Strepera melanoptera howei Mathews

Lecroy, Mary, 2014, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 12. Passeriformes: Ploceidae, Sturnidae, Buphagidae, Oriolidae, Dicruridae, Callaeidae, Grallinidae, Corcoracidae, Artamidae, Cracticidae, Ptilonorhynchidae, Cnemophilidae, Paradisaeidae, And Corvidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2014 (393), pp. 1-165 : 77-78

Strepera melanoptera howei Mathews

Strepera melanoptera howei Mathews, 1912a: 444 (Kow Plains, Victoria).

Now considered to be from a zone of intergradation between S. v. versicolor and S. v. melanoptera . See Amadon, 1951: 30; 1962b: 171; Schodde and Mason, 1999: 557–560; Dickinson, 2003: 464; and Russell and Rowley, 2009: 341– 342.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 673673 , adult male, collected on the Kow Plains , Victoria, Australia, on 9 October 1909, by F.E. Howe. From the Mathews Collection (no. 4518) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Mathews cited his catalog number of the type. Howe (1910: 227–234) reported on his trip and on p. 227 mentioned that Kow Plains was about 35 miles due east from Pinnaroo, 35.18S, 140.54E (Times Atlas), South Australia. In addition to the original label and Mathews and Rothschild type labels, the type bears a ‘‘Figured’’ label, indicating that it was the model for Mathews (1923b: pl. 489, opp. p. 413; text p. 413), where it was confirmed as the type of Strepera melanoptera howei .

Mathews had one additional specimen when this form was described, perhaps also collected by Howe, although it was not so credited in his catalog and the original label is not present. Howe (1909: 130–138) reported on an earlier visit to the Mallee and mentioned on page 132 camping in the vicinity of Carina and securing this species. This second specimen is a paratype: AMNH 673674 (Mathews no. 3730), female, Carina, 17 September 1908. Other Mallee specimens in AMNH from the Mathews Collection were collected after the 31 January 1912 publication date of howei.