Echidna acanthion Collett, 1885

Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-Selskabet i Christiania, 1884(13), 1.

Valid name. Tachyglossus aculeatus acanthion (Collett, 1885)

Syntypes: NHMO 6092 (1), male juv., mounted skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Gracemere near Rockhamton, Northern Queensland, July 1881; NHMO 6306 (2), female, skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, February 1884; NHMO 678 (3), male, skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, February 1884; (4), unsexed, skin and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, February 1884; NHMO 681 (5), male, mounted skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, February 1884; NHMO 682 (1113) (9), female, mounted skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, March 1884; NHMO 1182 (6), female, skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, February 1884; (7), female, skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, February 1884; (8), female skin with cranium and skeleton, collected by C. Lumholtz at Coomooboolaroo, 80 miles west of Rockhampton, Northern Queensland, February 1884.

Remarks. R. Collett communicated the species description in a meeting on 12 December 1884. The proceedings [Forhandlinger] of the meeting were published in 1885 (in Norwegian). The correct year of authority is accordingly 1885 not 1884 as given by Wilson and Reeder (2005). Collett (1885b) also provided an English version of the species description. The three specimens (4), (7), and (8) were not found in the collection of NHM. However, there is a skin labeled "sansynligvis Lumholtz” [probably Lumholtz] and a cranium labeled "695 Echidna hystrix Cuv., sansynligvis fra Ltz". Both specimens might be from the same individual and may be one of the otherwise missing ones.