CYMINDIS WILSONII CASSIN, 1847 (= CUBAN KITE CHONDROHIERAX WILSONII): ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION, TYPES, COLLECTOR, AND TYPE LOCALITY

Abstract

Cuban Kite Chondrohierax wilsonii has usually been considered a species-level taxon endemic to Cuba, where it is now confined to the extreme east and is exceptionally rare. It was described by John Cassin, whose text was repeated basically verbatim in two different periodicals in 1847. The later of the two to appear has been frequently but erroneously cited as the original description. Equally, the type locality has been reported with varying levels of vagueness, but the collector of the specimens, Richard Cowling Taylor, mentioned a rather precise locality. A report on the latter’s geological work reveals they were collected in 1836. Cassin and later Wilmer Stone, the first person to revise type material held at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, confused the sexes of this kite, so that the female specimen must be considered the lectotype, although Stone apparently wished to nominate the male as the “type”.