Prionodura newtoniana fairfaxi Mathews

Prionodura newtoniana fairfaxi Mathews, 1915a: 133 (Bartlefrere, Queensland).

Now Prionodura newtoniana De Vis, 1883 . See Mathews, 1926: 360–363; Hartert, 1929: 57; Mathews, 1930: 888; Mayr and Jennings, 1952: 4–5; Chisholm and Chaffer, 1956: 1–39; Gilliard, 1969: 318–325; Schodde and Mason, 1999: 626–627; Frith and Frith, 2004: 313–314; Christidis and Boles, 2008: 179–180; and Frith and Frith, 2009a: 396–397.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 679468, adult male, collected on Mount Bartle Frere, 17.20S, 145.45E (Times Atlas), northern Queensland, Australia, on l 4 August 1909, by George Sharp. From the Mathews Collection (no. 5371) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews gave only the collecting locality of his type specimen in the original description. AMNH 679468 bears an unsigned original collector’s label, a Mathews Collection label marked ‘‘ Type’ ’ and ‘‘fairfaxi’’ in Mathews’ hand, and a Rothschild type label. The last two labels contain Mathews’ catalog number, although that was not cited in the original description. Mathews’ catalog gives Sharp as the collector. Hartert (1929a: 57) listed the single Mathews specimen collected on Mount Bartle Frere on 14 August 1909 as the type of fairfaxi, thereby designating it the lectotype. I have considered the following Mathews specimens collected on Mount Bartle Frere before 1915 to be paralectotypes although only a few of them have been found in his catalog: males, AMNH 679463, 24 April 1909, AMNH 679464, 18 April 1909, AMNH 679465, 25 April 1909, AMNH 679471 (Mathews no. 5369), 16 August 1909, AMNH 679476 (5370), 14 November 1909, AMNH 679477, 17 April 1909, AMNH 679478, 24 April 1909, all collected by G. Sharp. AMNH 679472, 21 April 1909, AMNH 679475, 19 April 1909, collected by A. Madoch. AMNH 679474 (3678), 10 November 1896, AMNH 679482 (3682), 8 August 1896, no original label. AMNH 679481 (5817), male immature, 7 June 1900; AMNH 679484 (5820), female, 11 June 1900, collected by E. Olive. AMNH 679477 bears a Mathews ‘‘ Figured’ ’ label, indicating that it served as a model for Mathews (1926: pl. 589, opp. p. 360; text p. 360) where it is said to be a specimen of fairfaxi but is not said to be the type .

AMNH 216489 and 216499 were exchanged to AMNH from Rothschild in 1927 and were collected by Sharp in April 1909; they may be paralectotypes, but there is no Rothschild or Mathews label on them. Other specimens were never in the Mathews Collection. Steinheimer (2005: 5) reported a paralectotype and a possible paralectotype in ZMB.

Based on mitochondrial cytochrome- b studies, Kusmierski et al. (1997) included Prionodura newtoniana in the genus Amblyornis, and this was followed by Christidis and Boles (2008: 179–180), but most authors have retained Prionodura, pending confirmation.