Melanocorypha graeca 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 : 15-16

Melanocorypha graeca Brehm

Melanocorypha graeca Brehm, 1855: 121 (In Griechenland bis Sennaar).

Now Calandrella brachydactyla brachydactyla (Leisler,

1814). See Hartert, 1918b: 18, and Cramp, 1988: 123.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 457677 , male, collected in Attica (east central Greece), in April 1845. From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Two specimens marked graeca from ‘‘Attica’’ came to the AMNH with the Rothschild Collection, the above male collected in April 1845, and a female, AMNH 457678, collected in May of the same year. There are none that are marked Sennaar ( Sudan). Of the two specimens from Greece, Hartert (1918b: 18) designated the male the lectotype. The other specimen, AMNH 457678, becomes a paralectotype.

Another specimen, AMNH 457676, was cataloged in error as graeca . The locality is given as ‘‘Buchara’’ in C.L. Brehm’s hand, and nowhere does the name graeca appear.

Melanocorypha Itala Brehm

Melanocorypha Itala Brehm, 1830 , cols. 786, 792 (Sardinien).

Now Calandrella brachydactyla brachydactyla (Leisler, 1814) . See Hartert, 1918b: 18, and Cramp, 1988: 123.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 457666 , adult male, collected in Sardinia, Italy, at the end of July , 182?. From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Two Brehm specimens labeled itala from Sardinia came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection. Hartert (1918b: 18) designated the above specimen the lectotype. The second specimen, AMNH 457665, an immature male from Sardinia, is a paralectotype.

The description of itala is sometimes cited as Brehm (1831), but Hartert (1918b: 18) pointed out that the first appearance of the name is in the reference cited above. ‘‘Evidently a cage­bird received from Graf Gourcy­Droitaumont, who had got it from Sardinia’’ ( Hartert, 1918b: 18).