Neositta albata ramsayi Mathews

Pachycephalidae, Aegithalidae, Remizidae, Paridae, Sittidae, Neosittidae, Certhiidae, Rhabdornithidae, Climacteridae, Dicaeidae, Pardalotidae, Nectariniidae, And & Lecroy, Mary, 2010, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 8. Passeriformes:, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2010 (333), pp. 1-178 : 87-88

Neositta albata ramsayi Mathews

Neositta albata ramsayi Mathews, 1923c: 36 (north of Brisbane, South Queensland).

Now Daphoenositta c. leucocephala X D. c. striata . See below.

? POSSIBLE TYPE: AMNH 684226, unsexed, collected in ‘‘ Queensland,’’ undated. From the Mathews Collection (no. 18438) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: J.C. Greenway, Jr., had at some point selected this specimen as the possible type of Mathews’ N. a. ramsayi, had attached an AMNH type label, and had inserted a handwritten ‘‘ type card’’ in the file of type names, but gave no reasons for his selection. The specimen does not bear an original label, only a Mathews Collection label, with ‘‘ Queensland,’’ his catalog number, and ‘‘p. 248,’’ which refers to Mathews (1913d: 248), where Ramsay’s name albata is listed. There is also a Rothschild Collection label attached, printed ‘‘Ex. Coll. G.M. Mathews.’’ Mathews’ catalog entry, made in 1914, added no further information.

Mathews’ (February, 1923c: 36) entire description of this subspecies was: ‘‘Differs from N. a. albata (Ramsay) in being lighter in colour above and not so striped below. Type, north of Brisbane, South Queensland.’’ Presumably, he had a specimen that had the white head and white wing bar of Ramsay’s albata , but this cannot be ascertained. Mathews (February, 1923c: 33) published not only additions and corrections to earlier volumes of ‘‘Birds of Australia’’ but also new names that were already included in the finished manuscript for volume 11, published later in 1923 and in 1924. In the text of Mathews’ (November, 1923d: 62) ‘‘Birds of Australia’’ he listed his name Neositta albata ramsayi with a reference to the description and no further comment. Later, he ( Mathews, 1930: 689) sank it in the synonymy of Neositta albata .

I have examined all of the Queensland specimens of Daphoenositta that came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection. None has a locality that can be interpreted as ‘‘north of Brisbane’’ and, of specimens with data, one from the Leichhardt River represents the most southern collecting locality. This locality is well within the range of D. c. leucoptera instead, and that specimen has the black crown and white wing bar of that subspecies. AMNH 684226 is the only ‘‘Queensland’’ specimen in AMNH from the Mathews Collection that has a white head and white wing bar. Specimens with the general locality ‘‘Queensland’’ have been discussed by Mayr (1950: 285–286), Ford (1980: 9), and Short et al. (1983a: 509–510). AMNH 684227 from Lake Elphinstone ( Ford, 1980: 9) has a white head and white wing bar, but was never in the Mathews Collection. Thus, while it is impossible to be sure which specimen Mathews had in hand or mind when he described ramsayi, it seems most likely to have been the specimen that is now AMNH 684226.