Hirundo atrocaerulea Sundevall, 1850: 107

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 : 548-549

Hirundo atrocaerulea Sundevall, 1850: 107 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: “ In Caffraria inferiore.”

CURRENT STATUS: Hirundo atrocaerulea Sundevall, 1850 ; Hirundinidae ( Dickinson & Christidis 2014: 479) .

TYPE MATERIAL: Sundevall (1850: 107), in his brief type description, gave no indication that he had more than a single specimen at hand. His acquisition catalogue, however, shows that he actually had eight specimens available. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 69) referred to NRM 569779 [7101] as a “type”. We treat this specimen as a lectotype designation of this adult male collected 2 January 1843 near mVoti (Umvoti) River (see comments). The seven paralectotypes are: NRM 537977 [7102], a mounted female collected 8 January 1843 near mVoti River; NRM 90144848 [7100], an adult male collected 8 January 1843 near mVoti River; NRM 90144849 [7103], a juvenile (female according to the acquisition catalogue) collected 8 January 1843 near Umhloti River (in error for mVoti); RMNH. AVES.88912 [7096], an adult male collected 8 January 1843 at Boven, Umvoti River (= mVoti Heights), exchanged to Leiden in 1850; L843/3026 [7097], a male collected 8 January 1843, at mVoti Heights, exchanged to the University of Lund in 1850 (and still in the collection there); a male [7098] collected 26 January 1840 at Pietermaritzburg, exchanged to Berlin in 1853 (but not now found in the ZMB collection); and NHMUK 1874.8.1.278 [7099], a male collected 9 January 1843 at mVoti Heights exchanged to “Mr. Sharpe Brit. Museum 1869” (and still present in the NHMUK collection at Tring). The collection locality of [7098] is incorrect;Wahlberg’s diary shows that he was at Roberts’ camp at Camperdown from 31 December 1839 to 7 February 1840, so the specimen was collected there (where the species no longer occurs).

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: mVoti Heights , KwaZulu-Natal .

COMMENTS: There is no entry in the journal for 2 January 1843. On 24 December 1842 Wahlberg travelled to mVoti Poort, and walked down the mVoti River to the mouth, collecting insects on the way. On 28 December the journal entry is “continue on our road”, and on 30 December he moved to the top of the plateau (= mVoti Heights), then to the lower mVoti River on 9 January. On 8 January he recorded an attempt to get “ Hirundo nigrocaerulea ” [= atrocaerulea ] and he was obviously successful. According to Sundevall’s acquisition catalogue all specimens [7096]–[7103] were collected at “Boven Umvoti”, i.e., above mVoti = mVoti Heights. Hirundo atrocaerulea is a species of higher altitudes, typically above 1000 m in KwaZulu-Natal ( Hockey et al. 2005), so the mVoti specimens were most probably collected at mVoti Heights.