Molothrus minimus Dalmas, 1900

LeCroy, Mary, 2013, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 11. Passeriformes: Parulidae, Drepanididae, Vireonidae, Icteridae, Fringillinae, Carduelinae, Estrildidae, And Viduinae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2013 (381), pp. 1-155 : 57

Molothrus minimus Dalmas

Molothrus minimus Dalmas, 1900: 138 (Ile de Tobago).

Now Molothrus bonariensis minimus Dalmas, 1900 . See Hellmayr, 1937: 57–59; Blake, 1968: 197– 198; Dickinson, 2003: 773; and Fraga, 2011: 786–787.

SYNTYPE: AMNH 521003, adult male, collected on Tobago Island, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1898, by Comte de Dalmas. From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Dalmas, in the original description, did not say how many specimens he had but described the male, female, and young. Rothschild bought part of the Dalmas Collection, other parts going to Munich and Paris ( Hartert, 1919a: 151; Hellmayr, 1931: 163; Phelps, 1945: 333). Specimens that Rothschild purchased bear labels printed ‘‘E Museo Dalmas,’’ as this syntype does. Other syntypes, if extant, may be in one of the other collections. The original tag on this specimen is stamped Tobago 1898, and on the reverse is written: ‘‘ Molothrus n. sp., s.’’ Dalmas (1900: 132) noted that he was on Tobago in the months of November and December 1898. A separate small tag bears the number ‘‘110.1.13’’ of unknown significance. A wing measurement of the male was given by Dalmas as ‘‘112 [mm],’’ but I measure it as 102 mm, indicating a misprint in Dalmas’ account. Six additional males from Tobago in AMNH had wing measurements of 98–101 mm.