Vol. 5, p. 255-256. February 24, 1930. 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



THE TYPE SPECIES OF THE AVIAN GENUS 

 HARPIPRION. 



BY JAMES L. PETERS. 



When Wagler erected his genus Harpiprion (Isis, 1832, p. 

 1232) he assigned two species to it, H. cajennensis [ = Tantalus 

 cayennensis Gmel.] and H. plumbeus [= Ibis caerulescens Vieill.]. 

 No type was designated at the time and neither of the included 

 species have a tautonymic name in their synonymy, so the deter- 

 mination of a type species for the genus Harpiprion Wagler must 

 be by subsequent designation. This was done eight years later 

 by Gray (List of Genera of Birds, 1840, p. 67) who designated as 

 the type 'H. plumbeus (Temm.) ' [= Ibis plumbea Temm. = I. 

 caerulescens Vieill.] so this species must stand as the type. 



The complication in the situation arose the following year 

 when Gray in the second edition of his List of Genera of Birds 

 gave (p. 87) 'H. cajennensis (Gm.) Wagl.,' the other included 

 species, as the type. This second designation appears to have 

 been the one generally accepted since that time. Thus when 

 Reichenbach (Av. Syst. Nat, 1852 (1853) p. XIV) came to 

 subdivide Harpiprion he created the genus Molybdophanes to 

 receive Ibis caerulescens Vieill., keeping cayennensis in Harpi- 

 prion, a proceeding that has been followed ever since. Gray's 

 action in 1840 cannot, however, be superceded, even by his 

 reversing himself in 1841, as he himself had already irrevocably 

 fixed plumbeus [ = caerulescens] as the type of Harpiprion the 

 year previous. Harpiprion of Wagler, 1832, therefore replaces 

 Molybdophanes of Reichenbach, 1853, being of earlier date and 

 with the same type. The only species will therefore stand as 



Harpiprion caerulescens (Vieillot). 



By reason of this transposition Tantalus cayennensis Gmelin 

 is left without a generic name, which, in the absence of any avail- 

 able synonym, may be named 



