Rosina coronata rogersiana Mathews

LeCroy, M., 2008, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 7. Passeriformes: Sylviidae, Muscicapidae, Platysteiridae, Maluridae, Acanthizidae, Monarchidae, Rhipiduridae, And Petroicidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 313 (1), pp. 1-287 : 111-112

[ Rosina coronata rogersiana Mathews ]

Rosina coronata rogersiana Mathews, 1922e: 129 (Derby).

Now Malurus coronatus coronatus Gould, 1858 . See Schodde, 1982: 67, and Schodde and Mason, 1999: 96.

When Mathews named rogersiana, he did not designate a type, saying only that it ‘‘Differs from R. c. coronata (Gould) in its slightly paler coloration generally, the pinkish-mauve crown being slightly darker. Derby.’’ Because Mathews named this subspecies rogersiana, it seemed logical to assume that the single specimen collected by J.P. Rogers at ‘‘Derby’’ was probably the specimen he had in mind as the type, now AMNH 602728. However, this specimen immediately became suspect because its original label identified it only as ‘‘ Malurus, No. 9142, c[ollector] J.P. Rogers (no particulars)’’. The Mathews Collection label gave Mathews’ catalog number as ‘‘5256’’ and the collecting locality, in Mathews’ hand, as ‘‘N. West of Austr. (Wyndham)’’. ‘‘Wyndham’’ was crossed out and ‘‘Derby’’ written in by Mathews, and the sex was noted as ‘‘s’’. In Mathews’ catalog, number 5256 was one of 215 specimens he obtained from WAM and cataloged 10 September 1910. While many of these specimens were utilized by Mathews as types, there is no indication either on the labels or in the catalog that this one was so considered.

In reply to my inquiry concerning the number 9142, Ron Johnstone (personal commun.) supplied the following information. The WAM catalog entry for number 9142 is ‘‘ Malurus ’’ with no other data, marked as sent to Mathews in 1910. It was ‘‘registered in a small series collected by J.P. Rogers from Kimberley including a couple of specimens from the Louisa River, Mt. Pierre Creek, Fossil Downs and Wyndham. The specimen above it 9141 is a male Great Bowerbird from Wyndham and 9138, 9139 and 9140 are from the Fossil Downs-Fitzroy Crossing area. I think we can be certain that [9142] was collected by J.P. Rogers and possibly near Wyndham but more likely in the Mt. Pierre Creek-Fossil Downs region. The species does not occur around Derby and it is difficult to know why Wyndham was crossed out and Derby written in. Specimens 9136 and 9137 complete the series in the catalogue and they are both from the Louisa River which is also close to Mt. Pierre Creek and Fossil Downs.’’

Mathews (1922e: 127) reported that Rogers had found R. coronata common at Wyndham and ‘‘previously on the Fitzroy River, near Derby’’. Perhaps Mathews assumed that this undated specimen was part of Rogers’ earlier collection. However, Hall (1902: 87) noted that Rogers’ collection was made ‘‘between Brooking Crossing on the Fitzroy River (some 200 miles from Derby) and the township of Derby’’, and ( Hall, 1902: 91) quoted Rogers to the effect that coronata did not occur in the vicinity of Derby. Additionally, Rogers (1908: 155) wrote: ‘‘It may interest you to know that I found the Purple-crowned Wren ( Malurus coronatus ) very numerous on the small rivers between Turkey Creek Telegraph Station and Wyndham. This is a rare bird on the Fitzroy.’’

The fact that Mathews gave his type locality as Derby and changed the locality on this Rogers specimen to Derby is some indication that he may have had it in mind as the type of rogersi. However, because of the evidence that this specimen came from Wyndham or the Mount Pierre Creek-Fossil Downs area and because there is no proof that Mathews considered it his type, there seems to be no way to establish its type status.

Other Mathews specimens that qualify for type status are specimens in Mathews’ Collection collected by Bowyer-Bower in 1886 and labeled ‘‘Derby’’. Of these, only four are adult males (upon which the description was based, as indicated by Mathews when he said ‘‘the pinkish-mauve crown being slightly darker’’). None of these specimens has a Mathews’ Collection label ; they bear only Rothschild Museum labels printed ‘‘Ex. Coll. G.M. Mathews’’. Three of them have Bowyer-Bower’s original tiny label with his field number, the sex, and the date; the fourth has no such tag, and ‘‘ N.W. Aust.’’ is the only locality. These three specimens labeled ‘‘ Derby’ ’, AMNH 602724 (Matthews no. 17073), AMNH 602725 (17072), and AMNH 602726 (17075), were cataloged by Mathews in 1913, but there is no indication that he intended to confer type status on one or more of them .