Neochmia phaeton albiventer Mathews

Neochmia phaeton albiventer Mathews, 1914b: 13 (Claudie River, North Queensland).

Now Neochmia phaeton evangelinae d’Albertis and Salvadori, 1879 . See Mayr et al., 1968: 356–357; Schodde and Mason, 1999: 750–751; Dickinson, 2003: 732; and Payne, 2010: 353.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 721927, adult male, collected on the Claudie River, 12.50S, 143.21E (USBGN, 1957), Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, on 19 January 1914, by W.D. K. Macgillivray (1917 –1918: 208) or others in his group. From the Mathews Collection (no. 18472) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews had the single specimen, which bears the original field label, Mathews and Rothschild type labels, and a ‘‘Figured’’ label, indicating that it was the model for Mathews (1926, 12 (6): 262–263, pl. 577, lower fig., opp. p. 262). It was also confirmed there as the type of albiventer, which Mathews at that time considered a monotypic species. Mathews included his catalog number on the Rothschild type label, although he did not mention it in the description. Other specimens of this form that had been in Mathews’ collection were either collected after the date of publication of the name or were undated.

Schodde and Mason (1999: 750–751) discussed their reasons for considering albiventer a synonym of evangelinae and this has been followed by later authors.