Petrochelidon meyeni Cabanis, 1850

Mlíkovský, Jiŕí & Frahnert, Sylke, 2009, Nomenclatural notes on Neotropical swallows of the genus Tachycineta Cabanis (Aves: Hirundinidae), Zootaxa 2209 (1), pp. 65-68 : 66

Petrochelidon meyeni Cabanis, 1850

Cabanis (1850: 48) created the nominal species Petrochelidon meyeni , listing “ Hirundo leucopyga Meyen (nec Licht.) Nov. Acta Leop. 1834. Suppl.” as a synonym and two specimens (a male and a female) from Chile deposited in the MHH as its representatives. There is no indication that the name was created as a replacement for Hirundo leucopyga Meyen, 1834 , in the sense of the ICZN (1999), although some authors assumed that it was created as such (e.g. Hellmayr 1935: 76, Brooke 1974: 131, Quaisser & Nicolai 2006: 93). In fact, the species was based on two syntypes in the MHH collections, which were collected in Chile (see also Heine & Reichenow 1890: 31), and also on Meyen’s specimen from Santiago de Chile, because Cabanis specified that only Hirundo leucopyga in the sense of Meyen [1834], not those in the sense of Lichtenstein, belonged to his Petrochelidon meyeni . These three specimens thus constitute the type series of Petrochelidon meyeni Cabanis, 1850 . All these syntypes have survived and are deposited in the ZMB (ZMB 8313) and the MHH (MHH 1454 and 1455), respectively. The MHH specimens (a male and a female) originated in “ Chile ”, but further details are unknown. All belong to a single species, which makes the designation of a lectotype unnecessary. Note that the syntype ZMB 8313 is also the lectotype of Hirundo leucopyga Meyen, 1834 . Petrochelidon meyeni Cabanis, 1850 is a junior subjective synonym of Hirundo leucopyga Meyen, 1834 (see e.g. Hellmayr 1932: 48, 1935: 76).