Amaurodryas vittata kingi 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 : 249-250

Amaurodryas vittata kingi Mathews

Amaurodryas vittata kingi Mathews, 1914b: 92 (King Island).

Now Melanodryas vittata kingi (Mathews, 1914) . See Schodde and Mason, 1999: 371–372.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 607968 , adult male, collected on King Island , 39.50S, 144.00E ( USBGN, 1957b), Bass Strait, Tasmania, Australia, on 2 May 1914, by Thomas H. Tregellas. From the Mathews Collection (no. 18482) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Mathews noted only that the type was from King Island. In addition to Tregellas’ original label (marked ‘‘Type’’ by Mathews), a Mathews Collection label (also marked ‘‘Type’’ by Mathews and bearing his catalog number), and a Rothschild type label, the specimen also bears a yellow ‘‘Figured’’ label, indicating that it was illustrated in Mathews (1920a: pl. 380, lower fig., opp. p. 121, text pp. 121–122). On p. 122, the figured male from King Island is described and is said to be the type of kingi, thereby designating it the lectotype.

Although only a single specimen was cataloged by Mathews, he received at least four King Island paralectotypes from Tregellas, all collected in 1914: males, AMNH 607966 and 607967, 24 and 21 April ; and females, AMNH 607969 and 607970, 2 May. These specimens are considered paralectotypes. The number ‘‘448’’ that appears on Tregellas’ labels refers to this species’ number in Mathews (1908a) .

Mayr (1986d: 567) considered Petroica vittata monotypic, although he noted that kingi was perhaps a valid subspecies.