Corvidae

Corvus rhipidurus stanleyi
Roselaar, 1993: 259

Fan-tailed Raven
1 paratype

Paratype: ZMA 42822, adult female, Nabi Musa (between Jericho and the NW Dead Sea), collected 22 Jan 1911 by E. Schmitz, ex Snouckaert/Van Marle coll. nr. 2822; wing 346, tail 141.5, bill to skull 52.4, bill depth at nostril 19.4, tarsus 55.4.

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Additional information
The holotype is BMNH 1946.63.10, an adult male from the NW shore of the Dead Sea (Israel), collected 12 Nov 1944; wing 369, tail 148, bill to skull 55.6, bill depth at nostril 19.8, tarsus 61.3. The paratype of the ZMA made some history, being the first bird of the species C. rhipidurus to be measured by C.S. Roselaar for Cramp & Perrins (1994); the next, RMNH cat. nr. 2, an adult male from Abyssinia, was so much larger (wing 424, tail 171, bill to skull 60.4, bill depth at nostril 24.0, tarsus 71.0) that it seemed improbable that the same taxon was involved; after ascertaining that no measuring mistakes were made, measuring of a much larger series indeed proved the existence of two subspecies, differing in size: the smaller stanleyi in the Sinai, Dead Sea depression, Arava Valley, and the Arabian Peninsula, the larger nominate rhipidurus in the NE Afrotropics north to the hills of SE Egypt.

Measurements
As far as types in the ZMA are concerned, all measurements were taken by C.S. Roselaar, unless otherwise noted, using the methods as described in Svensson (1992) and comparable with the data published in the Handbook of Western Palearctic Birds. All are in mm, and are given to the nearest mm when taken with a ruler and to one-tenth of a mm when measured with calipers.

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