now in AMNH. Stresemann (1923: 26) did not designate a type and included both islands in the range of P. n. socialis, but he named Roma[ng] as the ‘‘terra typica’’. Hartert (1928: 204) did not include this taxon in his list of types in the Rothschild Museum, and none of the specimens bears a Rothschild type label. Only AMNH 560741 bears an AMNH type label, written by Ernst Mayr; and the reverse of the Kühn label bears the notation ‘‘Typus von socialis Stresemann’’, in a hand unknown. I find no evidence that it has been properly designated the lectotype. Because Stresemann specifically noted the ‘‘terra typica’’ as Romang and AMNH 560741 has been regarded as the type, I hereby designate it the lectotype. AMNH 560742–560744 are paralectotypes.

White (1936) synonymized socialis with P. nigricans nigricans and noted that Mayr had informed him that only three of the four specimens had measurable wings. My own measurements confirm Mayr’s. AMNH 560741, the Romang lectotype, measures 106 mm; AMNH 560742, Romang, 104; and AMNH 560743, Babar, 103.5. AMNH 560744 from Babar has the outer primary growing in, but it is apparently the specimen measured by Hellmayr at 102 mm. More recent studies by Schodde and Mason (1999: 676) have shown that the nominate subspecies of P. nigricans applies to Tasmanian birds. These specimens of socialis agree with non­breeding specimens of P. nigricans neglecta from western Australia.