Loxops wolstenholmei Rothschild

Loxops wolstenholmei Rothschild, 1893d: lvi (Island of Oahu, Sandwich group).

Now Loxops coccineus wolstenholmei Rothschild, 1893 . See Rothschild, 1900: 177–178, pl. 65; Mathews, 1930: 812; Amadon, 1950: 168; Greenway, 1968: 99; Olson, 1986: 148–149; Olson, 1996: 15; American Ornithologists’ Union, 1998: 677; Dickinson, 2003: 759; Pratt, 2005: 226–229; and Pratt, 2010: 647.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 459001, male, collected in the Waialua District, 21.35N, 158.08W (Times atlas), Oahu Island, Hawaii (5 Sandwich Islands), on 20 April 1893, by Wolstenholme and Palmer (no. 2050). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Rothschild said that the form was ‘‘named after Henry Palmer’s companion, who shot the only specimen at present known.’’ The date of collection on the label and the one given by Hartert (1919a: 171) is 24 April, whereas, Rothschild (1900: 178, Di 19) said that the single male was shot by Wolstenholme on 20 April. Plate 65, reproduced on the cover of this bulletin, shows front and back views of this single specimen (Rothschild, 1900: 178).

Palmer’s diary (Rothschild, 1900: (Di)) indicates that he spent the period from 21 March–3 May 1893 in the Waialua district.

Beginning with Rothschild (1900: 177), wolstenholmei had been considered a synonym of Fringilla rufa Bloxam, 1827, but as Olson (1986: 148–149) showed, that name is a junior homonym of Fringilla rufa A. Wilson, 1811, which is in turn a synonym of F. iliaca Merrem, 1786 . As such Bloxam’s name is unavailable (ICZN, 1999: 59, Art. 57.2), and Rothschild’s name must be used. Also see Olson (1996) for his discussion of Bloxam’s specimens from the voyage of H.M.S. Blonde and publication of Bloxam’s notes.

This subspecies is extinct.