Mountain Marsh Widowbird adult figure from Reichenow (1902)
Mountain Marsh Widowbird adult figure from Mackworth (1955)
Mountain Marsh Widowbird distribution, type locality circled
Introduction
The Mountain Marsh Widowbird was formally described by Anton Reichenow, a German ornithologist and herpetologist.
The Mountain Marsh Widowbird was collected by Friedrich Fulleborn, a Prussian physician.
Fulleborn studied medicine and natural sciences in Berlin. From 1896 onward, he was a military physician assigned to the Schutztruppe in German East Africa (Tanzania). In 1898-1900 he participated in the Nyassa- and Kingagebirgs Expedition to southern Tanzania, where he conducted anthropological and ethnographic research. He also collected bird specimens, which he sent to Berlin. In 1899 he collected birds in the region north of Lake Malawi (but in Tanzania), a region not explored ornithologically until then. Fulleborn found the type of the Mountain Marsh Widowbird at Tandala in Ukinga, Tanzania.
The first illustration of the Mountain Marsh Widowbird was of an adult male, published by Reichenow (1902). The next illustrations were published much later, from the 1980s onwards.
Weaver Watch
