Corvus phaeocephalus Cabanis, 1851b : 232

Steinheimer, Frank D., 2009, The type specimens of Corvidae (Aves) in the Museum für Naturkunde at the Humboldt-University of Berlin, with the description of a new subspecies of Dendrocitta vagabunda, Zootaxa 2149 (1), pp. 1-49 : 30

Corvus phaeocephalus Cabanis, 1851b: 232

TL: Abyssinien [historical Kingdom of Abyssinia = parts of Eritrea and Ethiopia]; restricted to Arkiko, Eritrea [= Hargigo near Massawa, 15°29’N, 39°26’E] (see Corvus scapularis aethiops ).

Now Corvus albus x Corvus ( ruficollis ) edithae (hybrid). See Madge & Burn 1999: 177, Fry et al. 2000: 546; Sharpe 1877: 23, Meinertzhagen 1926: 112, and Quaisser & Nicolai 2006: 73 synonymized this taxon with C. albus .

SYNTYPE: ZMB 1481. [Hybrid, no sex or age given]. Loc.: Abyssinien [= Arkiko, Eritrea]. Date: [not given; December 1824 – April 1825]. [Coll. Hemprich], Ex.Coll.: Hemprich & Ehrenberg. [Ex, Mus, Meise MS].

ARGUABLE SYNTYPES: ZMB 1479. Adult [hybrid, no sex given]. Loc.: Abyssinien [= Arkiko, Eritrea]. Date: [not given; December 1824 – April 1825]. [Coll. Hemprich], Ex.Coll.: Hemprich & Ehrenberg. [Ex, Mus, A/R, Meise MS]. ZMB 1480. “Juvenile” [adult, hybrid, no sex given]. Loc.: Abyssinien [= Arkiko, Eritrea]. Date: [not given; December 1824 – April 1825]. [Coll. Hemprich], Ex.Coll.: Hemprich & Ehrenberg. [Ex, Mus, Meise MS].

COMMENTS: Cabanis (1851b) referred to two specimens in Heine’s collection. These two certain syntypes are found at the MHH (4818, 4819) in Halberstadt ( Quaisser & Nicolai 2006: 73). The MHH specimens show rather brown heads and on breast and collar a varying amount of black speckles. Cabanis’ original description said nothing about additional specimens studied in the ZMB collection. However, he mentions “younger birds” with a more blackish-brown head instead of pure brown, not reflected by any of the MHH specimens. Instead, specimen ZMB 1481 shows these characters. Cabanis probably mistook the denser mottling of breast and collar of this ZMB bird as a juvenile character rather than the pattern of a first-generation hybrid. It cannot be ruled out that Cabanis, when describing the taxon in 1851, also studied other ZMB birds, but no clues are given in his original description. Two of the ZMB specimens have printed type labels saying “No. II” and “No. III der Typen von Corvus phaeocephalus .” Although the make of the labels is from the beginning of the 20 th century, when Jean Cabanis (1816–1906) was still active at the ZMB, they refer not to type status, but to plate IV in the Journal für Ornithologie, vol. 54 (1906), which is entitled “Typen von [meaning: forms of] Corvus phaeocephalus Cab. ” The second (II) and third (III) specimens on plate IV are ZMB 1480 and 1481, the first (I) is ZMB 1479. The ZMB specimens are also certain syntypes of Corvus scapularis aethiops (see below). Madge & Burn 1999: 177 and Ash & Atkins 2009: 372 discussed the hybridization of Corvus albus and Corvus ( ruficollis ) edithae in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. They also noted that the name Corvus phaeocephalus Cabanis, 1851 , was given to this interbreeding population. These hybrids differ from purebred, glossy bluish-black C. albus in having rather dark brown heads and upper breasts, with the brown sometimes extending to the body. They are similar to C. ruficollis but unlike the latter, with white pattern on collar, lower breast and belly. Some birds appear mottled brownish black within the white collar. Because the name has been given to a hybrid population it is invalid for any further use in ornithological nomenclature ( ICZN 1999, arts. 1.3.3, 17.2, 23.8).