Malaconotus rubiginosus Sundevall, 1850: 106

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 : 534

Malaconotus rubiginosus Sundevall, 1850: 106 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: “ Caffraria inferiore ”.

CURRENT STATUS: Chlorophoneus olivaceus olivaceus (Shaw, 1809) ; Malaconotidae ( Dickinson & Christidis 2014: 217)

TYPE MATERIAL: In Sundevall’s original description (1850: 106) data are given for a male, female, and young. According to Sundevall’s acquisition catalogue he treated “ l’Oliva ” of Levaillant (vol. 2, pl. 75) as a single species initially, but later divided it into two species, of which the “Le Jeune Mâle” was described as the new species rubiginosus . Seven specimens of the material received from Wahlberg were later corrected in Sundevall’s manuscript journal as “ rubiginosus ” (from Lanius / Malaconotus oleagineo for some and from Malaconotus sp. for others). These belong to the type series. The specimen figured as “No 2” on Levaillant’s plate 75, should also be included in the type series. In Sundevall’s manuscript catalogue of duplicates available for exchange is an additional specimen included under the heading Malaconotus rubiginosus ; it is an old specimen from Gustaf von Paykull’s (1757–1827) collection, and is still present in the NRM collection. It is difficult to judge if this specimen was included before or after the description of M. rubiginosus in 1850, but it is likely to also be part of the original type series. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 38) referred to NRM 568737 [4662] as a “type”, here treated as a lectotype designation of this adult male collected 10 August 1839 in Durban. The eight paralectotypes are: NRM 535131 [6899], a mount of a female collected 2 August 1840 in Durban; NRM 90170844 [6900], a juvenile female collected 6 June 1840 in Durban; NRM 90170842 [6901], an adult male collected 31 July 1840 in Durban; NRM 90170843 [6902], a female (or supposed female—it is written as a question “ ♀ ” on the label) collected 26 April 1840 in Durban; NRM 533572 [463], a young male from the Paykull collection (see Lönnberg 1926), collected before 1817, but no collecting data are known; a male [4660], collected in September 1839 in Durban, sent to Bergen, Norway after 1867; a male [4661] collected 3(?) September 1839 in Durban, sent on exchange to Berlin in 1853 (but not found in the ZMB collection). The specimen figured by Levaillant may well be lost or its status is difficult to prove.

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: Durban , KwaZulu-Natal .

COMMENTS: Date and place agree with the journal entries. In the (Latin) text Sundevall referred to Levaillant’s description as “ M. oleagineo (l’Oliva) ” ( Levaillant 1799; pl. 75, 105–110), and referred to the species in French only (l’Oliva). It was later formally described in 1809 by Shaw as Lanius olivaceus . Sundevall must have been well aware of Shaw’s description. It was not intended as a new name for Lanius olivaceus , because Sundevall consequently announced new names with “nob.” (= mine) and is just a Latinisation of the French name and therefore has no nomenclatural status. The first paragraph of Sundevall’s description ( Sundevall 1850: 106) is “ Malaconotus rubiginosus nob., l’Oliva jeune, Le Vaill. Afr. 75, 2, it is a truly distinct species, of which the adults and juveniles of both sexes have been collected by Wahlberg in the lower Caffraria, where it is found together with L’Oliva ”. Malaconotus rubiginosus Sundevall and l’Oliva jeune ( Levaillant, 1799, vol. 2, plate 75, figure 2), are distinct species, showing the adult and young of both sexes, and were confused with l’Oliva by Levaillant.