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NATURAL HISTORV,
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FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY

A continuation of the

ZOOLOGICAL SERIES

of

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

VOLUME 39

NATURAL HIStORV PURVEY

FEB 11 1971

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FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
CHICAGO, U.S.A.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

1. Two Birds from Nepal. By Austin L. Rand and Robert L. Fleming . . 1

2. A New Lacertid Lizard from Angola. By Hymen Marx 5

3. A New Plethodontid Salamander from Nuevo Leon, Mexico. By

George B. Rabb 11

4. The Herpetology of Sinai. By Karl P. Schmidt and Hymen Marx . . 21

5. Two New Species of Birds from Angola. By Austin L. Rand .... 41

6. The Subspecies of the Bush Shrike Laniarius fullehorni (Including

L. poensis). By Austin L. Rand 47

7. A New Species of Ant-Thrush from Peru. By Emmet R. Blake ... 51

8. The Venomous Coral Snakes of Trinidad. By Karl P. Schmidt .... 55

9. Notes on Lizards of the Genus Dicrodon. By Karl P. Schmidt .... 65

10. Geographic Variation in the Central American Colubrine Snake, Ninia

sebae. By Karl P. Schmidt and A. Stanley Rand 73

11. The Races of the Shrike Lanius validirostris. By Austin L. Rand and

D. S. Rabor 85

12. The Races of the Bush Shrike Dryosopus cubla. By Austin L. Rand . 87

13. Tarsal Ligaments of the Spectacled Bear Tremardos ornatus. By D.

Dwight Davis 91

14. Notes on Fishes of the Genus Brachygobius. By Robert F. Inger . . . 107

15. Mammals of the Kelabit Plateau, Northern Sarawak. By D. Dwight

Davis 119

16. Descriptions of Abyssal Benthic Fishes from the Gulf of Mexico. By

Marion Grey 149

17. Streblidae from Yemen. With Description of One Subspecies of Asco-

dipteron (Diptera). By B. Jobling 185

18. Egyptian Snakes of the Genus Psammophis. By Hymen Marx .... 191

19. Some Rare or Little-known Mexican Coral Snakes. By Karl P. Schmidt 201

20. Marine Mollusks from Bougainville and Florida, Solomon Islands. By

A^an Solem 213

21. The Crocodilian Genus Paleosuchus. By Frederick J. Medem .... 227

22. A New Genus and Species of Fish from the Gulf of Mexico (Family Em-

melichthyidae). By Loren P. Woods 249

23. A Note on the Philippine Frogs Related to Rana macrodon. By Rob-

ert F. Inger 253

PAGE

24. Three New Skinks Related to Sphenomorphus variegatus (Peters). By

Robert F. Inger 257

25. Three New Birds from West Africa. By Austin L. Rand and Melvin A.

Traylor, Jr 269

26. Three New Birds from the Philippine Islands. By Austin L. Rand and

D. S. Rabor 275

27. New Species of Fresh-water Catfishes from North Borneo. By Rob-

ert F. Inger and Chin Phui Kong 279

28. Ticks (Ixodoidea) of Arabia. With Special Reference to the Yemen.

By Harry Hoogstraal and Makram N. Kaiser 297

29. Deep Sea Fishes from the Gulf of Mexico. With the Description of a

New Species Squalogadus intermedius (Macrouroididae). By Marion
Grey 323

30. Review of the Colubrid Snake Genus S paler osophis. By Hymen Marx . 347

31. Inland Mollusks from Venezuela, Southern Brazil, and Peru. By Fritz

Haas 363

32. Two New Game Birds from Peru. By Emmet R. Blake 373

33. A New Species of Babbling Thrush from the Philippines. By Austin L.

Rand 377

34. Review of Pionus Maximiliani (Kuhl). By Ellen Thorne Smith . . . 379

35. Two Eels of the Genus Synaphobranchus from the Gulf of Mexico. By

P. H. J. Castle 387

36. A New Genus of Blind Beetles from a Cave in South Africa. By Henry

S. Dybas 399

37. A New Iguanid Lizard of the Genus Ctenoblepharis. By Hymen Marx . 407

38. A New Colubrid Snake of the Genus Atractus. By Hymen Marx . . . 411

39. Notes on Toads of the Genus Pelophryne. By Robert F. Inger . . . .415

40. Bermudan Cephalopods. By Gilbert L. Voss 419

41. Three New Histerid Beetles from the Pacific Northwest, with Records

and Synonymies of Additional Species (Coleoptera: Histeridae). By
Rupert L. Wenzel 447

