Coracina robusta victoriae Mathews

LeCROY, M. A. R. Y., 2003, TYPE SPECIMENS OF BIRDS IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. PART 5. PASSERIFORMES: ALAUDIDAE, HIRUNDINIDAE, MOTACILLIDAE, CAMPEPHAGIDAE, PYCNONOTIDAE, IRENIDAE, LANIIDAE, VANGIDAE, BOMBYCILLIDAE, DULIDAE, CINCLIDAE, TROGLODYTIDAE, AND MIMIDAE, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 278 (278), pp. 1-156 : 65

Coracina robusta victoriae Mathews

Coracina robusta victoriae Mathews, 1916: 60 . (Victoria).

Now Coracina papuensis robusta (Latham, 1802) . See Peters et al., 1960: 181, Browning and Monroe, 1991: 386, and Schodde and Mason, 1999: 582.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 561971 , adult male, collected in Victoria, Australia, in March 1873, by Richard H.W. Leach. From the Mathews Collection (no. 4368) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews (1916: 60) did not cite his catalog number in the original description, saying only that the type was from ‘‘Victoria’’, and no type of victoriae had previously been included in the type collection at AMNH. There are now in AMNH three specimens of C. p. robusta from Victoria that had been part of the Mathews Collection. AMNH 561971 (Mathews no. 4368) bears a pink Mathews Collection label on which is marked, in Mathews’ hand, ‘‘type of victoriae’’. The number ‘‘507’’ that appears on this label refers to the number of this species in Mathews’ (1908) Handlist. In addition, there is a yellow Mathews label, indicating that this specimen was figured in Mathews (1921–1922, pt. 3, pp. 129–130, pl. 415), where he discussed the nomenclatural history of this taxon and noted: ‘‘Collected in Victoria in March 1873 ; is very similar to the type drawing of Lanius robustus Latham , and is figured for this reason.’’ The second specimen, AMNH 561972 (Mathews no. 4367), unsexed, also collected by Leach in Victoria but without a date, bears Mathews and Rothschild Collection labels. The third specimen is AMNH 561970 , female, collected at Selby , Victoria, on 27 December 1913 ; it bears Rothschild and Mathews Collection labels, but I was unable to find a Mathews catalog number for it. The second specimen was undoubtedly in Mathews’ hand when he described the taxon, for it was cataloged with the first specimen. It is not certain when the third specimen came into Mathews’ possession; he cataloged few specimens in 1913 and 1914 and almost none thereafter. Because of the uncertainty surrounding the third specimen and because Mathews indicat­ ed intent by marking AMNH 561971 ‘‘type of victoriae’’, I hereby designate it the lectotype. AMNH 561972 becomes a paralectotype ; and the status of AMNH 561970 remains uncertain .

The lectotype was marked ‘‘immature’’ by the collector, but it shows no signs of immaturity and is an adult in dark phase plumage with an all black head.