Confusing female Taiwanese Tarsiger bush robins and designation of a lectotype for Ianthia johnstoniae Ogilvie-Grant, 1906

Abstract

Recent research reveals that the original series, a male and female, used to describe Ianthia johnstoniae Ogilvie-Grant, 1906 (= Collared Bush Robin Tarsiger johnstoniae), held in the Natural History Museum, Tring, is mixed. The male is a Collared Bush Robin, but the female is an example of the morphologically very similar White-browed Bush Robin T. indicus formosanus. Because the syntypes represent two different species and in order to fix the identity on the universally understood taxonomic concept associated with T. johnstoniae, we select as its lectotype the unambiguously identified male specimen (NHMUK 1907.12.12.39).