Parus pendulinus subsp. raddei, Prazak, Prazak

Mlíkovský, Jiří, 2011, Nomenclatural and taxonomic status of bird taxa (Aves) described by an ornithological swindler, Josef Prokop Pražák (1870 – 1904), Zootaxa 3005, pp. 45-68 : 60

Remizus pendulinus raddei Pražák

Remizus pendulinus raddei Pražák, 1897g: 242 .

NOW. Remiz pendulinus pendulinus (Linnaeus, 1758) . See below.

Type series. Specimens with faint and short superciliar band identified by Pleske (1894: 170) as Remiz pendulinus pendulinus Linnaeus (see below for explanation).

Remarks. Pražák (1897g: 242) said that “In Süd-Europa (Süd-Russland, Ost-Galizien) lebt eine grössere, mitten zwischen castaneus Sew. und pendulinus stehende Form, welche vielleicht Raddei heissen sollte.”, i.e. “Southern Europe (southern Russia and [Austrian] East Galicia) is inhabited by a larger form, intermediate between castaneus Sew. and [nominotypical] pendulinus , which perhaps should be named Raddei ”. In a footnote on the same page, Pražák (1897g: 242) replaced “ castaneus Sew.” with “ caspius Poelzam”, referring there to Pražák (1897e: 347). Indeed, castaneus Sĕvercov", 1873, is preoccupied by caspius Pèl'cam, 1870.

Pražák (1897g: 242, footnote) presented a morphological diagnosis of raddei in a key to the forms of Palearctic penduline tits of the Remiz pendulinus complex. This key was adopted from Pleske (1894: 170–171), but raddei was added in the following way. Pleske (1894: 170) distinguished castaneus Sĕvercov" from the nominotypical pendulinus Linnaeus (and two other forms, which are irrelevant here) by their chestnut eye-stripe, stating that this band is present and long (reaching ears) in castaneus, while it is either absent or faint (and if so, then short, reaching only eye) in nominotypical pendulinus . Pražák (1897g: 242) made two forms from the latter, limiting pendulinus to the birds lacking a superciliar band, and creating his raddei for birds with faint, short superciliar bands.

Pražák (1897g: 242) did not mention any specimens as belonging to his raddei. He could have examined, in the early 1890s, specimen NHMW 3787 (Ƥ?, collected by an unknown person in April (year not given) at “Astrachan” [= Astrahan, Russia; 46.45°N, 48.05°E]), but there is no evidence for this and I do not consider this specimen a syntype. The type series of raddei thus consists of specimens with faint and short supraciliar stripes, which Pleske (1894: 170) included in the nominotypical pendulinus . This is an undefined set. There is no doubt that Pleske (1894) examined such specimens, but it is doubtful whether one or more specimens can be unequivocally recognized as those identified by Pleske as proper pendulinus with faint and short supraciliar bands. In spite of this, R. p. raddei Pražák was based – by indication – on a genuine specimen or specimens and is thus available for nomenclatural purposes. Following the taxonomy of Pleske (1894), I synonymize here Remizus pendulinus raddei Pražák, 1897 , with Remiz pendulinus pendulinus (Linnaeus, 1758) .

Type specimens being unknown, the type locality remains “Süd-Europa (Süd-Russland, Ost-Galizien)” following Pražák (1897g: 242). Considering the current administrative division of Europe, this type locality can be redefined as Ukraine and the southern part of European Russia.