Batis molitor taruensis van Someren

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 : 99-100

Batis molitor taruensis van Someren

Batis molitor taruensis van Someren, 1921: 103 (Maungu) .

Now Batis molitor puella Reichenow, 1893 . See Traylor, 1986: 381, and Urban et al., 1997: 584.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 649107 , adult male, collected at Maungu , 03.33S, 38.45E ( Polhill, 1988: 224), Kenya, on 4 August 1918, by collectors for V.G.L. van Someren. From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Types of new forms described by van Someren (1921) were said to be in the Rothschild Collection. Although both male and female were described, an adult male collected at Maungu on 4 August 1918 was designated as the type in the original description. There are two adult males collected on that date, but Hartert (1928: 222), in listing the type of this form, noted: ‘‘The crown of the head of the type is almost pure black, merging into grey on the nape.’’ This is true of AMNH 649107 but is not the case with AMNH 649109, the other male collected on this date. That specimen has a less intense black crown and more gray on the hind crown and nape. AMNH 649107 is the specimen marked ‘‘Type s’’ by van Someren, and by distinguishing it from the other male, Hartert designated it the lectotype. The female had also been marked ‘‘Type’’ by van Someren, but this has been heavily scratched out and no mention of a female type was made in the original description.

The original description was based on seven specimens ( van Someren, 1921: 103). In addition to the lectotype, three paralectotypes are in AMNH: AMNH 649108, male, 3 August 1918 (on the front of the label, although the date written by the collector on the reverse is 5 August 1918), AMNH 649109, male, 4 August 1918, and AMNH 649110, female, 7 August 1918, all collected at Maungu.