Macgillivrayornis claudi Mathews

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 : 49-50

[ Macgillivrayornis claudi Mathews ]

Macgillivrayornis claudi Mathews, 1914a: 12 (Claudie River, North Queensland).

Now Glycichaera fallax claudi (Mathews, 1914) . See Schodde and Mason, 1999: 339–340, Dickinson, 2003: 443, Christidis and Boles, 2008: 185–191, and Higgins et al., 2008: 654.

COMMENTS: W.D.K. MacGillivray (1917: 65) joined W.R. McLennan for fieldwork on the Claudie River, 12.45S, 143.17E ( Storr, 1984: 181), northern Queensland, Australia, from November 1913 to January 1914, mentioning the new honeyeater in a letter to editors of The Emu ( MacGillivray, 1914b) and later ( MacGillivray, 1917, 1918), writing a full account of the trip. Collecting was partly financed by Mathews (1915b: 81), and he examined the entire collection with Mac- Gillivray when he visited Australia in 1914, publishing the description of Macgillivrayornis claudi in the South Australian Ornithologist in April 1914, while he was still in Australia. In the original description, Mathews only said that the type was from the Claudie River, and gave measurements taken in the flesh, presumably of the type: total length 116 mm, wing 55, culmen 14, tarsus 18, middle toe and claw 12. Nowhere have I found a statement as to the number of specimens collected, but based on the published measurements, the description was of the female, the males being considerably larger. Of the collection made by MacGillivray and McLennan on the Claudie River, there are two female and three male specimens in SAMA and one female, two male, and one unsexed [but male based on measurements] cataloged by Mathews and now in AMNH. In each institution there is a female specimen with the same measurements as those published by Mathews in the description written on the original label in what is apparently MacGillivray’s hand. These two specimens, bearing data indicated by Mathews to be those of the ‘‘type,’’ collectively constitute the name-bearing type of Macgillivrayornis claudi (ICZN, 1999: 81, Art. 73.2) and are syntypes. Other specimens in the type series have no standing as types.

B1380 was deposited in SAMA by Mac- Gillivray probably some time after Mathews’ visit, therefore seen by Mathews when he visited MacGillivray (Brian Blaylock and Philippa Horton, personal commun.). This female specimen bears the date 10 November 1913 in addition to the collecting locality and measurements cited in the original description. In 1915, MacGillivray (1915: 77–78) published his fieldnotes on the new bird, citing Mathews’ description and name and the measurements of the type, collected on 10 November 1913. In so doing, he designated the specimen that is now SAMA no. B1380 the lectotype of Macgillivrayornis claudi .

AMNH 691184, collected on 20 December 1913, had been in Mathews’ collection (no. 18466) and came to AMNH with the Rothschild Collection. This specimen bears five labels: (1) MacGillivray’s (no. 84) original label with the date 20 December 1913 clearly written and the measurements cited in the original description written on the field label, presumably by MacGillivray; (2) a Rothschild type label, filled in by hand unknown (i.e., not by Hartert); (3) a Mathews Collection label with sex, place and date of collection, and Mathews’ catalog number (although this was nowhere cited); (4) a Mathews type label, with reference to the description and Mathews’ catalog number; and (5) a ‘‘Figured’’ label, indicating that it was the model for Mathews (1923a: pl. 526, opp. p. 411, text p. 411) where he stated that the female specimen collected on 20 December 1913 was the type of claudi . There, however, he gave measurements that are slightly different (wing 57, culmen 13, tarsus 18, tail 40), indicating that he had remeasured the skin. Because MacGillivray had already designated the specimen now in SAMA the lectotype, the specimen now AMNH 691184 is the paralectotype of Macgillivrayornis claudi .

Even though MacGillivray (1915: 77) stated that the type was collected by both MacGillivray and McLennan, I think that the lectotype and paralectotype were both collected by MacGillivray himself because the field labels were not tied on the specimens above the tibiotarsal joint, as was McLennan’s habit (see Tricodere [sic] cockerelli jardinei). McLennan was credited with the discovery of the bird by recognizing its call as one he was unfamiliar with and did collect some of the specimens ( MacGillivray, 1915: 77). The two females pictured in Mathews (1924: pl. 526, opp. p. 411) may represent two views of Mathews’ paralectotype of M. claudi , as the lectotype was presumably in Australia when the illustration was made.

W. Longmore (personal commun.) found no MacGillivray or McLennan specimens of G. fallax claudi in the H.L. White collection in NMV. However, one specimen collected by Kershaw on the Claudie in April 1914 is in the general collection. According to MacGillivray (1917: 65), Kershaw was collecting for NMV during his stay in northern Queensland, and the April collecting date is after MacGillivray’s departure. The specimen apparently was not part of Mathews’ type series.

The molecular analysis by Driskell and Christidis (2004) did not support the proposal by Schodde and Mason (1999: 339–340) that Glycichaera should be included in the genus Timeliopsis .