Emarginata tractrac albicans (Wahlberg, 1855)

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 : 555

Saxicola albicans Wahlberg, 1855: 213 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: “ In locis arenosis terrae Damararum, plerumque in fruticibus parvis insidens, vel in terra, fere semper per paria, vivit. ”

CURRENT STATUS: Emarginata tractrac albicans (Wahlberg, 1855) ; Muscicapidae ( Dickinson & Christidis 2014: 609–610) .

TYPE MATERIAL: It is evident from the type description that Wahlberg (1855: 213) had access to both males and females. According to Sundevall’s manuscript catalogues at least seven syntypes were received from South Africa after Wahlberg’s death. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 56) referred to NRM 90189969 [11698] as a “type”; we treat this as a lectotype designation of this adult male collected 20 November 1854 in Walvis Bay. The six known paralectotypes are: NRM 90189970 [11700], an adult female collected 4 July 1854 at Kuiseb River; NRM 90189972 [11699], an adult male collected 26 June 1854 at Kuiseb River; NRM 538726 [11701], a mounted female collected 9 November 1854 near Rooibank; NRM 90189971 [11702], an adult female collected 25 June 1854 at Kuiseb River; UMB 4481 [11696], a male, collecting data unknown, sent on exchange to Bremen in 1858; and a male [11697], collected 20 November 1854 near Rooibank, sent on exchange to Berlin in 1870 (but not found in the ZMB database).

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: Walvis Bay, Namibia, but uncertain .

COMMENTS: Wahlberg collected a number of specimens in October and November 1854. The localities are interspersed, with some specimens labelled Scheppmansdorf (= Rooibank), Kuiseb River and Walvis Bay. Rooibank is upstream from the mouth of the Kuiseb River. It is not clear why Wahlberg distinguished Rooibank from Kuiseb River as a collecting locality, and it is likely that he used the names for places close to each other. He indicated, in a letter to Retzius dated 18 June 1854 (Craig & Hummel 1992), that he intended to collect on the coast, but he could have meant that this was the coast all the way from Swakop River mouth to Rooibank. Specimens collected from 9–30 November are mostly labelled Scheppmansdorf, so it can be accepted that Wahlberg spent this period there. The confused localities on specimen labels, however, bring a measure of uncertainty such that a more exact TL for this species cannot be verified.