Estrilda charmosyna kiwanukae van Someren

Estrilda charmosyna kiwanukae van Someren, 1919: 55 (M’byuni).

Now Estrilda erythronotos kiwanukae van Someren, 1919 . See Mayr et al., 1968: 347–348; Dickinson, 2003: 731; Fry and Keith, 2004: 311– 312; and Payne, 2010: 313.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 451888, adult male, collected at Mbuyuni (5 M’byuni), 03.14S, 38.30E (Polhill, 1988), Teita district, Kenya, on 26 July 1918. From the V.G.L. van Someren Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: The type, said to be in the Rothschild Collection, was described as a male, collected on 26 July 1918 at M’byuni. It was not listed by Hartert in his lists of Rothschild types, but it bears a Rothschild type label, has ‘‘Type’’ written by van Someren on his own label, and was cataloged at AMNH as the type of kiwanukae. The date, 26 July 1918, is the date on the front of van Someren’s label and the date published; however, the date written by the collector on the reverse of this label is 27 June 1918. Of 14 specimens in the original type series, only three came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection. The two paratypes in AMNH: AMNH 451889, male, M’byuni, 23 June 1918 (also the date on the reverse of the label); AMNH 451890, unsexed, Simba, 15 October 1917. Although no locality other than M’byuni was mentioned in the original description, van Someren (1922: 165) later listed other localities for kiwanukae .

E. charmosyna is often considered a species separate from E. erythronotos, but see Fry and Keith (2004: 311–312) and Payne (2010: 313) for a discussion.