Megalaema bilineata Sundevall, 1850: 109

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 : 531-532

Megalaema bilineata Sundevall, 1850: 109 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: “ e Caffraria inferiore allati. ”

CURRENT STATUS: Pogoniulus bilineatus bilineatus ( Sundevall, 1850) ; Ramphastidae ( Dickinson & Remsen 2013: 329) (includes riparium Clancey, 1952, oronesus, Clancey, 1971, deceptor Clancey, 1972, and makawai Benson & Irwin, 1965).

TYPE MATERIAL: Sundevall’s original description states that the name was based on several specimens, all males (“ Plures mares, nulla femina ...”). According to his acquisition catalogue he had four specimens available. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 78–79) referred to NRM 569758 [7437] as a “type”, which we treat as a lectotype designation of this male collected 5 November 1842 at uMlalazi River. The three paralectotypes are: NRM 569759 [7438], a male collected 3 November 1842 at uMlalazi River; RMNH. AVES.200461 [7440], a male collected 4 November 1842 at uMlalazi River, sent on exchange to Leiden in 1850; and a male [7439] collected 4 November 1842 at uMlalazi River, sent on exchange to Berlin in 1853 (and still present in the ZMB collection).

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: Umlalazi , KwaZulu-Natal .

COMMENTS: The TL was correctly restricted to Umlalazi (uMlalazi) River by Gyldenstolpe (1934), but was incorrectly dated. Sundevall generally meticulously copied Wahlberg’s data, but he misread the date and locality on the specimen label, recording the date as 5 April 1842, although it is clearly 5 November 1842 in his personal accessions register ( Figure 2 ).

Gyldenstolpe (1926) repeated the date error in his catalogue of the type specimens in the NRM. Wahlberg’s original labels are missing, but a rewritten label is correct regarding date and place. Wahlberg was at Tswaing, in Gauteng Province, on 5 April 1842, and had been there since early March 1842, leaving for the Magaliesberg in early April.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Sundevall’s personal acquisition catalogue, in which he recorded the date of the lectotype of Megalaema bilineata Sundevall as 4 November 1842.