Rise and fall of the Harlequin Hummingbird ‘Trochilus multicolor': a species that never was

Abstract

Based on a plate and descriptions in Latham (1782, 1787), Gmelin (1788) formally named a new species of hummingbird, Trochilus multicolor. Prior to the early 1830s, this novelty was discussed and depicted by various authors and artists, but mention of it then largely vanished from the literature. This paper reviews available literature and artwork on the supposed species, reaching the conclusion that the entire corpus probably stems from a single composite specimen present in the British Museum collection from at least the early 1780s, but which was recognised as a fabrication and then destroyed in around 1819. A central role in the affair played by the then well-known, but subsequently neglected, ornithologist and artist, Thomas Davies, is highlighted, though there is no evidence of any fraud on his part.