Taxonomic identities of Phasianus melanocephalus J. E. Gray, 1829, Dicrurus cathoecus Swinhoe, 1871, D. macrocercus Vieillot, 1817, and D. indicus Stephens, 1826, fixed through designation of lectotypes and neotypes held in the Natural History Museum, Tring

During ongoing research, initiated by JM, in the Natural History Museum, Tring, bird collections, four cases have been identified where it is necessary to objectively define the relevant taxa; two by lectotypification and two by neotypification. The first of these is Western Tragopan Tragopan melanocephalus (J. E. Gray, 1829), of which the male and female syntypes are identifiable as different species, with the female being a juvenile male Satyr Tragopan T. satyra (Linnaeus, 1758). The second involves Dicrurus cathoecus Swinhoe, 1871, currently treated as a subspecies of Black Drongo D. macrocercus (Vieillot, 1817) and which was described from specimens collected in mainland China, the islands of Hainan and Taiwan. Subsequently, Dicrurus ater harterti E. C. S Baker, 1918, now also a subspecies of D. macrocerus, was named on the basis of a specimen collected on Taiwan, but without unambiguously excluding Swinhoe's nomen from Taiwan. The final case pertains to Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot, 1817, and its objective synonym D. indicus Stephens, 1826, which were based on Levaillant's (1805: pl. 174) ‘le Drongolon’, supposedly from South Africa. Since the mid-19th century, authors have invariably applied the name D. macrocercus to the birds of ‘India’ sensu lato, but to which taxon within the macrocercus complex this name applies there is no consensus. To our knowledge, the type material of Levaillant’s ‘le Drongolon’ no longer exists, and therefore there are also no extant types of Vieillot’s and Stephens’ nominal species. As a result, lectotype designations are offered for the first two above cases, and the same neotype designation for Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot, 1817, and D. indicus Stephens, 1826, in order to fix the identities on the universally understood taxonomic concept associated with each of these taxa.