Melampitta lugubris longicauda Mayr and, 1952

Mary, Croy, History, Bulletin Of The American Museum Of Natural, At, Central Park West, Street, Th, York, New & Ny, 2005, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 6. Passeriformes: Prunellidae, Turdidae, Orthonychidae, Timaliidae, Paradoxornithidae, Picathartidae, And Polioptilidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2005 (292), pp. 1-132 : 63-65

Melampitta lugubris longicauda Mayr and Gil­

liard, 1952: 1 (Mt. Tafa, near Wharton Range,

Papua, 2400 meters).

Now Melampitta lugubris longicauda Mayr and

Gilliard, 1952. See Coates, 1990: 421.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 420120 , adult male, collected on the west slope of Mt. Tafa , 2400

m, 088359S, 1478109E ( Papua New Guinea General Reference Map, 1984), Papua New Guinea, on 10 September 1933, by Richard Archbold and Austin L. Rand on the 1933– 1934 Archbold Expedition (no. 1313).

COMMENTS: The AMNH number of the holotype was given in the original description. The following specimens are paratypes: AMNH 267162, 267163, 340363, 340365– 340370, 340376–340388, 340398, 420115– 420119, 420121–420124, 590750–590753, 590756, and 705056–705061. Of these, the following have been exchanged: AMNH 340367 to UMMZ, AMNH 340383 and 420117 to FMNH, and AMNH 340385 and 705057 to AM. The type locality is described in Archbold and Rand (1935: 559–562).

DNA­DNA hybridization studies indicate that Melampitta is related to birds of paradise ( Sibley and Ahlquist, 1987). It is included in the tribe Paradisaeini of the Corvidae by Sibley and Monroe (1990: 472).

Mellopitta gigantea Rothschild Mellopitta gigantea Rothschild, 1899c: 137

(‘‘3000 Fuss hoch auf dem Berge Maori west­

lich des Humboldt­Busens an der nordküste von

Neuguinea’’).

Now Melampitta gigantea (Rothschild, 1899) . See

Mayr, 1930: 24, Hartert, 1930b: 92, and Coates,

1990: 421.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 590763 , [immature] male, collected on Moari (5 Maori) mountain, Papua Prov., Indonesia, in January 1899, by J.M. Dumas. From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: A single specimen was collected by Dumas. It was sexed as a male by Dumas, but the sex was not cited in the original description. Hartert (1922a: 379) listed it as a male, but questioned the sexing. The mixture of brown in the otherwise black plumage of the holotype indicates immaturity.

‘‘Mt. Maori’’ was originally said by Rothschild to be west of Humboldt Bay on the north coast of New Guinea. While Dumas did collect there, Mayr (1930: 24) showed that his specimens, listed from Mt. Maori by Rothschild and Hartert, actually came from the Arfak Peninsula. A further check of Dumas’ specimens shows that he actualy wrote his locality as ‘‘Moari Mt.’’ (sometimes spelled ‘‘Maori’’). I interpret this as meaning the mountain near Moari. It was always written this way by Dumas, but was copied on the Rothschild labels as ‘‘Mt. Moari’’. There is, in fact, a mountain more than 7000 ft high, just inland from coastal Moari, 018219S, 1348139E (Times Atlas).

DNA­DNA hybridization studies indicate that the genus Melampitta is related to birds of paradise ( Sibley and Ahlquist, 1987). Sibley and Monroe (1990: 472) included it in the tribe Paradisaeini of the Corvidae .

Ifrita coronata Rothschild

Ifrita coronata Rothschild, 1898: 54 (‘‘Low coun­

try east of Port Moresby, Brit. New Guinea’’). Now Ifrita kowaldi kowaldi (DeVis, 1890) . See

Deignan, 1964a: 240, and Coates, 1990: 71–72.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 589012, [adult male], place of collection uncertain. From the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: When Rothschild described this form, he had a single specimen and had been told when he purchased it that it came from the ‘‘low country east of Port Moresby’’. He later received specimens from high altitudes on Mount Knutsford, Owen Stanley Mountains, and realized that it was a mountain form ( Rothschild, 1899a: 218). The holotype has no original label, only a Rothschild type label and an AMNH label added for cataloging purposes.

Rothschild (1898: 53–54) named both the genus Ifrita and the species coronata at this time. Hartert (1920: 483) later found that specimens from the Owen Stanley Mountains had earlier been named Todopsis kowaldi by DeVis and accepted this type locality as the type locality of I. coronata .

Sibley and Monroe (1990: 458) included the genus Ifrita in the subfamily Cinclosomatinae of the Corvidae , but its relationships are far from settled ( Schodde and Mason, 1999: 408).

Ifrita kowaldi brunnea Rand

Ifrita kowaldi brunnea Rand, 1940b: 2 (K[unupi], Weyland Mountains, Netherland New Guinea).

Now Ifrita kowaldi brunnea Rand, 1940 . See Rand and Gilliard, 1967: 345–346, and Dickinson, 2003: 515.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 301950 , adult male,

collected at Kunupi, Weyland Mountains, Papua Prov., Indonesia, on 7 October 1931, by Georg Stein (no. 1746).

COMMENTS: The AMNH number was cited in the original description. Rand (1940b: 3) included birds from the Weyland Mts. and south slopes of the Snow Mts. ( Mt. Goliath ) in brunnea . Paratypes are: Weyland Mts. , AMNH 301949 , 301951–301955 ; Mt. Goliath , AMNH 589037–589047 .

The Mt. Goliath specimens were reported on by Rothschild and Hartert (1913: 504) un­ der the name Ifrita coronata , where three males and eight females are listed ; all 11 specimens are now in AMNH .

The Weyland Mountain Expedition of Georg and Clara Stein was sponsored by Dr. Leonard C. Sanford for AMNH and by ZMB. Specimens of this species collected by the Steins were originally identified as I. k. schalowiana, and five males and four females were listed ( Hartert et al., 1936: 221). In this case, six specimens in addition to the holotype came to AMNH, with the remainder going to ZMB. The ZMB specimens are not paratypes.

Stein (1933) published an account of his New Guinea trip with descriptions of the various collecting localities.