Mirafra rufescens Ingram

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 : 6-7

Mirafra rufescens Ingram

Mirafra rufescens Ingram, 1906: 116 (Alexandria station in the Northern Territory of South Australia).

Now Mirafra javanica rufescens Ingram, 1906 . See Schodde and Mason, 1999: 715, 717.

LECTOTYPE: AMNH 556403 , female, collected at Alexandria , Northern Territory, Australia in 1905, by William Stalker. From the Mathews Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Ingram (1906: 116) did not give the number or sex of his specimens, but later ( Ingram, 1907: 414) listed a male and a female adult, both now at AMNH. The female, which bears the Rothschild type label and was listed as the type by Hartert (1919: 165), thus becomes the lectotype; its label bears only the year 1905. The male paralectotype, AMNH 556309, was collected at Alexandria in April 1905 by Stalker.

It is not clear how these specimens came into Mathews’ possession. In his description, Ingram (1906: 115) noted that the specimens he named were collected for his father, Sir William Ingram, by Stalker. However, on 10 July 1909, Mathews exchanged to Rothschild the types of the taxa that were named in Ingram’s 1906 paper (Rothschild’s manuscript ‘‘Exchanges, etc.’’ in the Dept. of Ornithology Archives), and on the reverse of one of the labels on this lectotype is the note: ‘‘Received in exchange from G.M. Mathews.’’ The paralectotype is also from the Mathews’ collection, but was not exchanged at that time and probably came to Rothschild with the purchase of the Mathews’ collection.

In addition to the Stalker and type labels, this lectotype also bears a yellow Mathews label indicating it was illustrated in Mathews (1925 – 1927, pt. 4, p. 146 and pl. 560), and a small label with ‘‘Mus. Brit.’’ and ‘‘Seebohm Coll.’’ marked out, on which is written the sex, iris color, and ‘‘type’’. The number ‘‘826’’ that appears on the Stalker label is the number of this species in Mathews’ (1908) Handlist.

In much of the ornithological literature, this type locality is spelled ‘‘Alexandra’’, but Ingram’s (1907: 388) map and Stalker’s spelling make it clear that it is the Alexandria of modern maps, 19°03′S, 136°42′E ( Storr, 1977: 105).

Mirafra javanica normantoni

Mayr and McEvey

Mirafra javanica normantoni Mayr and McEvey, 1960:

173 (Normanton, N.Q.).

Now Mirafra javanica rufescens Ingram, 1906 . See

Schodde and Mason, 1999: 715, 717.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 556264 , adult male, collected at Normanton , 17°40′S, 141°05′E (Times Atlas), northern Queensland, Australia, on 30 November 1913, by Robin Kemp (no. 3570). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: The AMNH number was given in the original description. Paratypes are AMNH 556263 and 556265–556283, all collected by Robin Kemp at Normanton.

Mirafra javanica queenslandica Mathews

Mirafra javanica queenslandica Mathews, 1912a: 425 (Inkerman, Queensland).

Now Mirafra javanica horsfieldii Gould, 1847 . See Peters, 1960a: 7, and Schodde and Mason, 1999: 716– 717.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 556261 , unsexed, collected at Inkerman , northern Queensland, Australia, on 9 October 1907 by William Stalker (no. 362). From the Mathews Collection (no. 3447) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: The Mathews Collection number was given in the original description. The number ‘‘823’’ that appears on the Stalker label refers to the number of this species in Mathews’ Handlist (1908). There are also Rothschild and Mathews type labels present.

There are two Inkermans in northern Queensland. Ingram (1908: 460), who wrote on the birds collected by Stalker at Inkerman in 1907, placed Inkerman Station ‘‘in lat. 20°S by long. 147°E ... some fifty miles to the south­west [= southeast] of Townsville, and is about ten miles from the banks of the Burdekin... ’’. This would be the Inkerman listed in Storr (1984b: 183) as a settlement on the lower northeast coastal plain, near the mouth of the Burdekin River, at 19°45′S, 147°29′E.

Mayr and McEvey (1960: 174) recognized M. j. queenslandica. Mathews (1930:822) synonymized it with rufescens .