Sitta syriaca Temminck

Sitta syriaca Temminck

Sitta syriaca Hemprich, 1824 [Unpublished label name]. Sitta syriaca “Ehrenb ”. Temminck, 1835: 286.

Now. Sitta neumayer syriaca Temminck, 1835. See Hartert (1905: 338).

Type series. Temminck (1835: 286) stated that the name was “donné par M. Ehrenberg au sujets du musée de Berlin, rapportés par lui de Syrie. There were seven such specimens (Lichtenstein 1825, Stresemann 1954: 175; 1962), which thus form the type series. Four specimens were retained in the ZMB (Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB, Lichtenstein 1854: 65, Mlíkovský 2007), of which two survived. Three specimens were destined by Lichtenstein (1825) for sale, of which one survives in the RMNH (Dekker & Quaisser 2006: 13, Mlíkovský 2007).

Syntype. ZMB 9271, skin, unsexed specimen, collected on an unknown date [= 5–24 July 1824] in “ Syria ” (label) [= Bcharré, Lebanon].

Syntype. ZMB 9272, skin, unsexed specimen, collected on an unknown date [= 5–24 July 1824] in “ Syria ” (label) [= Bcharré, Lebanon]. This specimen is labeled with numbers 9269–70, 9272. A former curator at ZMB was evidently unable to decide which of three available inventory numbers (listed in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB) belongs to this specimen, which indicates that two of the four specimens listed in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB and by Lichtenstein (1854: 65) were lost long ago. Of these three specimens, two were listed in the Inventory Catalogue of the ZMB as having originated from "Bscharre" (ZMB 9269, 9270), and only ZMB 9272 as having originated from " Syria ", which agrees with the inscription on the label of the surviving specimen. We thus believe that the surviving specimen is ZMB 9272.

Syntype. ZMB 9269 (lost) skin, unsexed specimen, collected on an unknown date [= 5–24 July 1824] in “Bscharre” (catalogue) [= Bcharré, Lebanon].

Syntype. ZMB 9270 (lost) skin, unsexed specimen, collected on an unknown date [= 5–24 July 1824] in “Bscharre” (catalogue) [= Bcharré, Lebanon].

Syntype. RMNH 89906, skin, ad., collected on an unknown date [= 5–24 July 1824] in “ Syria ” (label) [= Bcharré, Lebanon] (Dekker & Quaisser 2006: 13).

Type locality. “ Syrie ” (Temminck 1835: 286). An entry in Lichtenstein (1825) shows that all seven syntypes of Sitta syriaca were collected at Bcharré, Lebanon (see also Stresemann 1962: 387, Mlíkovský 2007: 109), where Hemprich and Ehrenberg collected them between 5–24 July 1824.

Remarks. Temminck (1835: 286) attributed this name to “Ehrenb”, i.e. Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, but he is the author of the name (ICZN 1999, Art. 51.1).