Graucalus elegans Ramsay, 1881

McAllan, Ian A. W., 2016, On Some Types of Birds (Aves) from the Solomon Islands Named by Edward Pierson Ramsay, Records of the Australian Museum 68 (1), pp. 31-43 : 37-39

Graucalus elegans Ramsay, 1881 , Nature 24: 277.

[= Coracina papuensis elegans (Ramsay, 1881) ]

Ramsay originally did not give the source of the specimens from which he named this taxon. In his following Proceedings paper ( Ramsay, 1881b) he noted that most of the taxa were provided by Lieutenant Richards. However, Graucalus elegans was collected by Cockerell on “Guadalcanar”. After his listing of the scientific name Ramsay referred to “ Graucalus hypoleucus, Ramsay, P.L.S. , of N.S.W.”. This is a clear reference to Ramsay’s first Proceedings paper of 1879 where Ramsay commented on Cockerell’s specimens from Guadalcanal under the name Graucalus hypoleucus . Ramsay had seen all Cockerell’s Solomons specimens before writing the 1879 paper and thus Ramsay’s reference to this paper in his 1881 account means that the specimens in Museum Victoria, the Macleay Museum and Milan are also syntypes.

Australian Museum. Three syntypes: A.3822, A.3824, A.3825. A.3822, labelled as a male “ Graucalus hypoleucus Gould ” from “Guadalcanar”. A.3824, labelled as a male “ Graucalus hypoleucus Gould ” from “Guadalcanar”. A.3825, labelled as a female “ Graucalus hypoleucus Gould ” from “Guadalcanar”. The register notes that all three were collected by “Capt. Brodie & Cockerell”.

These specimens were identified as syntypes by Longmore (1991). Specimen A.3823 was also registered with the same details but has not been located. This missing specimen was probably exchanged with Finsch and now in the collection in Milan. Even though at least three of these four specimens were in front of Ramsay at the time of the description of Graucalus elegans , neither the labels nor the register were adjusted to show these specimens were types.

Museum Victoria. Four syntypes: B.19570, B.19571, B.19572, B.19573. These specimens have the following details on the strip wrapping: B.19570, Solomon Isl. , Oct 78, male; B.19571, Guadalcana [= Guadalcanal], Solomon Island [s], Nor 78, female; B.19572, Solomon Island [s], Nor 78, female; B.19573, Lanio, Solomon Isld, female. All four are labelled on additional tags: “Cockerell’s Solomon Isds Coll.; Jan.23/79” .

Macleay Museum. Three syntypes: B.4892, B.4893, B.4894. These three specimens were labelled by Masters “ Graucalus . Solomon Is.”. They are of typical Cockerell make and although not sexed are adults, and were overlooked as types by Stanbury (1969).

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milano. One syntype.

In the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milano there is a specimen of this taxon of Cockerell make which came to the Museum in 1882, undoubtedly being originally acquired from Ramsay by Otto Finsch ( McAllan et al., 2005). It is labelled as a male “ Graucalus elegans or minor Ramsay , sp. nov. Ramsay” with the locality “Guadalcanal’ (pers. obs., 2 September 1994). Ramsay kept a visitors book at the Australian Museum now lodged with the Mitchell Library (in uncatalogued material). Finsch visited the Australian Museum on 29 August 1881.Although there is no account of the visit, the letter from Finsch to Ramsay indicates duplicate specimens were exchanged between them at this meeting ( McAllan et al., 2005). Ramsay named the taxon at a meeting of the Linnean Society of NSW on 23 February 1881, and it first appeared in print in Nature on 21 July 1881, though it did not appear in the Proceedings until 12 September 1881. Thus the form was still a novelty when Finsch visited, and it is likely that Ramsay would have shown Finsch specimens of this taxon.

P[seudorectes] cinnamomeum Ramsay, 1879 , Nature 20: 125.

[= Pachycephala orioloides cinnamomea (Ramsay, 1879) ]

Australian Museum. Two syntypes: A.3831, A.3832.

Both these specimens have labels in the hand of Ramsay as being “ Pachycephala orioloides ” and coming from “Guadalcanar”, A.3831 is labelled as a juvenile male and A.3832 as a female. The register notes that both were collected by “Capt. Brodie ‘Ariel’ & Cockerell”. Ramsay described a bird with female plumage in Nature, but did not note the sex of the bird described. He did not describe the taxon in his first 1879 Proceedings paper where he gave a description of a female Pachycephala from Guadalcanal under the name “ Pachycephala orioloides ”. Longmore (1991) listed A.3832 as an adult male, however it is a female and thus still a type. The immature male has a similar plumage to the female.

Museum Victoria. One syntype : 45732.

