Zosterops capensis capensis Sundevall, 1850

Dean, W. Richard J., Åhlander, Erik & Johansson, Ulf S., 2022, Avian type localities and the type specimens collected by Johan August Wahlberg in southern Africa, Zootaxa 5134 (4), pp. 521-560 : 550

Zosterops capensis Sundevall, 1850: 102 .

VERBATIM TYPE LOCALITY: “ Habitat in regione urbis Capensis , ubi frequens videtur; non e Caffraria nobis alata.”

CURRENT STATUS: Zosterops capensis capensis Sundevall, 1850 ; Zosteropidae ( Dickinson & Christidis 2014: 520) , includes atmorii Sharpe, 1877, and virens Sundevall.

TYPE MATERIAL: Sundevall (1850: 102) mentioned both male and female in his type description. His acquisition catalogue lists two specimens received from Wahlberg. Possible syntypes are two older specimens received in 1837 from Jacob Letterstedt (1796–1862), the Swedish-Norwegian Consul in Cape Town. These were identified as Sylvia palpebrosa but later corrected by Sundevall to Zosterops capensis . The two specimens figured by Levaillant (1802, plate 132) should also be part of the original type series. Gyldenstolpe (1926: 35) refers to NRM 568711 [4578] as a “type”; we treat this as a lectotype designation of this study skin of an adult male collected 13 March 1839 in Rondebosch. The five paralectotypes are: NRM 568712 [4579], a study skin of an adult female collected 21 March 1839 in Rondebosch; NRM 90140118 [4210], a male collected before 1837 in the Cape area (only “Cap” given) by J. Letterstedt; an unsexed specimen [4209] also collected before 1837 in the Cape area by Letterstedt and sent on exchange to Berlin in 1853 (but not found in the ZMB database); and finally the two specimens figured by Levaillant (1802, plate 132). Specimens collected by Levaillant in South Africa are scattered in several museum collections ( Rookmaaker 1989). We have not attempted to trace Levaillant’s Zosterops specimens.

VERIFIED TYPE LOCALITY: Rondebosch , Cape Town, Western Cape Province.

COMMENTS: The entry in the journal for this day confirms date and place.