Loboparadisea sericea Rothschild

Loboparadisea sericea Rothschild, 1896: 16 (Koeroedoe, Dutch New Guinea).

Now Loboparadisea sericea sericea Rothschild, 1896 . See Rothschild, 1897a: 24–25; 1897e: 169, pl. II; Hartert, 1919: 127; Mayr, 1941: 177–180; 1962d: 182; Gilliard, 1969: 83–86; Coates, 1990: 428–429; Cracraft, 1992: 6; Frith and Beehler, 1998: 189–194; and Frith and Frith, 2009b: 461–462.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 679048, [adult male], Kurudu Island (= Koeroedoe), 01.50S, 137.00E (Times Atlas), Papua Province (= Dutch New Guinea), Indonesia. From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Rothschild apparently had the single specimen of L. sericea when he described both the genus and species as new. Rothschild (1897e: 169) believed ‘‘Koeroedoe’’ to be on the north coast of Dutch New Guinea. Kurudu Island is in fact at the mouth of the Mamberamo River and specimens from there were thought to come from mountains south of the Mamberamo. Hartert (1919: 127) discussed the uncertainty associated with the collecting locality of this type, saying that collectors for van Renesse van Duivenbode, from whom Rothschild purchased the specimen, had bought it from residents of Kurudu Island. Later (Stresemann, 1934: 145–146; Hartert et al., 1936: 167, fn. 2) it became clear that van Renesse van Duivenbode (from whom had come a number of specimens with confusing collecting localities) had collectors working in the Weyland Mountains.

Cracraft (1992: 6) considered Loboparadisea to comprise two phylogenetic species, L. sericea and L. aurora, but other authors have recognized a single biological species with two subspecies.