Chlorura borneensis Sharpe

Chlorura borneensis Sharpe, 1889a: 424 ( Kina Balu).

Now Erythrura hyperythra borneensis (Sharpe, 1889) . See Smythies, 2000: 610–611; Dickinson, 2003: 733; and Payne, 2010: 346.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 721989, adult male, collected on Kinabalu, 06.03N, 116.32E (Times atlas), Sabah, Malaysia, on 5 April 1887, by John Whitehead (no. 1312). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: When R. Bowdler Sharpe (1887: 453) reported on the specimens collected by John Whitehead on his first expedition to Kinabalu, he identified the two specimens collected, a male and a female, as Chlorura hyperythra . Later, Whitehead (in Sharpe, 1889b: 435) confirmed that he collected only two specimens of this form on his first expedition. Sharpe (1889a: 424) referred back to the earlier paper and named them Chlorura borneensis, making them syntypes in the absence of any type designation. The labels of both of these specimens are marked ‘‘descr. R.B.S[harpe],’’ and they both bear Rothschild type labels, the male marked ‘‘Type s of Borneensis’’ and the female marked ‘‘Type ♀ of Borneensis.’’ Hartert (1919a: 142) listed as the type of C. borneensis the male specimen bearing Whitehead’s field no. 1312, thereby designating it the lectotype. The female, AMNH 721990, collected on Kinabalu on 5 April 1887 by Whitehead (no. 1313) thus becomes the paralectotype. Both specimens remain in the type collection in AMNH because they bear Rothschild type labels, but an additional label has been added to the female specimen to indicate that it is the paralectotype.

Sharpe reported on Whitehead’s expeditions to Kinabalu, but not all of the specimens went to BMNH; Rothschild bought many of his specimens from Whitehead and from his family, shortly after Whitehead’s death. (Records of these purchases were kindly supplied by Archives, Rothschild Correspondence, BMNH, but there are no lists of specimens purchased.)