Ornithoica beccariina Rondani, 1878

Sforzi, Alessandra & Sommaggio, Daniele, 2021, Catalog of the Diptera types described by Camillo Rondani, Zootaxa 4989 (1), pp. 1-438 : 125-126

Ornithoica beccariina Rondani, 1878

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: 1878a: 160.

TYPE LOCALITY: “ in Amboina [ Ambon Island (= Maluku Islands)]”.

TYPE MATERIAL: 1 ♀, lectotype, 1 ♀, paralectotype (each glued to a cardboard stage pinned together), ( MSNG): Amboina, 1873, O. Beccari / Amboina , 12.I.72, su Ardea alba / Ornithoica beccariina Rnd. / Typus / Ornithoica beccariina Rndn. , Typus! / Ornithoica beccariina Rondani vid. Theodor, 1952 / lectotype (upper specim.) beccariina ♀, T. C. Maa, [19]62.

PARALECTOTYPES EXAMINED: 1 ♀ ( MSNG): remounted 1929 by G. F. Ferris, head lost in pinned specimen / Ornithoica beccarinia [sic!] co-typus Rndn. (handwritten by F. Capra) / Amboina , 12.I.72, O. Beccari (idem) / su Ardea alba (idem); 1 ♀ ( MZUF: Box 66): Ornithoeica [sic!] n. beccariina n. / 3404 / Paratype beccariina Rndn. , ♀, T. C. Maa, [19]62; 1 ♀ ( MZUF: Box 66): Ornithoeica [sic!] n. beccariina n. / 3404.

CURRENT STATUS: valid species ( Maa 1989a: 787).

REMARKS: Rondani (1878a: 160) described Ornithoica beccariina , without specifying either the number or the sex of the specimens but from more than one: “ Exemplaria observata … lecta a Cel. O. Beccari [specimens observed … collected by Mr. O. Beccari]”. The type series consists of three specimens in the MSNG and two in the MZUF. Guiglia (1957: 195) incorrectly reported only two specimens (typus and cotypus) in the MSNG but did not unambiguously indicate a single specimen from the type series to serve as the name-bearing type and therefore did not publish a lectotype designation (I.C.Z.N. 1999: Article 74.5). Maa (1963: 18) designated a lectotype (♀) and paralectotypes (2 ♀♀ in the MSNG; 2 ♀♀ in the MZUF). The year [18]72 reported on the labels of the MSNG specimens is incorrect because O. Beccari visited Ambon Island for the first time between December 1872 and February 1873, thus the correct date is presumably 12.I.1873. This mistake is presumably due to the embalmer of the heron, on which these specimens were found, who incorrectly copied the collecting year (F. Penati, pers. comm., 2009).