Garrulus glandarius kansuensis Stresemann, 1928a : 41

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 : 12

Garrulus glandarius kansuensis Stresemann, 1928a: 41

TL: Langtsetang’schui-Schlucht, Umgebung von Tschiau-tou, Süd-Tetungsche Berge, Nord-Kansu [gorge of one of the tributaries of the Datong He , near Datong (= Qiaotou), South Daban Shan, Qinghai, China; c. 36°50’N, 101°38’E].

Now Garrulus glandarius kansuensis Stresemann, 1928a . See Stresemann 1937: 454, Vaurie 1959: 142, Blake & Vaurie 1962: 232, Dickinson 2003: 509, Dickinson et al. 2004b: 113.

HOLOTYPE: ZMB 27.897. Adult male. Loc.: Coniferous forest patches, “Langtsetang’schui”- Gorge , near Datong , Daban Shan, Qinghai, China [see TL above]. Date: 29 January 1927. Coll.: W. Beick No. 336. [S, Beick label, Meise MS].

COMMENTS: In his description and measurements, Stresemann (1928a) referred only to a single male specimen. The ZMB holds a further five specimens from the same locality and collector (ZMB 28.58, 28.59, 28.154, 35.267, 35.268). The type was bought on 4 th January 1928. The original description dates from March 1928. The next batch containing Garrulus skins arrived in Berlin on 22 nd May 1928, too late to be included in the original description. Walter Beick (1883–1933), originally in the service of Russia, fled the advancing Bolshevik army to China, where he began a career in natural history exploration and collecting. The ZMB bought 859 skins directly from Beick and received another 1200 skins and his very important field diaries (containing notes on 2841 collected specimens) after Beick’s suicide in March 1933 ( Gebhardt 1964: 30, Nowak 2005: 364–368). Erwin Stresemann (1889–1972), Wilhelm Meise (1901–2002) and Max Schönwetter (1874–1961) worked on the ornithological material in a series entitled Neue Formen aus Nord-Kansu and Aves Beickianae (cf. Cyanopica cyanus kansuensis Meise, 1937 , and also Stresemann 1937). Beick referred in his field diaries to the holotype as Garrulus glandarius subsp. (the collector’s number therein is 333, which was annotated by Stresemann as disagreeing with the label data). The habitat is given as a mixed forest of junipers, birches, poplars, and spruces (Beick MS, ZMB Ornithological Dept 336.2).