Spinus tristis subsp. pallidus Mearns 1890
Creators: name: LeCroy, Mary
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Aves
Passeriformes
Fringillidae
Spinus
Spinus tristis
Spinus tristis pallidus mearns

description: Spinus tristis pallidus Mearns
Spinus tristis pallidus Mearns, 1890: 244 (Fort Verde, Yavapai County, in central Arizona).
Now Carduelis tristis pallida (Mearns, 1890). See Hellmayr, 1938: 296; Howell et al., 1968: 245; Middleton, 1993; Dickinson, 2003: 750; and Clement, 2010: 559.
HOLOTYPE: AMNH 52666, adult male, collected at Fort Verde, Arizona, on 3 May
1888, by Edgar A. Mearns. From the Mearns Collection (no. 6311).
COMMENTS: In the original description, Mearns designated as holotype his no. 6311; this specimen bears an AMNH type label and the original label is marked ‘‘ Type’ ’ by Mearns. He gave measurements for 10 males and 11 females from Arizona and his type series included a ‘‘quite large series of winter specimens of both sexes’’ and six specimens in winter plumage collected by Scott, on which Allen had commented (in Scott, 1887: 198). Mearns’ paratypes from his series in AMNH are: Fort Verde, Arizona, AMNH 52667 (Mearns no. 5987), AMNH 52668 (5986), males, 20 January 1888; AMNH 52669 (4577), female, AMNH 52670 (4576), male, 6 March 1886; AMNH 52671 (3666) male, 30 December 1884; AMNH 52672 (3672), AMNH 52673 (3673), AMNH 52674 (3674), AMNH 52675 (3675), four females, 3 January 1885; AMNH 52676 (4342), AMNH 52677 (4344), AMNH 52678 (4346), AMNH 52679 (4348), two females, two males, 23 December 1885; AMNH 52680 (4559), female, 5 March 1886. Two additional Mearns specimens from this series came to AMNH with the Sennett Collection and are also paratypes of pallida: AMNH 83211 (4518, Sennett no. 5971), AMNH 83212 (4519, 5970), female, male, 1 March 1886.
Of these paratypes, AMNH 52667 also bears an AMNH type label and is marked ‘‘Type of pallidus ’’ by Mearns; it remains in the type collection with a label attached to explain its paratype status. AMNH 52676 is also marked ‘‘Type of pallidus ’’ by Mearns, but had no AMNH type label attached; it is a paratype and remains in the regular collection.
The six paratypes collected by W.E.D. Scott are the following: Catalina Mills, Arizona, AMNH 83205 (Scott no. 994, Sennett no. 3354, old AMNH no. 28731), female, 3 February 1886; AMNH 83206 (989, 3349, 28726),; AMNH 83207 (991,?, 28728), males, 19 December 1885; AMNH 83208 (993, 3353, 28730),; AMNH 83209 (992, 3352, 28729), males, 30 December 1885; AMNH 83210 (990, 3350, 28727), female, 19 December 1885. These six specimens had inadvertently been cataloged with the W.E.D. Scott Collection when it was purchased by AMNH (5
old AMNH no.) and the catalog is marked ‘‘Belong to Mr. Sennett—cataloged here by mistake.’’ When the Sennett Collection came to AMNH, they were then cataloged with the rest of the Sennett specimens. AMNH 83207 has both legs missing and neither a Scott nor a Sennett label is present; the AMNH label is tied on around the neck. Scott’s number was ascertained from the old catalog entry.
The holotype of pallidus is the only specimen among all of the above in AMNH that is in full breeding plumage.
description: Published as part of LeCroy, Mary, 2013, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 11. Passeriformes: Parulidae, Drepanididae, Vireonidae, Icteridae, Fringillinae, Carduelinae, Estrildidae, And Viduinae, pp. 1-155 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2013 (381) on pages 68-69, DOI: 10.1206/832.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4611863