Aidemosyne cantans tavetensis van Someren

Aidemosyne cantans tavetensis van Someren, 1921b: 121 (Simba) .

Now Euodice cantans orientalis (Lorenz and Hellmayr, 1901) . See Mayr et al., 1968: 368– 369; Dickinson, 2003: 734; Fry and Keith, 2004: 412–415; and Payne, 2010: 359–360.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 727808, adult female, collected at Simba, 02.09S, 37.36E (Polhill, 1988), Kenya, on 17 October 1917. From the V.G.L. van Someren Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, van Someren said that the type was a female from Simba collected on 17 October 1917 and was in the Rothschild Collection. He also noted that he had examined nine males and five females, collected in January, October, and December in Simba, Tsavo, N’buyumi, and Taveta. Paralectotypes in AMNH are: Simba, AMNH 727804–727807, four males, AMNH 727809–727811, three females, collected 17–20 October 1917 and 24 January 1919.

In designating the type, van Someren did not distinguish between two female specimens from Simba collected on the same date. The second female is apparently not fully adult and Hartert (1928: 195), by listing the adult female as the type of tavetensis, designated it the lectotype, the remaining specimens becoming paralectotypes. It is marked ‘‘Type of Aidemosyne cantans tavetensis van Someren’’ by Hartert and bears a Rothschild type label.

The species cantans is often included in the genus Lonchura (e.g., Dickinson, 2003: 734), but most recent authors place it in Euodice (Fry and Keith, 2004: 412–415; Payne, 2010: 359–360).