This specimen is a mount in female plumage. The socle on the mount is labelled “ Pachycephala astrolabi Bp. Solomon Islds.” The register notes it as having been collected by Cockerell in the Solomons with the date January 1879, obviously the date of acquisition by the Museum. It was registered in May 1884, originally under the name “ Pachycephala oriolus”. This was crossed out in the register and replaced by “orioloides” and again replaced by “astrolabi”. There are an additional four male specimens sent by Cockerell to Museum Victoria (B.9945–9). Three of these are in adult male plumage and cannot be types. The other specimen, B.9949 is an immature bird which was identified as not being cinnamomea by “I.C.J.G.” (= Ian Galbraith, the author of a revision of the Pachycephala pectoralis superspecies [ Galbraith, 1956]). Yet the locality of “Gaudalcana” on the strip wrapping tag alone, as well as the fact that Cockerell only collected within the range of cinnamomea, suggests that this comment is incorrect. This specimen was collected when the bird was in the process of acquiring adult plumage and has a yellow wash to the belly and vent and so cannot be a type.

S[auloprocta] cockerellii Ramsay, 1879 , Nature 20: 125, (5 June 1879) and

Sauloprocta (?) cockerelli Ramsay, 1879 , Proceedings 4: 81–82, (16 June 1879).

[= Rhipidura cockerellii cockerellii (Ramsay, 1879) ]

As with Cinnyris melanocephalus , this species was named after Ramsay had already viewed Cockerell’s entire collection. Any specimens of this taxon that can be identified as collected by Cockerell are thus types. Dickinson & Christidis (2014) considered that Ramsay acted as first revisor. However, Dickinson & Christidis did not give any reference to the paper in which this occurred. It was not in the following Proceedings paper where there was no mention of the paper in Nature.

Australian Museum. Three syntypes: O.18716, A.3848, A.3849. O.18716, ex Dobroyde collection, registered 1912. This specimen was labelled by Ramsay as a type from the Solomons with the sex as “male”. A.3848 and A.3849, are labelled in Ramsay’s hand as types of the species from “Guadalcanar”. Both are marked as “male?”.

Museum Victoria. Three syntypes: B.19549, B.19550, B.19551. These specimens have the following details on the strip wrapping: B.19549, Solomon Isl., Oct 77 [sic, lapsus for 78], female; B.19550, Solomon Isl., Oct/ 78/ male; B.19551, Solomon Isl., Oct 78, male. All three are labelled on additional tags: “Cockerell’s Solomon Isds Coll.; Jan.23/79”.

Macleay Museum. Two syntypes: B.7131, B.7132.

Both specimens were labelled by Masters “ Sauloprocta Cockerellii, Ramsay. Solomon Is.” and are of a typical Cockerell make. Stanbury (1969) referred to both specimens as possible types.

R [hissidura] rufofronta Ramsay, 1879, Nature 20: 125, (5 June 1879) and

Rhipidura (?) rubrofrontata Ramsay, 1879 , Proceedings 4: 82–83, (16 June 1879).

[= Rhipidura rufifrons rubrofrontata (Ramsay, 1879) ]

Ramsay corrected the spelling to rubrofrontata in 1881 ( Ramsay, 1881b), specifically mentioning his 1879 Nature paper (see also Longmore, 1991). Consequently it can be considered a valid emendation under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 1999) and stands with the corrected spelling (contra Dickinson, 2003 and Dickinson & Christidis, 2014). Note this is different from the other changes in names between papers in Nature and their immediately analogous Proceedings papers where there is no reference to the earlier papers.

Australian Museum. One syntype: A.3851.

This specimen is labelled in Ramsay’s hand as a type of Rhipidura rubrofrontata from “Guadalcanar” and a possible adult male.

Museum Victoria. Two syntypes : B.19561, B.19562.

Both are labelled on the strip wrapping as coming from the Solomon Islands and as males. The date “Oct 78” is also written on both. They are labelled on additional tags, “Cockerell’s Solomon Isds Coll.; Jan.23/79”.

Macleay Museum. One syntype: B.7090.

This specimen was labelled by Masters “ Rhipidura rufofrontata, Ramsay. Solomon Is.”. It is of a typical Cockerell make and was overlooked as a — type by Stanbury (1969).

The Natural History Museum. One syntype: 1895.12.21. 136.Warren & Harrison (1971) claimed this specimen was a holotype, however Ramsay did not designate a type, as noted by Longmore (1991). Furthermore, as noted above, Ramsay saw Cockerell’s full collection before describing this taxon in the first paper. Warren & Harrison note that the specimen came from “Lango, Guadalcanar”. This locality is given on the early British Museum label, but not on the oldest label attached to the specimen which simply notes “ Solomon Islands ” (M. Walters, in litt.). The latter locality is also written in the register. The specimen was “received in exchange” from Ramsay, but there is no indication of any such exchange in the Australian Museum registers, and so the specimen evidently came from the Dobroyde collection.

