Chlamydera nuchalis oweni Mathews

Chlamydera nuchalis oweni Mathews, 1912a: 440 (North-West Australia (Point Torment)).

Now Chlamydera nuchalis nuchalis (Jardine and Selby, 1830) . See Mathews, 1926: 340–350; Hartert, 1929a: 56; Mayr and Jennings, 1952: 11–13; Mayr, 1962c: 180; Gilliard, 1969: 363– 373; Schodde and Mason, 1999: 636–637; Frith and Frith, 2004: 423–426; Christidis and Boles, 2008: 179–180; and Frith and Frith, 2009a: 403.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 679244, adult male, collected at Point Torment, 17.15S, 123.44E (USBGN, 1957), King Sound, West Kimberley, Western Australia, Australia, on 14 March 1911, by J.P. Rogers (no. 1407). From the Mathews Collection (no. 8578) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews cited his catalog number of the holotype in the original description and gave the range of oweni as ‘‘North-West Australia, Northern Territory.’’ The holotype bears, in addition to Rogers’ label and Mathews and Rothschild type labels, a ‘‘Figured’’ label, indicating that it was the model for Mathews (1926: pl. 587, upper fig., opp. p. 340; text p. 341), where it is confirmed as the type of oweni. In this later publication, it is placed by Mathews in the genus Rogersornis .

The following specimens cataloged by Mathews before the publication of oweni are paratypes: AMNH 679245 (Mathews no. 8753), female, Point Torment, 23 March 1911 ; AMNH 679246 (9386), Marngle Creek, West Kimberley, 3 June 1911 ; AMNH 679247 (9835), male, AMNH 679248 (9834), female, King River, July 1911 ; AMNH 679249 (5185), male, Wyndham, 29 October 1907 ; AMNH 679250 (3659), 679251 (3660), 679252 (3658), three males, Parry Creek, May 1902 and November-December 1908 ; AMNH 679254 (5186), female, Negri River, East Kimberley, May 1902 ; AMNH 679258 (3663), male, 679259 (3664), female, Port Keats, January 1906. Other specimens in AMNH were either cataloged by Mathews after the publication of oweni or were never in Mathews’ collection. AMNH 679246 bears a Mathews ‘‘ Figured’ ’ label, indicating that it served as the model for Mathews (1926: pl. 587, lower fig., opp. p. 340; text p. 341) .

Schodde and Mason (1999: 636–637) considered oweni a synonym of C. nuchalis nuchalis and Dickinson (2003: 428) and Frith and Frith (2004: 424; 2009a: 403) agreed.