Urocissa erythrorhyncha caerulea Birckhead

Lecroy, Mary, 2014, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 12. Passeriformes: Ploceidae, Sturnidae, Buphagidae, Oriolidae, Dicruridae, Callaeidae, Grallinidae, Corcoracidae, Artamidae, Cracticidae, Ptilonorhynchidae, Cnemophilidae, Paradisaeidae, And Corvidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2014 (393), pp. 1-165 : 116-117

Urocissa erythrorhyncha caerulea Birckhead Urocissa erythrorhyncha alticola Birckhead

Urocissa erythrorhyncha caerulea Birckhead, 1937: 13 (Lichiang Range, N.W. Yunnan).

Urocissa erythrorhyncha alticola Birckhead, 1938: 72 (new name for caerulea ).

Now Urocissa erythrorhyncha alticola Birckhead, 1938 . See Boddaert, 1783: 38; Vaurie, 1959: 154; Blake and Vaurie, 1962: 241; Dickinson, 2003: 509; and dos Anjos, 2009: 596.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 450991 , adult male, collected in the Lichiang Range , northwestern Yunnan, China, in October 1918, by George Forrest.

COMMENTS: Birckhead cited the AMNH number of the holotype in the original description but later discovered that Urocissa e. caerulea was preoccupied by Urocissa caerulea Gould, 1863 , and provided (Birck- head, 1938: 72) the replacement name U. e. alticola. The names share the same type.

In the original description, he ( Birckhead, 1937: 13) gave measurements for seven males and four females from the Lichiang Range , the Tengyueh Valley , and the Shweli-Salwin Divide, and said that he examined 18 specimens. The following 17 specimens are considered paratypes of caerulea and alticola: Lichiang Range, AMNH 143553–143556 , two males, one female, one sex?, collected in 1916–1917 by R.C. Andrews and E. Heller ; AMNH 676748–676754 , two males, one immature male, one female, one immature female, two sex?, collected by Forrest between 1918 and 1922. Tengyueh Valley , AMNH 676740–676743 , two males, two females, collected by Forrest in 1924 and 1925. Shweli-Salwin Divide, AMNH 676746 , 676747 , one male, one female, collected by Forrest in 1919. He noted that two males from the Shweli Valley agreed with caerulea in coloration but were considerably smaller ; these two specimens, AMNH 676744 and 676745, have not been considered paratypes .

Dos Anjos (2009: 596) spelled the species name erythroryncha, referring to Boddaert’s (1783: 38) original spelling, Corvus erythrorynchus . Most authors have long called attention to this apparent discrepancy in spelling (e.g., Vaurie, 1959: 154) but have continued to use the spelling ‘‘ erythrorhyncha ,’’ without stating their reasons. This may date from Sharpe (1877: 71) and Hartert (1921 –1922: 2027) where ‘‘ erythrorhynchus ’’ is credited to Gmelin, 1788. Gmelin (1788: 372) gave the name Corvus erythrorhynchos to Buffon’s plate 622 based on a painting by Martinet. But Boddaert’s 1783 name is earlier for the same illustration by Martinet, published by D’Aubenton. Hartert and Steinbacher (1932: 17) called attention to the earlier description by Boddaert, but spelled his name ‘‘ Corvus erythrorhynchus .’’ Subsequent authors (e.g., Blake and Vaurie, 1962: 241) noted the original spelling erythrorynchus , but continued to use the spelling supported by usage. The spelling Urocissa erythrorhyncha is an incorrect subsequent spelling that is clearly in prevailing usage and is credited to Boddaert as the author, therefore this spelling is ‘‘deemed to be a correct original spelling’’ and should be maintained (ICZN, 1999: 42–43, Arts. 33.2.3.1 and 33.3.1).