Erythropygia brunneiceps soror Reichenow, 1904a: 95

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 : 42

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5334.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5CA866F3-0375-4E09-89FC-DBB259BAE535
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8270098
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DC9465-E20B-FFF2-AFF1-FC6F192611EC
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Erythropygia brunneiceps soror Reichenow, 1904a: 95
status

Treatment

Erythropygia brunneiceps soror Reichenow, 1904a: 95 .

Now: Cercotrichas leucophrys brunneiceps (Reichenow, 1891) ; but see White (1962a); Deignan et al. (1964: 20).

Holotype: ZMB 2000.2489 View Materials (Fischer no. 737), skin, male, collected at “Klein Aruscha”, 26.03.[18]83.

Type locality: “Klein Aruscha” [Arusha Chini , Arusha Region, Tanzania], from the original description as well as locality of the holotype.

Remarks: In the original description, no type was chosen and there were no inventory numbers for specimens provided, but measurements for more than one individual as well as the locality “Klein Aruscha” and the collector Fischer were given. Fischer (1884) listed only one specimen of Erythropygia leucoptera (Rüppell) from “Klein-Aruscha” (no. 737). As only this Fischer specimen of this subspecies from “Klein Aruscha” was inventoried, and no other specimen can be traced in the collection (neither presently nor in the catalogues), it would appear that only ZMB 2000.2489 (which matches the characteristics in the original description) was in the collection in 1904. Therefore it is regarded as the holotype for this subspecies, despite measurements for more than one individual having been given.

Reichenow (1905) listed many more specimens of Erythropygia brunneiceps soror from the following collectors: Fischer ( ZMB 27016 View Materials , ZMB 2000.2482 View Materials , ZMB 2000.2485 View Materials , ZMB 2000.2497 View Materials , ZMB Fischer no. 626); Emin Pasha ( ZMB 30398 View Materials ) ; Schnorrenpfeil ( ZMB 2000.2498 View Materials ) ; Stuhlmann ( ZMB 2000.2483 View Materials , ZMB 2000.2486 View Materials ) ; Fülleborn ( ZMB 2000.2495 View Materials , ZMB 2000.2496 View Materials ) ; Whyte ( ZMB 31163 View Materials ) . As they were not all mentioned in Reichenow (1904a), they are not regarded as types but may be regarded as possible paratypes.

The holotype was collected only three weeks after Fischer collected Erythropygia vulpina (see above) at the base of the South Pare Mountains, highlighting some of the problems surrounding the entire Cercotrichas leucophrys (Vieillot) complex. Deignan et al. (1964) merely followed White (1962a) in synonymizing Erythropygia leucophrys soror with E. l. zambesiana (Sharpe).