Laniarius ruficeps cooki van Someren

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 : 97

Laniarius ruficeps cooki van Someren

Laniarius ruficeps cooki van Someren, 1919a: 23 (Tsavo) .

Now Laniarius ruficeps rufinuchalis ( Sharpe, 1895) . See Hartert, 1928: 211, and Fry et al., 2000: 451.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 662699 , adult male, collected at Tsavo , 02°59′S, 38°28′E (Times Atlas), Kenya, on 18 March 1918. From the van Someren Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In his description of this taxon, van Someren (1919a: 23) presented measurements for two or more specimens and gave the range as ‘‘Taru desert country and S. Ukambani’’. He listed a single type in his collection as a male adult collected on 18 March 1918 at Tsavo. In this particular article, van Someren distinguished between types in his own collection and types deposited in the Rothschild Collection, but in the case of this taxon the specimen van Someren intended as the type was apparently left in the Rothschild Collection, as it is marked ‘‘type’’ in van Someren’s hand.

This is the only van Someren specimen of this taxon that came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection, and because the van Someren Collection has been so widely dispersed, it seemed prudent to consider the AMNH specimen the lectotype of littoralis , so designated by Hartert (1928: 211). However, Louette et al. (2002: 70–71) have presented evidence that the AMNH specimen should be considered the holotype, the RMCA specimen bearing the same data being labeled the ‘‘co­type’’ by van Someren. This would indicate that the AMNH specimen is the holotype and the RMCA specimen is a paratype, in modern terminology.