Anthus australis montebelli Montague

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 : 45-46

Anthus australis montebelli Montague

Anthus australis montebelli Montague, 1913: 181 (Hermite Island).

Now Anthus australis australis Vieillot, 1818 . See Mees, 1961b: 110, Schodde and Mason, 1999: 738, and Johnstone, 2001: 89.

SYNTYPE: AMNH 572867, adult male, collected on Hermite Island, 20°28′S, 115°32′E ( Johnstone and Storr, 1998: 414), Montebello Islands, Western Australia, Australia, on 13 July 1912, by Paul D. Montague (no. 44j). From the Mathews Collection (no. 15791) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: This specimen had not previously been included in the type collection at AMNH. It bears a pink Mathews label, marked ‘‘type’’ in his hand and with his catalog number. The number 822 that also appears on the label is the number of this species in Mathews’ (1908) Handlist.

In the original description, published on 20 March 1913 in Mathews’ journal, ‘‘The Austral Avian Record’’, the type was said to be from Hermite Island, without further information. Wing measurements of 82–88 mm were given. Later, Montague (1914: 635) listed and gave measurements of a male (wing, 89 mm) and a female (wing, 85 mm) from the Montebello Islands but did not say which island. I measure the wing of the above syntype as 89 mm, the same as that given for the male by Montague.

In the Mathews catalog, opposite 15791, is list­ ed a male specimen of Anthus australis , collected on 13 July 1912, obtained from Montague, and cataloged on 12 February 1913. The other of the two specimens Mathews obtained from Montague at that time is no. 15792, a syntype of Eremiornis carteri , described by Montague in the same paper. There seems no doubt that AMNH 572867 is part of the original type series of A. a. montebelli. In the original description, measurements of more than one specimen were given, but neither Mathews nor Montague stated how many specimens Montague had. There are three syntypes in WAM: two males (wings, 87, 89mm) and a female (wing, 84mm), collected by Montague on Hermite Island in June and July 1912 (Ron Johnstone, personal commun.).