42. Sonoda paucilampa, a New Gonostomatid Fish from the Western At-

lantic. By Marion Grey 465

43. A Review of the Oriental Toads of the Genus Ansonia Stoliczka. By

Robert F. Inger 473

44. On the South American Small-eared Zorro Atelocynus microtis Sclater

(Canidae). By Philip Hershkovitz 505

45. A New Berycoid Fish from Brazil (Family Trachichthyidae). By Loren

P. Woods 525

46. A New Pelobatid Frog of the Genus Megophrys from Hong Kong. By

Robert F. Inger and J. D. Romer 533

47. Notes on Two New Guinean Lizards of the Genus Sphenomorphus. By

Robert F. Inger 539

PAGE

48. A New Genus and Species of Frog (Leptodactylidae) from Colombia.

By Doris M. Cochran and Coleman J. Goin 543

49. On the Nomenclature of Certain Whales. By Philip Hershkovitz . . . 547

50. Variation in the Quail-Dove Geotrygon frenata. By Emmet R. Blake,

Gunnar Hoy, and Francisco Contino 567

51. A New Peruvian Race of Crypturelltis obsoletus. By Emmet R. Blake . 573
5

2. A New Race of Crow, Corvus enca, from the Philippines. By Austin L.

Rand and Dioscoro S. Rabor 577

53. The Tongue and Nest of Certain Flowerpeckers (Aves: Dicaeidae). By

Austin L. Rand 581

54. A New Species of Toad (Bufo) from Sierra Leone. By Robert F, Inger

and J. I. Menzies 589

55. Status of the Frog Hyla albomarginata in Central America. By M. J.

Fouquette, Jr 595

56. The Swim Bladder in the Serrasalminae. With Notes on Additional

Morphological Features. By Edward M. Nelson 603

FIELDIANA ZOOLOGY

Published by
CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

Volume 39 August 14, 1956 No. 1

TWO NEW BIRDS FROM NEPAL

Austin L. Rand

Chief Curator, Department of Zoology
AND

Robert L. Fleming

Field Associate, Department of Zoology

Our report on the birds collected by the various Fleming expedi-
tions to Nepal from 1949 to 1954 is in the editor's hands. It seems
advisable to publish descriptions of these novelties in advance of
the main paper.

Dendrocopus auriceps conoveri new subspecies

Type. Chicago Natural History Museum no. 214818, from 15
miles west of Tansen, West Nepal; altitude 5,500 feet. Adult
female collected January 9, 1952, by R. L. Fleming.

Diagnosis. Differs from D. a. auriceps in the smaller size and,
in the female, the golden yellow nape (not usually brown or yellowish
brown) ; an additional, less diagnostic character is the more fulvous
(less brownish) forecrown in both male and female. The males of
this subspecies average more yellow on the nape than do more
western birds but there is almost complete overlap in this character.

Range. Nepal, from the Kali Gandak area. West Nepal, east-
ward through Kathmandu Valley.

Measurements (wing). D. a. conoveri: males 105, 105, 108, 109,
109, 110, 111, 111, 112, 115 (av. 109.5); females 107, 108, 109, 110,
111 (av. 109).

D. a. auriceps: Far- western Nepal: males 114, 114; females
112, 112. Kumaon: males 118, 118, 120; females 112, 113, 113, 113.
MussooRiE, United Provinces: males 114, 114, 115, 115, 116, 116,
116, 118, 119 (av. 115.8); females 109, 111, 113, 113, 114, 114,
(av. 112.3). Punjab: males 115, 116, 117, 119, 122 (av.~~TI7:8^ ;
females 117, 119.

