Myrmothera tessellata Vieillot, 1822

Gouraud, Christophe, 2022, Note on the nomenclature of Myrmothera guttata Vieillot, 1824 (Passeriformes, Thamnophilidae), Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 5-9 : 5-8

Myrmothera tessellata Vieillot, 1822

Full reference. — M [yrmothera] Tessellata Vieillot in Bonnaterre & Vieillot, 1822: 683–684, livraison 91 (July 1822).

M. tessellata was introduced by Vieillot in 1822 in the Tableau encyclopédique. The section Ornithologie in which this taxon was described comprises eight livraisons, the dates of which were detailed by Dickinson (2011: 78, and references therein). Livraison 91, which contains pp. 529‒848 and concerns us here, appeared in July 1822. The bird described by Vieillot is a good match for a female Rufous-bellied Antwren Isleria guttata (Vieillot, 1824) whose description, of a male, appeared two years later in Vieillot & Oudart’s La galerie des oiseaux, dédiée à son Altesse Royale Madame, Duchesse du Berri (1820–26, hereafter Galerie des oiseaux) under the name Myrmothera guttata . More precisely, the text appeared on the first page of livraison 44 (p. 251) and the plate (155; see Fig. 1 ) was the last of livraison 45 (A. Lebossé in litt. 2020). Both livraisons were dated 1824 by Lebossé & Dickinson (2015: 51). Thus, Myrmothera tessellata Vieillot, 1822 , is a senior synonym of Myrmothera guttata Vieillot, 1824 , the name currently in use.

Reversal of precedence.—Both conditions of Art. 23.9.1 are met and therefore the younger name ( Myrmothera guttata ) is valid. The conditions of Art. 23.9.1.2 are met (see list of works in Appendix). To my knowledge, the condition in Art. 23.9.1.1 applies. Thus, the younger name has precedence. Applying Art. 23.9.2, the younger but valid name Myrmothera guttata Vieillot, 1824 , is a nomen protectum and the older name Myrmothera tessellata Vieillot, 1822 , is a nomen oblitum.

Types.—Although the Galerie des oiseaux aimed to describe and figure at least one species of each genus in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris ( MNHN) collections, Vieillot’s protologue for M. guttata is based on a bird from Cayenne ( French Guiana) originally owned by the Comte de Riocour, most of whose collection was acquired by Adolphe Boucard in 1889 ( Renshaw 1905: 422). The Boucard collection was subsequently dispersed among several museums, especially MNHN (25,000 specimens), the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC (10,000 duplicates) and those in Madrid and Lisbon 1, which acquired 8,000 birds ( Mearns & Mearns 1998: 286, 302). The holotype could not be found at MNHN (P. Boussès in litt. 2021). It is also not in Washington (not listed by Deignan 1961; confirmed by C. Milensky in litt. 2021) and Philadelphia (N. H. Rice in litt. 2021), where some specimens ended up. The Natural History Museum, Tring, also possesses some Boucard specimens, but the type was not listed by Warren & Harrison (1971) or in the online NHMUK database (https://data.nhm.ac.uk/ search). Finally, it has not been found in the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid (J. Barreiro Rodríguez in litt. 2021). In summary the whereabouts of the type specimen is unknown.

1 The entire collection was destroyed by fire in March 1978 ( Roselaar 2003: 275).

With respect to Myrmothera tessellata , Vieillot’s description clearly indicates that the individual described was in the Baillon Collection and came from Cayenne. The holotype has been found ( MLC.2011.0.1526; Fig. 2a ) and it matches Vieillot’s protologue. The pedestal inscriptions also state that the bird is from Cayenne ( Fig. 2b ) in accordance with the given type locality .

Figures

Figure 1. Plate 155 of the Galerie des oiseaux: ‘Le Fourmilier Moucheté (Myrmothera guttata)’ (© Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, via Biodiversity Heritage Library: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org)

Figure 2A: Specimen MLC.2011.0.1526, holotype of Myrmothera tessellata Vieillot, 1822. B: the original pedestal inscriptions read: ‘Myrmothera / tessellata V[ieillot] / fourmilier / marqueté Vieill[ot] / Encycl[opédie] / Cayenne / M. Bécoeur’. The red label to indicate type status will be added as soon as possible (© Christophe Gouraud / Musée George Sand et de la Vallée Noire, La Châtre)