Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus 'MS Robert

Steinheimer, Frank D., 2005, The type specimens of Paradisaeidae, Cnemophilidae and Ptilonorhynchidae (Aves) in the Museum für Naturkunde of the Humboldt-University of Berlin, Zootaxa 1072 (1), pp. 1-25 : 5-6

Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus 'MS Robert Brown' Kuhl, 1820

Kuhl, H. (1820): Beiträge zur Ornithologie. P. 135 [135–151] in van Hasselt, A. W. M. & Kuhl, H. (eds.) Beiträge zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie. Zweite Abtheilung. Hermannschen Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main: pp. 151, pls. 11.

Now Ptilonorhynchus violaceus violaceus (Vieillot, 1816) . See Sharpe 1881: 381, Mayr 1962a: 178, Frith and Frith 2004: 361. Dickinson 2003: 427 did not account for Kuhl's name.

SYNTYPES: ZMB 1590 [specimen not located in May 2005]. Male. Loc.: N.S. Wales [New South Wales, Australia]. Ex. coll.: Bullock. [ Ex­mount ; data from register] . ZMB 1591 . Female. Loc.: Neu Süd Wales [New South Wales, Australia]. Ex. coll.: v. Hoffmannsegg. [ Ex­mount ; data on ZMB label] .

COMMENTS: In addition to the Berlin Museum, Kuhl (1820: 151) mentioned type material in the collections of William Bullock (c.1773–1849; ZMB 1590, now lost), Linnean Society of London (two specimens still extant, BMNH 1863.7.7.51a–b, which are also the syntypes of Ptilonorhynchus MacLeayii Vigors and Horsfield, 1827 , contra Frith and Frith 2004: 364), Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778–1858) and Baron Guillaume Michel Jerome Meiffren­Laugier de Chartrouse (1772–1843), and to the MS names Oriolus holosericeus of Robert Brown (1773–1858; Brown MS 1805: p. 10: a single male " Oriolus holosericeus, Sattin [sic] bird " collected at Port Jackson during the voyage of H.M.S. 'Investigator' was given to the BMNH) and Corvus squamulosus of Illiger (see below).

Friedrich Wilhelm Sieber (fl. 1793–1812), the servant of Johann Centurius Graf von Hoffmannsegg (1766–1849), exchanged his Brazilian birds for specimens of 65 bird species from New South Wales when he visited London on his return voyage from Brazil in 1812 ( Gebhardt 1964: 336). William Bullock's specimen was bought for one pound and 14 shillings by Lichtenstein in lot 55 on the 19 th day of the auction in 1819 ( Johnson and Hewett 1979). Bullock (1812: 56; 1813: 47) gave either Theodosia Louisa, Countess of Liverpool (c. 1768–1821), or Sir James Edward Smith (1759–1828) of the Linnean Society as the origin of the specimen. It was subsequently listed as Ptilor [h] ynchus in the acquisition lists of Bullock's specimens at the ZMB (Bestand: Zool. Mus. Signatur S.I. Lichtenstein, H. Teil II: Blatt 74–78). The Bullock specimen could not be traced in May 2005. Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus is also the type species of the genus Ptilonorhynchus Kuhl, 1820 (see also Schodde & Mason 1999: 631). These specimens were not mentioned in Meise's MS.