Sericornis insularis Cole

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 : 131-132

Sericornis insularis Cole

Sericornis insularis Cole, 1913: 74 (Forsyth Island (Furneaux Group), Bass Strait).

Now Sericornis frontalis flindersi S.A. White and Mellor, 1913. See Schodde and Mason, 1999: 165–171.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 601403 , adult male, collected on Forsyth Island , Furneaux Islands, 40.10S, 148.05E ( USBGN, 1957b), Tasmania, Australia, on 28 November 1912, by C.F. Cole. From the Mathews Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: No type was designated in the original description and both male and female were described, with the comment that ‘‘Several specimens were secured, and upon dissection the type female was found to be breeding’’. The above male bears an original field label marked ‘‘Type male’’ by Cole, Mathews and Rothschild type labels, and a yellow ‘‘Figured’’ label, indicating that it was illustrated in Mathews (1922e: pl. 457, top fig., opp. p. 31, text p. 32). At the end of his description there of the first adult male, Mathews (1922e: 32) said: ‘‘Figured. Collected in Forsyth Island, Furneaux Group, on the 28th of November, 1912, and is the type of Sericornis insularis Cole. ’’ He thus designated as lectotype the specimen that is now AMNH 601403.

AMNH 601404 is an adult female collect- ed on Forsyth Island on the same date and bears a Cole label marked ‘‘ Type female’’, a Rothschild Collection label, and Mathews and Rothschild type labels. No statement was made by Mathews (1922e: 32) as to any type status of a female ; therefore, this specimen is a paralectotype. Because AMNH 601404 bears type labels and has been a part of the AMNH type collection, it is retained there with an added label explaining its status .

A third specimen, AMNH 601402, has an identical field label, except that ‘‘Forsyth’’ has been crossed out and ‘‘Barren’’ written in, and with a date of 21 November 1912. It does not bear Mathews and Rothschild type labels. Specimens of Sericornis insularis were collected on Barren and Clarke islands as well as Forsyth, and as part of the type series, AMNH 601402 is also a paralectotype. This specimen did at one time bear an AMNH type label. This had previously been partly cut off and the specimen returned to the general collection, where it remains.