Calamocichla zuluensis Neumann

LeCroy, M., 2008, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 7. Passeriformes: Sylviidae, Muscicapidae, Platysteiridae, Maluridae, Acanthizidae, Monarchidae, Rhipiduridae, And Petroicidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 313 (1), pp. 1-287 : 34-35

Calamocichla zuluensis Neumann

Calamocichla zuluensis Neumann, 1908c: 96 (Eschowe, Zululand) .

Now Acrocephalus gracilirostris gracilirostris (Hartlaub, 1864) . See Urban et al., 1997: 121.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 598553 , adult [female], collected at Eshowe (5 Eschowe), 28.54S, 31.28E (Times Atlas), KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa, from the R.B. and J.D.S. Woodward Collection (no. 15). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Neumann noted that all of the types of forms described in the above paper were in the Rothschild Collection and that the type was a female from Eschowe. He probably based the sex on its smaller measurements (given in the description), as it is unsexed on the original label. In Hartert’s (1920: 464) list of Rothschild types, he listed it only as an adult. AMNH 598553 is the only specimen of this form that came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection. Sharpe (1897, and Sharpe et al., 1897) reported on the Woodward Collection and listed (Sharpe, 1897: 505) ‘‘No. 15. One adult from Eschowe’’ as Acrocephalus baeticus . This specimen was acquired by Rothschild and is the holotype listed above.

An adult male ‘‘collected by C.H.B. Grant in the Inhambane District on the 29th of June, 1906’’, and listed by Neumann (1908c: 96) in the original description as being a specimen of C. zuluensis and in the BMNH, is a paratype. It may or may not be the male for which measurements are given. Dean (personal commun.) has told me that on the above date Grant was collecting at Coguno (24.23S, 23.33E) and that he (Dean) was unable to find this specimen in BMNH in 2003.

The Woodwards ( Sharpe et al., 1897: 408) described their collecting locality at Eschowe.