Myzomela cardinalis tucopiae Mayr, 1937

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 : 67

Myzomela cardinalis tucopiae Mayr

Myzomela cardinalis tucopiae Mayr, 1937: 4 (Tucopia Island).

Now Myzomela cardinalis tucopiae Mayr, 1937 . See Salomonsen, 1967: 360, Dickinson, 2003: 442, and Higgins et al., 2008: 645–646.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 216265 , adult male, collected on Tikopia (5 Tucopia) Island, 12.19S, 168.49E ( USBGN, 1974c), Solomon Islands, on 11 February 1927, by Rollo H. Beck on the Whitney South Sea Expedition (no. 24661).

COMMENTS: Mayr cited the AMNH number of the holotype in the original description; he had a single specimen. Because Tikopia is sometimes cited as an outlier of the Banks Islands in Vanuatu and sometimes as an outlier of the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomon Islands, this subspecies is easily overlooked in regional lists. Tikopia is currently part of the Solomon Islands. M. c. tucopiae is listed as ‘‘doubtfuly distinct from tenuis ’’ by Salomonsen (1967: 360), and certainly more material is needed. It was recognized by Dickinson (2003: 442) and by Higgins et al., 2008: 646.