Prionodura newtoniana fairfaxi Mathews, 1915

Steinheimer, Frank D., 2005, The type specimens of Paradisaeidae, Cnemophilidae and Ptilonorhynchidae (Aves) in the Museum für Naturkunde of the Humboldt-University of Berlin, Zootaxa 1072 (1), pp. 1-25 : 5

Prionodura newtoniana fairfaxi Mathews, 1915

Mathews, G. M. (1915): Austral Avian Record 2(7): 133 [133].

Now Prionodura newtoniana De Vis, 1883 . See Hartert 1929: 57, Mayr 1962a: 177, Dickinson 2003: 427, Frith and Frith 2004: 314.

PARALECTOTYPE: ZMB 30.5 . Female. Loc.: Mt. Bartlefrere (3000ft.), N­Queensland, Australia [17°21' S, 145°47' E]. Date: 11 June 1900. Coll.: E. Olive No. 62. Ex. colls.: H. C. Robinson No . R 1373 , G. M. Mathews, Walter Rothschild. Iris: yellowish white. Bill: slate. Feet: slate. Food: brown fruits. [Skin; data on Mathews & Rothschild coll. labels] .

ARGUABLE PARALECTOTYPE: ZMB 30.4 . Male. Loc.: Herberton Range , N­Queensland, Australia [Herberton 17°23'S /145°28']. Date: February 1908. Coll.: [not given]. Ex. colls.: G. M. Mathews [probably No. 3676, cf. Mathews catalogue, Mary LeCroy in litt., May 2005], Rothschild. [Skin; data on Rothschild coll. label; no further data] .

COMMENTS: Hartert (1929: 57) designated a male specimen in the Rothschild collection, now AMNH 679468 , as the Lectotype (Bartlefrere, 14 August 1909, Mathews No. 5371). Gregory Macalister Mathews (1870–1949) is well known for describing birds with minute differences in morphology as distinct subspecies, many of which were subsequently synonymized. The Berlin Museum received these specimens in an exchange with Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild's (1868–1937) Zoological Museum. The second bird, ZMB 30.4 , is a doubtful former syntype. Mathews catalogued this specimen from the Herberton Range in 1910 (Mary LeCroy in litt., September 2005), so he would have been able to use it for the species description. However, he later referred to "Type, Bartlefrere, Queensland." These specimens were not mentioned in Meise's MS.