Cinnyris Fischeri Reichenow, 1880a

Frahnert, Sylke, Turner, Donald A. & Bracker, Cordula, 2023, Type specimens and type localities of birds (Aves) collected by Gustav Adolf Fischer (1848 - 1886) in East Africa, Zootaxa 5334 (1), pp. 1-84 : 45

Cinnyris Fischeri Reichenow, 1880a (in Fischer & Reichenow 1880): 142.

Now: Cyanomitra verreauxii fischeri (Reichenow, 1880) . See Greenway et al. (1967: 228).

Holotype (missing): ZMB 24982 [B 16566, Fischer no. 224], former mount, male, collected on “Mossambique Island”, [May 1879].

Type locality: “ Mossambique Island ” [ Mozambique Island, Nampula Province, Mozambique] from the original description as well as locality of the holotype.

Remarks:The original description clearly refers to one specimen (no.224)collected for Fischer at“Mossambique” in May 1879, so ZMB 24892 is the holotype for this species. The specimen was inventoried at the ZMB in January 1881 and was mounted, and in the catalogue it was mentioned that it is the type for Cinnyris Fischeri in 1881. In the 1950s, however, it was noted that the mounted holotype was missing, suggesting it was destroyed during World War II. A further Fischer specimen of this species, ZMB 27396 (B 18647, no. 1002, also missing), male mount, collected in Pangani, [21.08.1883] arrived in Berlin during March 1884, but has no type status. It is unlikely that Fischer went to northeast Mozambique in May 1879, as he was on Zanzibar on 18 May and at Bagamoyo on 01 June 1879 (possibly returning from the Nguru Mountains). It is however possible that the Denhardt brothers went in their boat south to Mozambique Island during May 1879 and brought back the three birds for Fischer that we know came from the island.