which is the correct type species of Chamaetylas? I can only find suggestions that the name belongs to Alethe castanea which would make it synonymous with Alethe rather than Pseudalethe.
The type species of
Chamaetylas is (by original monotypy)
Geocichla compsonota Cassin, 1859. (But this you certainly knew, the real question being: what is the taxonomic identity of this type species?)
Geocichla compsonota Cassin, 1859:
74. G
EOCICHLA COMPSONOTA, nobis.
About the size and general form of
Turdus interpres, Temm. Pl. Col. 458, but does not resemble that species in colors. Tail short, wings moderate, first quill spurious, fourth and fifth longest, legs rather strong, toes rather long, bill straight, rather thick, upper mandible curved at the tip and distinctly notched. Head above, cheeks and small space on the chin dark cinereous, upper parts of body and wing coverts bright rufous, quills brownish black, the two first edged externally with dark cinereous, others and especially the shorter quills widely edged with the same bright rufous as the back, tail brownish black, outer feathers edged with rufous. Under parts (except a small space on the chin) white, tinged with dull yellowish brown on the breast and flanks. Bill bluish black, legs pale yellowish (in dried skin.) Total length about 6½ inches, wing 4¾, tail 2½, tarsus 1, bill from gape 7/8 inches.
Hab. — Camma river, Western Africa. Discovered by Mr. P. B. Duchaillu.
This bird is, so far as I can see, exactly the same genus as the Asiatic
T. interpres alluded to above, and is about the same size. It is not a very good
Geocichla, of which
T. citrinus is the type, but not a remote relative. One specimen only in adult plumage is in the collection from the Camma.
(The Camma river is in Gabon.) The species' identity remained long doubtful (eg., the footnote in
Reichenow, 1905); the type was apparently mislaid at some point (see
Seebohm, 1881), which presumably didn't help. But the specimen later resurfaced, and was examined by
Bates, 1911, who identified it with
Alethe alexandri Sharpe, 1901.
Alethe alexandri Sharpe, 1901:
5. ALETHE ALEXANDRI, n. sp.
Similis A. castanonota, sed facie laterali nigra nec saturate brunnea distinguenda. Long. tot. 7.0 poll., culm. 0.8, alae 3.6, caudae 2.2, tarsi 1.05.
Hab. Efulen, Kamerun.
("Similar to
A. castanonota, but distinguished by black, and not deep brown, face sides. Total length 7.0 inches, that of culmen 0.8, of wing 3.6, of tail 2.2, of tarsus 1.05. Inhabits Efulen, Cameroon.")
Alethe castanonota Sharpe, 1871:
180. Alethe castanonota, sp. n.
A. dorso castaneo : capite cinerascente : stria superciliari albida : alis et cauda saturate brunneis, illis castaneo externe lavatis : mento nigro : gula albicante, corpore subtus reliquo fulvescente. Long. tot. 5.8, culm. 0.7, alae 3.6, caudae 2.2, tarsi 0.9.
a. Fantee (Ussher).
("A[lethe] with chesnut back : greyish head : whitish superciliary stripe : wings and tail deep brown, these washed chestnut externally : black chin : whitish throat, remaining underbody fulvescent. Total length 5.8, that of culmen 0.7, of wing 3.6, of tail 2.2, of tarsus 0.9." "a." denotes the first [and, in the present case, only] specimen; I presume "Fantee" refers to a place in current Ghana--the country of Fante people;
Ussher is the collector.)
Cassin's name is currently in wide use
for a subspecies of Brown-chested Alethe (now
Chamaetylas poliocephala compsonota (Cassin), thus: Nigeria/Cameroon to NW Angola), following
Mees, 1988 (who corrected the type locality of
Trichophorus poliocephalus Bonaparte, 1850, previously thought to apply to the same taxon: this took Cassin's
compsonota out of synonymy--while simultaneously making Sharpe's
castanonota, which was in use prior to this, a junior synonym of
poliocephala).
...
However, this same name was also treated, without any explanation, as a synonym of
Alethe diademata castanea (Cassin) by
Mayr & Painter, 1964, in Peters' Check-list, which if correct would indeed imply
Chamaetylas synonymous with
Alethe, not with
Pseudalethe. (And this may be the reason why the name was overlooked when
Alethe was split...)
