Cicinnurus regius cryptorhynchus Stresemann, 1922

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 : 17

Cicinnurus regius cryptorhynchus Stresemann, 1922

Stresemann, E. (1922): Neue Formen aus dem papuanischen Gebiet. Journal für Ornithologie 70(2/3): 405 [405–408].

Now Cicinnurus regius coccineifrons Rothschild, 1896 . See Mees 1964: 34–35, 1982: 170–172, Frith and Beehler 1998: 410, Dickinson 2003: 517; contra Cracraft 1992: 31, who upgraded cryptorhynchus to a monotypic species.

HOLOTYPE [Holotype not located in April 2005]: ZMB 50.333 . Adult male. Loc.: Taua am Mamberano [lower reaches of the Mamberamo river, Papua Province, Indonesia, c. 2°0' S, 137°5' E]. Date. 6 August 1910. Coll.: Riggenbach No. 260. [Skin; data from register].

PARATYPES [Paratypes not located in April 2005]: Five further, probably unregistered specimens. [Skins].

COMMENTS: Stresemann referred to male specimens only, six in number. Fritz Wilhelm Riggenbach (1864–1944) was a well­known bird collector for Rothschild's Zoological Museum and the Zoological Museum of Berlin, exploring inter alia the Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon and New Guinea ( Gebhardt 1970: 107–108). The specimens may have been part of the batch of Riggenbach's material acquired from Dr. Moszkowski 1 April 1911 (345 skins, acquisition number ZMB B.707). The holotype and five paratypes were not found despite extensive searches. Frith's and Beehler's (1998) assumption that the holotype had been a war loss is wrong. Meise, while working on his type MS, handled and registered the holotype in 1950 (the paratypes were not registered at the time). It is difficult to guess what could have happened since then to all six specimens. They may possibly have been used by the exhibition department for public display and then discarded, except for a data­less mount, now registered ZMB 2002.537. They may also have been considered 'ugly' due to war damages and discarded by the ornithological department staff. There is also the possibility that they have simply been misplaced, and still remain in the collection.