Remarks. The small woodpecker, D. auriceps, is restricted to
the slopes of the Himalayas at moderate elevations from Nepal west

No. 801 1

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NATURAL

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2 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 35

to Afghanistan. No geographical variation has been described in
this species, but our Nepal series indicates that birds from the
extreme eastern part of the range represent a distinguishable sub-
species.

The size variation in this species is clinal, a gradual decrease in
size from west to east, with the wings of the most western males
(Punjab) averaging 117.8 mm. in length, while those of the most
eastern males (Nepal) average 109.5 mm. The variation in color of
the nape in the female is not clinal, but the bright orange of the five
eastern conoveri females examined is matched by only two of the
sixteen more western D. a. auriceps examined (one from Mussoorie,
one from Punjab) while the other fourteen are quite distinct.
Neither character alone would perhaps merit naming the eastern
bird, but the two characters together seem an adequate basis for
separating two subspecies.

The two names applicable to this species auriceps and hrunni-
frons both of Vigors, 1831, probably were based on western birds,
and Stuart Baker (Fauna Brit. India, 1927, 4 : 42) has given the type
locality of auriceps as Simla, which can well be accepted for both
names. In the plate of brunnifrons the female has a dull-colored
nape consistent with this view.

D. a. auriceps ranges to far western Nepal, for two females from
Baila and Sahajpur agree with Mussoorie birds.

Specimens examined. D. a. conoveri: Dana, 1 male, 1 female;
Tansen, 2 males, 2 females; Nagarjung, 2 males; Godaveri, 1 female;
Kathmandu, 1 male; Sisagarhi, 1 male; Bhimphedi, 1 female; Chit-
lang, 3 males, 1 female; Thankot, 1 male; Khulikan, 1 female.

D. a. auriceps: Baila, far-western Nepal, 1 female; Sahajpur,
far-western Nepal, 1 male, 1 female; Rekcha, 1 male; Mussoorie,
8 males, 8 females; Kumaon, 4 males, 4 females; Punjab, 5 males,
2 females.

We are indebted to Dr. Dillon Ripley for lending us part of the
above material, and we have also examined the material in the Koelz
collection. This race is named for the late H. Boardman Conover,
formerly Trustee and Research Associate of Chicago Natural
History Museum, who financed the first Nepal expedition.

Garrulax affinis bethelae new subspecies

Type. Chicago Natural History Museum 84,809, from Thangii,
Sikkim; altitude 14,000 feet. Adult male collected May 18, 1931,
by V. S. La Personne.

(Y^/"^ RAND AND FLEMING: BIRDS FROM NEPAL 3

Diagnosis. Like G. a. affinis of central and western Nepal but
differs in having the under parts generally darker, with the edgings
of the feathers dull gray and relatively inconspicuous (not con-
spicuously grayish white) . The crown also averages blacker, but this
color is not constant.

Range. East Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan.

Remarks. In 1953 (Nat. Hist. Misc. no. 116, p. 2) one of us
(Rand) described the pale, extreme western population of this species
as G. a. flemingi, type locality Lete, in western Nepal, and used
G. a. affinis Blyth (1843, "Nepal") for the extreme eastern Nepal,
Sikkim and Bhutan birds, restricting the type locality to eastern
Nepal.

This was evidently wrong, for Mrs. B. P. Hall of the British
Museum writes us that the three specimens of Hodgson's early
collection, designated as "types" by Sharpe in 1883 (Cat. Bds. Brit.
Mus., 7: 358), and presumably the basis of Blyth's description of
the species, are still in the British Museum, were collected by
Hodgson while he was resident in Nepal and before he went to
Darjeeling, and have the characters of "flemingi." They are readily
distinguishable from Sikkim birds and those of Hodgson's late
collections, and match some recently collected birds from Langtang,
central Nepal (Lat. 28 15' N.; Long. 85 30' E.).

It seems necessary to consider flemingi a synonym of G. a.
affinis, restrict the type locality of affinis to central Nepal, and give
the darker east Nepal-Sikkim-Bhutan birds a new name, as we have
done above.

This bird is named in honor of Dr. Bethel H. Fleming (Mrs.
R. L. Fleming), who took over Dr. Carl E. Taylor's hospital for
three months, making it possible for him to go on the first expedi-
tion, and who accompanied later expeditions to Nepal.

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