Malurus melanocephalus melvillensis 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 : 103

Malurus melanocephalus melvillensis Mathews

Malurus melanocephalus melvillensis Mathews, 1912c: 45 (Melville Island, Northern Territory).

Now Malurus melanocephalus cruentatus Gould, 1840 . See Schodde, 1982: 107, and Schodde and Mason, 1999: 97.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 602622 , adult male, collected at Coopers Camp , Apsley Strait, 11.35S, 130.28E ( USBGN, 1957b), Melville Island, Northern Territory, Australia, on 30 September 1911, by J.P. Rogers (no. 2072). From the Mathews Collection (no. 10673) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description (published 2 April 1912), Mathews cited his catalog number of the holotype. In his introduction, Mathews (1912c: 26) noted that he had received two collections made by Rogers on Melville Island. I was able to find Malurus melanocephalus from both of these collections in the Mathews catalog, numbers 10673–10675, cataloged 24 February 1912, and numbers 11572–11578, cataloged 20 March 1912. The catalog numbers are not written on the specimen labels, but the dates and sex match in all but two cases. These paratypes (with Mathews’ catalog numbers) are: AMNH 602621(11572), 602623 (10675), 602624 (11573), 602625 (11578, cataloged by Mathews as 13 November 1911 and labeled by Hartert as 18 November 1911, date on Rogers’ label unclear), 602626 (11574, cataloged by Mathews as 6 November 1911 but label date 6 October 1911), 602627 (11576), 602628 (10674), and 602629 (11575). The specimen cataloged as 11577 by Mathews, a female collected 13 November 1911, did not come to AMNH, but it would also be a paratype. Specimens collected in January and February 1912 and cataloged after 8 July 1912 are not paratypes, nor are specimens collected at Gordon’s Point in May and June 1912.