Calliste margaritae Allen

Calliste margaritae Allen

Calliste margaritae Allen, 1891: 351 (Chapada, Matto Grosso, Brazil).

Now Tangara cayana margaritae (Allen, 1891). See Hellmayr, 1936: 163–164, Isler and Isler, 1999: 304–306, and Dickinson, 2003: 811.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 31648, adult male, collected at Chapada, Mato Grosso, Brazil, on 13 May 1885, by Mrs. H.H. Smith.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Allen did not designate a type, saying only that he had 137 specimens in his type series. In fact, there were 138 specimens of margaritae cataloged at AMNH. Type labels had been tied on AMNH 31648, adult male, and AMNH 31661, female. Berlepsch (1912: 1041), Naumburg (1930: 371), and Hellmayr (1936: 164) all state that the type is in AMNH, without giving catalog numbers. Thus, it appears that these two specimens have been considered the types, without actually having been designated as such.

The history of these 138 specimens is perhaps impossible to untangle at this late date. A great many of them are marked in the AMNH catalog as having been exchanged, but a number of those were apparently returned, reasons not given, and then some of the returned specimens were exchanged again. Specimens that were exchanged to Rothschild and to BIM came back to AMNH when those collections became part of the AMNH collection. Each of those specimens was renumbered and now bears two AMNH numbers.

Because Allen’s types were deposited in AMNH unless otherwise stated; because Berlepsch, Naumburg, and Hellmayr noted that the types of C. margaritae were in AMNH; because the two specimens bearing AMNH type labels have been considered the types without having been so designated; and because the specimens have been so widely scattered, it is important to remove the uncertainty with respect the type by designating a lectotype. Therefore, I select one of the two specimens that have been considered the types and designate it the lectotype of Calliste margaritae: AMNH 31648, adult male, collected at Chapada, Mato Grosso, Brazil, on 13 May 1885, by Mrs. H.H. Smith. The remaining 137 specimens become paralectotypes: AMNH 31596–31647, 31649– 31697, and AMNH 58045–58080, only 68 of which are now in AMNH.

The female paralectotype, AMNH 31661 bearing an AMNH type label, has been left in the type collection with an added label referring to its paralectotype status and this lectotypification.

Allen (1891: 352) stated that this form was named in honor of Mrs. Smith, but her name was Amelia Woolworth Smith, usually called Daisy. I did not see the connection until I was reminded by Hans Winkler that the marguerite is a daisy!