Geospiza pachyrhyncha Ridgway

Geospiza pachyrhyncha Ridgway

Geospiza pachyrhyncha Ridgway, 1896a: 293 (Tower Island).

Now Geospiza magnirostris Gould, 1837. See Hellmayr, 1938: 130, Paynter, 1970b: 161, and Dickinson, 2003: 795.

SYNTYPES: AMNH 516887, AMNH 516888, unsexed [female plumage], Genovesa (5 Tower) Island, 00.20N, 89.58W (Paynter, 1993), Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. From the G. Baur Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Ridgway did not designate a type or mention the number of specimens he examined; nor did he (Ridgway, 1896b: 516) later provide additional information, except to say that he had returned the specimens to Dr. Baur. The above two specimens were certainly seen by Ridgway, as both have unnumbered USNM labels attached, the institution where Ridgway worked. The Rothschild label of AMNH 516887 is annotated: ‘‘Spec.A in ms notes of H.S. Swarth, May 16, 1930 ’’ [unsigned] and that of AMNH 516888 ‘‘Spec. B in ms notes of H.S. Swarth, May 16, 1930 ’’ [unsigned]. The USNM label of the latter bears the numbers ‘‘668,’’ probably Baur’s field number, and ‘‘Q-2’’ of unknown significance and on the reverse ‘‘Fig. 8, Pl. VI, N.Z. VI, 1899,’’ a reference to Rothschild and Hartert (1899).

Rothschild and Hartert (1899: 85, 141, 156) noted that Rothschild had purchased the bulk of the collection made by Baur and Adams, some 1100 specimens, also mentioning Ridgway’s description of pachyrhyncha and considering it a synonym of G. strenua, now a synonym of G. magnirostris. Hartert (1919: 152–153) did not list these types and, even though Hellmayr (1938: 130) referred to their being in AMNH, they have lain unnoticed in the collection. The above two specimens are the only Baur specimens of pachyrhyncha that came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection, but it is possible that Rothschild had exchanged others with another collection.