Irena Ellae Steere

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 : 93

Irena Ellae Steere

Irena Ellae Steere, 1890: 18 (Samar, Leyte).

Now Irena cyanogaster ellae Steere, 1890 . See Dickinson et al., 1991: 296.

SYNTYPES: AMNH 55294, adult male, and AMNH 55295, adult female, collected at Catbalogan, 11°46′N, 124°53′E ( Dickinson et al., 1991: 418), Samar, Philippines, on 6 April and 4 April [1888], respectively, on the J.B. Steere Expedition. From J.B. Steere via P.L. Sclater.

COMMENTS: The AMNH acquired with the Rothschild Collection considerable material collected by the J.B. Steere 1887–1888 Expedition to the Philippines. Some of these specimens have been considered syntypes of names proposed by Steere, even though they have not been incorporated into the AMNH type collection. Dickinson et al. (1989) have pointed out that Steere Expedition specimens obtained from expedition members other than Steere himself cannot be considered to have type status, and I have attempted to resolve the status of the Rothschild Collection specimens. The AMNH Department of Ornithology Archives contains a volume with a partial listing of Rothschild’s acquisitions of specimen lots. An entry for 24 September 1898 lists: ‘‘Birds selected from Philippine Collection— Basilan 36, Mindanao 61, 97 total’’, but there is no indication from whom they were purchased. Also, Rothschild must have made other purchases, as there are specimens from islands other than the two mentioned. These specimens could have been purchased from either E.L. Moseley or Steere ( Dickinson et al., 1989), as both were trying to sell specimens during the 1890s. The AMNH Department of Ornithology Archives contains letters from both offering to sell specimens to AMNH. Steere’s letter noted that his material contained types and rarities; Moseley’s letter made no such claim. There is no record that AMNH purchased specimens at that time, although in 1907 AMNH received on exchange 50 specimens from Moseley, including some Steere Expedition birds.

Circumstantial evidence indicates that Rothschild purchased his specimens from Moseley. That none of these birds were listed as types by Hartert in his published lists of types in the Rothschild Collection despite the fact that many of them are from the type locality is strong evidence that Hartert knew that this material did not include types and that he selected for purchase topotypical material. I do not consider any of the Steere specimens from the Rothschild Collection to be types.

On the other hand, I have found three specimens that did come to AMNH indirectly from Steere. A letter of 26 November 1891 from P.L. Sclater to J.A. Allen (Dept. of Ornithology Archives) reads in part: ‘‘In exchange I propose to offer you 2 Irena ellae ϐ and ♀, 1 Ptilocichla basilanica , the originals of the 2 plates in Ibis [ Steere, 1891] last year—which Dr. Steere kindly gave me... ’’. These specimens are syntypes, two of which are listed above. Two additional syntypes of I. ellae are in BMNH ( Warren and Harrison, 1971: 160).