Meliphaga montana aicora Rand, 1936

Mary, 2011, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 9. Passeriformes: Zosteropidae And Meliphagidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (348), pp. 1-193 : 73-74

Meliphaga montana aicora Rand

Meliphaga montana aicora Rand, 1936: 9 (Aicora River, Northern Division, Territory of Papua).

Now Meliphaga montana aicora Rand, 1936 . See Diamond, 1972: 367–370, Dickinson, 2003: 433, and Higgins et al., 2008: 593.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 448976 , adult male, collected on the Aikora (5 Aicora) River, Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, on 16 October 1905, by collectors for Albert S. Meek (no. 42). From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Rand cited the AMNH number of the holotype in the original description and noted that he had three male specimens. The two paratypes are: AMNH 695820, 695821, males, Aikora River, 19 October and 21 November 1905, Meek nos. 46 and 68. The Aikora River is one of the tributaries of the Gira River that reaches the coast at 08.00S, 147.55E ( PNG, 1984).

Rothschild and Hartert (1914a: 10–12) reported on this small collection, listing only two specimens (under Ptilotis montana ) but noting the larger bills.