Batis minor suahelicus Neumann, 1907a: 353

Frahnert, Sylke, Louette, Michel & Eckhoff, Pascal, 2021, Type specimens of birds of the genus Batis (Aves: Platysteiridae) at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Zootaxa 5052 (2), pp. 249-260 : 257

Batis minor suahelicus Neumann, 1907a: 353

Now: Batis minor suahelica Neumann, 1907a . But see Mayr et al. (1986: 384).

Syntype: ZMB 2000.64511 , skin, female, collected by G.A. Fischer at Pangani, 09.1881.

Syntype: ZMB 2000.64513 , skin, male, collected by G. A. Fischer in Usaramo , 01.1882 .

Syntype: ZMB 2000.64562 , skin, male, collected by G. A. Fischer in Usaramo , 01.1882 .

Syntype: ZMB 32010 (Stuhlmann, no. 32), skin, male, juvenile (female given by Neumann 1907a), collected by F. Stuhlmann at Pangani, 20.01.1894 .

Syntype: ZMB 2000.64512 (Stuhlmann, no. 170), skin, male, collected by F. Stuhlmann at Dar-es-Salaam, 28.03.1894 .

Syntype: ZMB 34024 skin, male, collected by O. Neumann at Kahe, 13.01.1895 .

Syntype: ZMB 2000.64514 , skin, male, collected by W. L. H. von der Marwitz at Marangu, 1895 .

Syntype (missing): female, collected by R. Böhm, no locality given .

Type locality: “ Deutsch Ost Afrika und südlicher Teil von Englisch Ost Afrika (Mombassa und Teita)” [ Tanzania and south of Kenya], here referred to as eastern Tanzania and southeastern Kenya regarding the localities of the type specimens and the description (see also Louette 2006) .

Remarks: In the description of Batis minor suahelicus Neumann, 1907a , no type was chosen. All the listed specimens are mentioned as studied material in the description, and by their collecting data are regarded as syntypes. The specimen collected by Böhm was not found in the collection. Neumann (1907a) mentioned further specimens of this species from the regions of Mombasa, Taita Hills and Malindi (including ZMB 23535, G.A. Fischer, Malindi and ZMB 2000.64673, J.M. Hildebrandt, Mombasa) which were not regarded as type specimens in the description as they are slightly smaller and seem transitional to B. minor minor . Although the description of B. m. suahelicus does not mention that a new subspecies is being described, but no other description of this subspecies is known and so Neumann (1907a) is generally accepted as the description (e.g. Mayr et al. 1986: 384). Specimen ZMB 34024 is given as Pachyprora senegalensis in Neumann (1900: 256). Sclater (1930: 422) wrongly restricted the locus typicus of Batis minor suahelicus as “Kaha, in the neighborhood of Kilimanjaro” because he interpreted ZMB 34024 as the holotype ( ICZN 1999), although there is no hint that there is a holotype for this subspecies. This restriction has been taken by some authorities as a valid restriction of type locality (e.g. Mayr et al. 1986: 384).