Hirundo spilodera Sundevall, 1850: 108

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 : 547-548

Hirundo spilodera Sundevall, 1850: 108 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: not given; but within “ trakten kring sjelfva Capstaden ” + “ Cafferlandet ” according to the Swedish introduction.

CURRENT STATUS: Petrochelidon spilodera ( Sundevall, 1850) ; Hirundinidae ( Dickinson & Christidis 2014: 477) .

STATUS REFERENCE: Sclater (1930: 581) and ( Peters 1960b: 120; monotypic, in the genus Petrochelidon ), White (1961: 60; polytypic in the genus Hirundo and includes P. rufigula Bocage, 1878 , and P. preussi Reichenow, 1898 ), Clancey et al. (1980: 159) and Keith et al. (1992: 165–167; monotypic in the genus Hirundo ).

TYPE REFERENCE: Sundevall (1850: 108), in his brief type description, gave no indication that he had more than a single specimen. His acquisition catalogue however shows that he actually had five specimens available. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 69) referred to NRM 569774 [7088] as a “type”, here treated as a lectotype designation of this adult male collected 27 October 1844, south of the Vals (Valsch) River, Free State. The four paralectotypes are: NRM 537971 [7089], a mount of a female collected 15 August 1843 near Mooi River; NRM 90145225 [7087], an adult male collected 8 April 1842 at Tswaing (Saltpannen); RMNH. AVES.90707 [7086], an adult male collected 1 November 1841 at Rhinoster (Renoster River) sent on exchange to Leiden in 1850; and a juvenile female [1790], collected 8 April 1842 at Tswaing and exchanged to Berlin in 1853 (but no longer in the ZMB collection).

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: Vals (Valsch) River , Free State .

COMMENTS: Sundevall noted the locality from Wahlberg as “Caffr. [Fallo Rev.]”. Gyldenstolpe gave the locality as “Mooi River”(1926:69),“Valsch River,E.of Kroonstad” (1934: 292) and “S. of Valsch River” (Wahlberg). Wahlberg noted in his journal that on 24 October he started from “Mooye” River (= Potchefstroom) “…. and so pressed for time that no chance for collecting presented itself. Pass the Fals (Vals) River [on 24 October] ”. There are no notes for the days 25–29 October; for 30 October–1 November the only information is “rainy” for the three days. On 2 November he descended the Drakensberg [via Bezuidenhout’s Pass]. Although there is no definite locality where the type of Hirundo spilodera was collected,Gyldenstolpe’s correction is probably as close as any other, and the restricted type locality should stand.