Emberiza Alleonis Vian

LeCroy, Mary, 2012, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 10. Passeriformes: Emberizidae: Emberizinae, Catamblyrhynchinae, Cardinalinae, Thraupinae, And Tersininae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2012 (368), pp. 1-125 : 8

Emberiza Alleonis Vian

Emberiza Alleonis Vian, 1869: 97 , 102–103 (Dahourie).

Now Emberiza pallasi pallasi ( Cabanis, 1851) . See Hartert, 1919: 161, and Dickinson, 2003: 780.

SYNTYPE: AMNH 715309, female, collected in Dauria (5 Dahourie), in 1868, from Madam Verdey. From the Riocour Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Vian did not designate a type, but said that he had five specimens: one male in breeding plumage, two males completing molt, and two females in summer plumage, all collected in October 1868. The adult male and one of the females were said to be in the Riocour Collection, one of the two males completing molt in the Count Boubers Collection, and the other male completing molt and one of the females in the Vian Collection. Hartert (1904: 194) listed E. alleonis as a synonym of E. pallasi . Later, he ( Hartert, 1919: 161) gave more information on this syntype, which he listed as the type of the female, noting: ‘‘This specimen is marked ‘Type’ on the label under the stand in the Riocour Collection…. The type of the male, which was also in the Riocour Collection, appears to be lost. It is not in the [Rothschild Collection], where the greater part of the Riocour Collection seems to be now. It was bought from Boucard in 1890, after Sharpe had selected 148 specimens, among which were a number of types, and it is not among the latter.’’ Warren and Harrison (1971) do not list it as now being in BMNH, either. See Sharpe (1906: 315) for a fascinating account of his visit to the Riocour Chateau to select the specimens for BMNH.

The Riocour label is now attached to AMNH 715309 , and while not mentioned by Vian, it is labeled as having come from Madam Verdey, with only the year ‘‘1868’’ recorded. There are two additional female specimens of this form from Dauria at AMNH, one dated 16/5, with no year, and one dated 5/5/80, after the description of alleonis was published ; they are not part of the type series. Neither bears Madam Verdey’s name.