Two neglected bird names: Eucichla guajana (P.L.S. Mull.) and Chloropsis cochinchinensis (GM.) Records of the Raffles Museum, No. 17
This short note by C.B. Kloss (1926) argues for the revival of two neglected bird names, Eucichla guajana (P.L.S. Mull.) and Chloropsis cochinchinensis (Gm.), and provides subspecific breakdowns for each.
Summary
Kloss begins by cautioning that old locality terms such as “India Orientali” and “Malacca” were imprecise and should not be taken at face value when selecting type localities (p. 161). He then lists the subspecies of E. guajana—affinis (West Java), irena (Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula north to the Isthmus of Kra), and schwaneri (Borneo)—before turning to the main argument concerning Chloropsis cochinchinensis.
Kloss contends that Gmelin’s name, long subsumed under C. chlorocephala (Walden) or misapplied to the Javanese C. nigricollis (Vieill.) following Sharpe’s Catalogue, actually refers to the northern leafbird. He bases this on the original D’Aubenton figure, which shows a yellow forehead absent in the Javanese form, and on Montbeillard’s text describing a yellow gorget that “diminishes on the breast” rather than expanding as in nigricollis (p. 162). He dismisses Temminck’s contrary opinion as unreliable, noting that Temminck’s localities for the genus are demonstrably inaccurate. Kloss concludes that cochinchinensis must be restored as the valid specific name for four subspecies: cochinchinensis (Brahmaputra to Annam and south to 6°30′ in the Malay Peninsula), icterocephala (Malay Peninsula south of 6°30′ and Sumatra), nigricollis (Java), and viridinucha (Borneo). He also notes that Chloropsis flavocincta Sharpe has priority over C. kinabaluense and may prove to be a mountain form of viridinucha (p. 163).