Les types d'oiseaux rapportés du Vietnam, du Laos et du Cambodge par Jean Delacour entre 1923 et 1939

During the period 1923 to 1939, and in the course of seven expeditions establishing a solid base to our knowledge of the avifauna of what was then French Indochina, Delacour, alone or with one of his coworkers, described 168 taxa, based on 209 type specimens. The expeditions’ collections, including the types, were distributed among five participating museums (MNHN, BM, AMNH, FMNH and MCZ). However, Delacour did not always make clear the institutions to which the types had gone. The object of the work reported on here was to establish a single list of all the avian types with their present location and registry numbers and this is provided arranged by expedition. This includes all the taxa described by Delacour, alone or jointly; it does not include data on specimens selected by other later authors as typical for new taxa. Of the 168 taxa described anomalies in the data of 65 required careful comparisons with manuscript collecting records held at Clères (for some, but not all, of the expeditions). By this means, and by comparing label data with published data almost every anomaly has been resolved and the museums affected have been kept informed. Two important types have not been found. The male Imperial Pheasant Lophura imperialis Delacour & Jabouille, 1924 and the holotype of Tragopan temminckii tonkinensis Delacour & Jabouille, 1930. Eight types specimens said to be in Paris (MNHN) were found in Tring (BM) and one in Paris was expected to be in Tring. Six specimens in Paris marked "type" do not accord with the published data; in each case the correct specimens have been found in Tring.