Hyptiopus caffer Sundevall, 1850: 110

Dean, W. Richard J., Åhlander, Erik & Johansson, Ulf S., 2022, Avian type localities and the type specimens collected by Johan August Wahlberg in southern Africa, Zootaxa 5134 (4), pp. 521-560 : 528-529

Hyptiopus caffer Sundevall, 1850: 110 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: “ Caffraria inferiore ”.

CURRENT STATUS: Synonym of Aviceda cuculoides verreauxii Lafresnaye, 1846 ; Accipitridae ( Dickinson & Remsen 2013: 236) .

TYPE MATERIAL: From Sundevall’s description (1850: 110) it appears that his new name is based on, firstly, the description of a single specimen by Kaup (1847: 344), and secondly, by at least one adult male and a young female collected by Wahlberg. This is confirmed by Sundevall’s acquisition catalogue, according to which there seems to have been only a male and a female from Durban available. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 91) refers to NRM 569845 [7571] as a “type”, which we treat here as a lectotype designation of this adult male collected 27 February 1841 in Durban. The two paralectotypes are: NRM 538380 [7572], a mounted juvenile female collected 7 April 1840 in Durban; and Kaup’s specimen, now evidently missing. There is no known geographical origin of the missing Kaup specimen. Kaup (1847) states “this bird came as one specimen to London and was sold to a German, either a scientist or a dealer” [translation by Jörn Köhler]. During the period when Johann Jakob Kaup prepared his text on the genera of raptors, he was associated with the collection in Darmstadt (HLMD). It is uncertain if this specimen was ever in the Darmstadt collection, and there is no such specimen there today (Jörn Köhler, HLMD, in litt.). Although we have been unable to trace the Kaup specimen, it is not known to be lost.

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: Durban , Kwa-Zulu Natal .

COMMENTS: Date and place confirmed by journal entries.