Melanocorypha rufescens Brehm

LeCROY, M. A. R. Y., 2003, TYPE SPECIMENS OF BIRDS IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. PART 5. PASSERIFORMES: ALAUDIDAE, HIRUNDINIDAE, MOTACILLIDAE, CAMPEPHAGIDAE, PYCNONOTIDAE, IRENIDAE, LANIIDAE, VANGIDAE, BOMBYCILLIDAE, DULIDAE, CINCLIDAE, TROGLODYTIDAE, AND MIMIDAE, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 278 (278), pp. 1-156 : 14-15

Melanocorypha rufescens Brehm

Melanocorypha rufescens Brehm, 1855: 120 (Im Winter im Sudahn, auf dem Zuge wohl zuweiten im südöstlichen Europa).

Now Melanocorypha bimaculata rufescens Brehm, 1855 . See Vaurie, 1959: 35, and Cramp, 1988: 103.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 457663 , female, collected on ‘‘blauer fluss’’ (= Blue Nile), Sudan, in December 1850, by A.E. Brehm. From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: The above specimen has rufescens written on the original label in Brehm’s hand. It seems to be the only specimen of this form that came to AMNH, and Hartert (1918b: 17) designated it the lectotype. A second specimen, AMNH 457664, identified in the catalog as M. bimaculata rufescens , is Melanocorypha yeltoniensis from ‘‘Deserta tatarica’’.

Wolters (1952: 281) proposed Melanocorypha bimaculata meinertzhageni as a new name for Melanocorypha rufescens Brehm , which became preoccupied by Alauda (= Calandrella ) rufescens Vieillot, 1820 , when Wolters merged Calandrella with Melanocorypha . Most subsequent authors have not accepted this merger (see, for example, Keith et al., 1992: 70), so rufescens is retained under the provisions of the Code (ICZN, 1999, Art. 59.3).