M[yiagra] ferocyanea Ramsay, 1879 , Nature 20: 125, (5 June 1879) and

Myiagra (?) ferro-cyanea Ramsay, 1879 , Proceedings 4: 78–79, (16 June 1879).

[= Myiagra ferrocyanea ferrocyanea Ramsay, 1879 ]

Ramsay initially named this species M. ferocyanea in Nature, but in his following paper in the Proceedings he used the spelling M. ferro-cyanea ( Ramsay, 1879b) . Ingram (1987) and Longmore (1991) suggested this act was an emendation by Ramsay. This is not strictly true, as Ramsay never mentioned the Nature paper in his 1879 Proceedings account. Nevertheless, it appears Ramsay sent the paper to Nature. Later Ramsay used the spelling M. ferrocyanea and referred to the 1879 Proceedings paper ( Ramsay, 1882f). Elsewhere in this 1882 paper he used the name Cinnyris melanocephalus as used in Nature and not C. dubius which was listed in synonymy. In his 1881 Proceedings paper he specifically mentioned the 1879 paper in Nature. This indicates that he was aware of the 1879 Nature paper and thus the spelling of M. ferrocyanea as used in the 1882 paper was a valid emendation under the ICZN (1999).

As early as his first 1879 Proceedings paper Ramsay suggested that his M. pallida may refer to females of M. ferrocyanea . Salvadori (1880) merely noted Ramsay’s indecision about this taxon. Tristram (1882) again suggested that these could be the same species, but did not make a definite decision. Later Tristram (1892) noted a female specimen of M. ferrocyanea in a collection from the Solomons, but did not say how he disposed of the name M. pallida and so did not act as first revisor as required by the ICZN (1999). It was not until 1901 that Rothschild & Hartert finally acted as first revisors by noting under the heading Myiagra ferrocyanea , “There is no doubt that Myiagra pallida of Ramsay is the female of M. ferrocyanea ” (Rothschild & Hartert, 1901) .

Australian Museum. Four syntypes: O.18720, A.3833, A.3835, A.3837. O.18720, ex Dobroyde collection, registered 1912. This specimen was labelled by Ramsay supposedly in December 1878, though as the ship did not arrive in Sydney until 6 January 1879, this is presumably an error for the collection date. It is labelled as a type of Myiagra ferrocyanea from the Solomons. The sex was given as “male?”. A.3833, labelled by Ramsay as a type from “Guadalcanar” and a male. A.3835, labelled by Ramsay as a type from “Guadalcanar” and a probable male. A.3837, labelled by Ramsay as a type from “Guadalcanar” and a possible female. This was evidently an error by Ramsay as he had named the females of this species Myiagra pallida (see below). The last three specimens are listed in the register as having been collected by “Capt Brodie ‘Ariel’ & Cockerell”. Museum Victoria. Five syntypes: B.19552, B.19553, B.19554, B.19555, B.19556. These specimens have the following details on the strip wrapping: B.19552, Solomon Isl., Oct 78, male; B.19553, Solomon Isl., Oct 78, male; B.19554, Solomon Isl., Oct/78/ male; B.19555, G [= Guadalcanal], Solomon Isl., Dec 77 [the second 7 crossed out], male; B.19556, Solomon Isl., Oct 77 [the second 7 crossed out], male. The first four are labelled on additional tags: “Cockerell’s Solomon Isds Coll.; Jan.23/79”, but B.19556 has no additional tag.

Macleay Museum. Four syntypes: B.7265, B.7266, B.7267, B.7268. All four specimens were labelled by Masters “ Myiagra ferro-cyanea . male. Solomon Is.” and are of typical Cockerell make. Stanbury (1969) referred to these specimens as possible types.

Queensland Museum. One syntype : O.20855.

Longmore (in Ingram, 1987) noted that Ramsay sent a syntype (Australian Museum specimenA.3834) on exchange to the Queensland Museum. A mounted specimen in the Queensland Museum, number O.20855, was believed by Ingram (1987) to be the specimen in question.

The Natural History Museum. One syntype: 1884.1.19.10. According to Warren & Harrison (1971) this specimen came from “Guadalcanar, Solomons” with the date “ Dec. 1879 ”. The specimen is actually labelled “ Solomon Islands ”, as is the register, with no mention of “Guadalcanar” (M. Walters, in litt.). The label also notes “ex P. R. 12.1879”, though it may be that “ex P. R.” refers to E. P. Ramsay. The date is after the description of the taxon and may be the date of receipt (M. Walters, in litt.). The specimen was purchased by The Natural History Museum directly from Cockerell. Given the date of receipt it is evident that the specimen was part of the original collection and thus seen by Ramsay .