Ploceus melanoxanthus malensis Neumann

Lecroy, Mary, 2014, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 12. Passeriformes: Ploceidae, Sturnidae, Buphagidae, Oriolidae, Dicruridae, Callaeidae, Grallinidae, Corcoracidae, Artamidae, Cracticidae, Ptilonorhynchidae, Cnemophilidae, Paradisaeidae, And Corvidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2014 (393), pp. 1-165 : 21

Ploceus melanoxanthus malensis Neumann

Ploceus melanoxanthus malensis Neumann, 1904b: 162 (Barssa-Fluss im Male-Land).

Now Ploceus nigricollis melanoxanthus (Cabanis, 1878) . See Neumann, 1904c: 338; Hartert, 1919: 138; Moreau and Greenway, 1962: 39; Dickinson, 2003: 720; Fry and Keith, 2004: 115–117; and Craig, 2010: 162.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 724625 , adult male, collected on the Barssa (= Schambala) River , Maleland , southern Ethiopia, on 19 January 1901, by Oscar Neumann (no. 626). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Neumann said that he collected a male and a female on the Barssa River, noting that the female did not differ from the female of nominate melanoxanthus and that the male was the type of malensis; the above specimen is so marked by Neumann. He also said that the specimens collected by Donaldson Smith on the Omo River probably also agreed with his new form.

Later, when Neumann (1904c: 338) treat- ed his entire collection, he noted that the two specimens in his type series were from the Schambala-Fluss. The locality on his original label is unclear and has been changed; it apparently was marked ‘‘Antote Fl.’’ originally and was changed to ‘‘Schambala’’ by Neumann. The locality given in his itinerary ( Neumann, 1904c: 323) for 19 January 1901 is Adoshebaï Tal, and on 20– 23 January he was in ‘‘Male Land (Burssa und Schambala Fluss).’’ All of these localities are discussed by Neumann (1902b: 385– 386, map) and are shown on the map at about 05.30N, 37.00E.

The single paratype in AMNH is AMNH 724626, female, Barssa (= Schambala) River, Maleland, southern Ethiopia, 19 January 1901, collected by O. Neumann (no. 627).