Myrmotherula albigula Lawrence, 1865a: 131

LECROY, MARY & SLOSS, RICHARD, 2000, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 3. Passeriformes: Eurylaimidae, Dendrocolaptidae, Furnariidae, Formicariidae, Conopophagidae, And Rhinocryptidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2000 (257), pp. 1-88 : 46

Myrmotherula albigula Lawrence, 1865a: 131 ( New Granada, line of Panama R.R.).

Now Myrmotherula axillaris albigula Lawrence, 1865 .

See Wetmore, 1972: 171–175, and Ridgely and Tudor,

1994: 278.

SYNTYPES: AMNH 43401, “male,” collected by James McLeannan in 1862, and AMNH 43402, “female,” collected by James McLeannan and John R. Galbraith, no date, on the line of the old Panama railroad, Isthmus of Panama, Panama. From the George N. Lawrence Collection.

COMMENTS: In his description of this taxon, Lawrence (1865a: 132) noted: “I have had for some time a female of this species, which I was, however, unable to determine. Recently I received another example, much the same in plumage, but with the color below purer and the throat whiter, the sex of which was not marked. This I have now described as the male,—it agrees with a specimen of the same species, marked as of that sex... sent to me for examination by Prof. Baird....”

The collection of McLeannan and Galbraith was made in the winter of 1860–1861 (Lawrence, 1861c: 315). McLeannan remained in the Isthmus and later sent additional specimens (Lawrence, 1862: 461). The labels containing data are in Lawrence’s hand. AMNH 43402 is probably the specimen received first, because both collecters are given on the label. It was sexed as a female by Lawrence. The “recently” received specimen, collected by McLeannan alone, is AMNH 43401. It had been sexed as a female by Lawrence, who probably later decided it was a male, based on the specimens he had borrowed. Both of his specimens are in female plumage.

Lawrence (1865a: 132) noted that this species was included in his “Catalogue of the Birds of Panama ” but was not identified. Both specimens are numbered 216, the number under which an undetermined Myrmotherula was listed in Lawrence (1861c: 325).

The paper describing this species was issued in May 1865.

For a discussion of this locality, see Dendrornis nana .