Rhipidura rufifrons brunnea Mayr, 1931

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 : 235

Rhipidura rufifrons brunnea Mayr

Rhipidura rufifrons brunnea Mayr, 1931b: 19 (Malaita Island, British Solomon Islands).

Now Rhipidura rufifrons brunnea Mayr, 1931 . See Mayr and Diamond, 2001: 392, and del Hoyo et al., 2006: 231.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 226950 , adult male, collected on Malaita Island , Solomon Islands, on 22 March 1930, by William F. Coultas, Walter J. Eyerdam, and Hannibal Hamlin on the Whitney South Sea Expedition (no. 39656).

COMMENTS: Mayr cited the AMNH number of the holotype in the original description and gave measurements based on 23 specimens, all from Malaita. Twenty-four specimens were actually accessioned. Paratypes are: AMNH 226948, 226949, and 226951– 226971. Of these, the following were exchanged: AMNH 226952 and 226962 to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History on 6 January 1932, AMNH 226953 and 226969 to the BBM on 21 January 1932, AMNH 226960 to USNM in January 1932, AMNH 226961 to NRM on 12 December 1931, AMNH 226963 to ZMB on 8 January 1932, and AMNH 226966 to ZMB in July 1936.

Coultas and Eyerdam went inland on Malaita from Su’u, 09.10S, 160.55E, and were camped at 2200 ft on Mt. Tarimbusu, ca. 09.10S, 161.05E, on 22 March. Collecting was done to the top of the mountain at ca. 4300 ft (unpublished journal, Vol. V, by William Coultas, AMNH Department of Ornithology Archives). Although Hamlin’s name is printed on the label, he was collecting on Gower Island at this time.