Epthianura aurifrons flavescens 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 : 186-187

Epthianura aurifrons flavescens Mathews

Epthianura aurifrons flavescens Mathews, 1912a: 341 (Lake Way, West Australia).

Now Epthianura aurifrons Gould, 1838 . See Mayr, 1986b: 462, and Schodde and Mason, 1999: 343.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 577611 , adult male, collected at Lake Way , 26.50S, 120.25E ( Johnstone and Storr, 2004: 509), Western Australia, Australia, on 19 August 1909, by F. Lawson Whitlock. From the Mathews Collection (no. 2132) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews cited his catalog number of the holotype in the original description. In addition to Whitlock’s label, the specimen bears Mathews and Rothschild type labels and a yellow ‘‘Figured’’ label, indicating that it was illustrated in Mathews (1922a: pl. 440, lower right fig., opp. p. 340, text pp. 341, 344), where it is confirmed as the type of flavescens . There are five additional specimens cataloged by Mathews at the same time, all collected by Whitlock: paratypes AMNH 577612, 577613, 577614, and 577615, Mathews numbers 2133–2136, females from Lake Way, collected in July and August 1909; and AMNH 577616 (Mathews no. 2131), male from Nannine Lake, 24 June 1909. AMNH 577612 also bears a yellow ‘‘Figured’’ label; however, the Lake Way female described on p. 341, evidently this specimen, is not there said to be figured. It is possible that this yellow label should have been tied on the type of Acanthiza flaviventris Ashby (now Epthianura aurifrons Gould , see above).

Mathews gave the range of this form as ‘‘ West Australia’ ’. Two additional paratypes from Day Dawn were cataloged by Mathews before the description was published: AMNH 577617 (Mathews no. 5231), male, and AMNH 577617 (5230), female, both collected on 26 July 1903. AMNH 577610 , a male from Minilya River collected by Carter on 20 August 1911, is a probable paratype also. I did not find it listed in Mathews’ catalog, but other specimens from Carter’s 1911 collection in Western Australia were designated as types by Mathews (1912a: 311, e.g., Gerygone tenebrosa christophori ) ; thus, this specimen was probably also in his hand when flavescens was described.

Whitlock (1910) described the itinerary and collecting localities of his 1909 expedition to the East Murchison district.