Lanius souzae burigi Chapin, 1950

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 : 100-101

Lanius souzae burigi Chapin

Lanius souzae burigi Chapin, 1950: 241 (between Usuvi, northwest Tanganyika Territory, and the Kisaka district of eastern Ruanda).

Now Lanius souzae burigi Chapin, 1950 . See Fry et al., 2000: 368.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 660750 , adult male [sexed as a female on the original label], collected between Usuvi , 02°41′S, 31°23′E ( Chapin, 1954: 734), Tanzania, and Kisaka , Ruanda, on 30 June 1907, by Rudolf Grauer (no. 606). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: The AMNH number of the type was given in the original description. Chapin (1950: 241) noted that he had two specimens. The paratype is AMNH 660751, adult female, collect­ ed at Lake Urigi (= Burigi), Tanzania, on 8 June 1907, by R. Grauer (no. 380).

Lanius gracilis Brehm

Lanius brachyuros Brehm

Lanius gracilis Brehm, 1842: 665 , 680 (Vorgebirge der guten Hoffnung).

Lanius brachyuros Brehm, 1842: 665 and L. brachiuros

Brehm, 1842: 681 (Vorgebirge der guten Hoffnung). Now Lanius collurio collurio Linnaeus, 1758 . See Hartert, 1918b: 29, and Fry et al., 2000: 364.

? SYNTYPE OF LANIUS GRACILIS BREHM : AMNH 457558, ‘‘mas alt’’ (= adult male), collected at ‘‘Promontorium bonae spei’’, by Krebs (no. 249, XI). From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

? SYNTYPE OF LANIUS BRACHYUROS BREHM : AMNH 457533, ‘‘ϐ alt’’ (= adult male), collected at ‘‘Promontorium bonae spei’’, by Krebs (no. 246, XI). From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Hartert (1918b: 29) considered that these two specimens were the probable types of Lanius gracilis Brehm and L. brachyuros Brehm , as both are labeled in Brehm’s hand as from ‘‘Promontorium bonae spei’’ (= Cape of Good Hope). As Hartert (1918b: 29) noted, neither gracilis nor brachyuros appears on the labels in Brehm’s hand. AMNH 457533 bears a Brehm label on which the following appears: ‘‘ Lanius collurio spinitorquus, ϐ alt, vere, Promontorium Bonae Spei’’. This is the shorter­tailed specimen (72 mm, tail very worn), Brehm’s Lanius brachyuros (nec Pallas, 1776). AMNH 457558 does not bear a Brehm label, but on the attached label bearing Krebs’ name, and written in Brehm’s distinctive hand, is the following: ‘‘ L. collurio brachyrhynchos, mas alt., (?), Promontorium Bonae Spei’’. This is the longer­tailed specimen (81 mm), Brehm’s Lanius gracilis . Brehm did not say how many specimens he had; the above two specimens are here considered possible syntypes. They are the only two male specimens from South Africa that Hartert (1918b: 29) found in the Brehm Collection. Brehm (1842: 681) described the female of brachyuros as similar to the male. A female specimen, AMNH 457534, collected at the Cape of Good Hope and exchanged to ZFMK should be examined to determine its status.

Due to the unusual retention of original labels on these two Brehm specimens, I was able to discover more information about them. Referring to the biography of Ludwig Krebs (ffolliott and Liversidge, 1971), I found that he lived in South Africa from 1817 until his death in 1844 and collected natural history items, most of which he shipped to Dr. Hinrich Lichtenstein, then director of the Zoological Museum of the Humboldt University in Berlin. Lichtenstein usually kept some specimens of each taxon for the museum but sold ‘‘duplicates’’ in order to pay Krebs and realize funds to support the museum. ffollett and Liversidge (1971) have collated the lists of Krebs shipments, 15 in all, with lists of specimens received in Berlin, combining all of the available information on these important early South African shipments. By great good fortune, I found that ‘‘XI’’ as listed on the syntype labels referred to shipment 11, shipped from Baviaans River (Krebs’ home) in April 1826, and transshipped by Kreb’s agent in Cape Town by 1 July 1826 (ffolliott and Liversidge, 1971: 58–59), but apparently not arriving in Berlin until 8 June 1827 (ffolliott and Liversidge, 1971: 220). Lichtenstein’s numbers 246–249 in shipment 11 correspond to Krebs’ number 13, which does not appear on Brehm’s specimens, and apply to Lanius collurio males collected by Krebs at ‘‘Keiskamma’’. Lichtenstein’s numbers 250–252 apply to females sent in the same shipment, and one of these numbers may appear on the female specimen AMNH sent to ZFMK. The best known of Lichtenstein’s sale lists, his so­called ‘‘Doubletten’’, was published in 1823 and was thus too early to have included these specimens. Later, Lichtenstein (1834 and 1842; see Mauersberger, 1988: 133, 134) published lists of South African specimens for sale. In the 1834 ‘‘Verzeichniss’’, Lichtenstein listed ‘‘Nr. 59 Lanius collurio Linn. Masc. g [= good condition]’’ (J. Haffer, personal commun.). This almost certainly applies to one of Krebs specimens. The 1842 ‘‘Verzeichniss’’ does not list Lanius collurio . Brehm may have bought his specimens directly from Lichtenstein or perhaps from a dealer, as he mentioned visits to several dealers during his 1840 trip to Brinnis, reported on in C.L. Brehm (1842).

In Krebs’ letter of 21 June 1824 (ffolliott and Liversidge, 1971: 53), he told Lichtenstein that he was planning to go to the mouth of the Keiskamma River to collect. It is probably on that trip that the above specimens were collected. Keiskamma Point is at 33°18′S, 27°29′E (Times Atlas) at the mouth of the Keiskamma River. Brehm’s locality of ‘‘ Cape of Good Hope’’ must refer to the port of transshipment.

Lanius ruficaudus A.E. Brehm

Lanius ruficaudus A.E. Brehm, 1857a: 79 (in die Urwälder des blauen Flusses).

Now Lanius isabellinus isabellinus Ehrenberg, 1833 (in Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1828 –1833). See Hartert, 1918b: 29, Fry et al., 2000: 363, and Pearson, 2000: 24.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 457567 , adult male, collected on the Blue Nile, Sudan, on 31 December 1850, by A.E. Brehm (no. 12). From the Brehm Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: This specimen was designated the lectotype by Hartert (1918b: 29), who gave the full date of collection, and it agrees with Lanius isabellinus isabellinus as defined by Pearson (2000), who regarded L. isabellinus as a species distinct from L. collurio . Lanius collurio speculigerus Taczanowski, 1874 , as applied by Vaurie (1959: 98) and others, is a synomym ( Pearson, 2000).

A second specimen of ‘‘ L. ruficaudus ’’, a paralectotype, was cataloged as AMNH 457566, male, collected on the Blue Nile, in 1850, by A.E. Brehm. I did not find this specimen in the collection.