Melidectes leucostephes brassi Mayr and Rand

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 : 134

publication ID	0003-0090
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03AC87E2-FF3D-FF4B-FFA2-FB4F3A30FBDA
treatment provided by	Tatiana
scientific name	Melidectes leucostephes brassi Mayr and Rand
status

Treatment

Melidectes leucostephes brassi Mayr and Rand, 1936: 247 (Mt. Tafa, östl. Abhang (2000 m), Central Division; Territory of Papua).

Now Melidectes belfordi brassi Mayr and Rand, 1936 View in CoL . See Mayr and Rand, 1937: 223–224, Gilliard, 1959, Salomonsen, 1967: 419, Diamond, 1972: 387–396, Coates, 1990: 259–262, Dickinson, 2003: 438, and Higgins et al., 2008: 613.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 421030 About AMNH , adult male, collected on Mount Tafa , east slope, 2070 m, 10.40S, 151.45E (PNG, 1984), Central Province, Papua New Guinea, on 12 May 1933, by Richard Archbold and Austin L. Rand on the 1933–1934 Archbold Expedition (no. 352). GoogleMaps

COMMENTS: Mayr and Rand cited the AMNH number of the holotype in the original description and said that they had specimens from Mount Tafa and from Murray Pass in the Wharton Range, 2000– 2800 m. Later, Mayr and Rand (1937: 223) listed their specimens ; however, the original description did not include the specimens collected by H. Hamlin at Iola and Fane and, in this later paper, included in brassi . Paratypes are: Mount Tafa , east slope, AMNH 421029 About AMNH , 421031 About AMNH , 421032 About AMNH , 421033 About AMNH , males, AMNH 421040 About AMNH , 421041 About AMNH , 421042 About AMNH , females ; Murray Pass, AMNH 421039 About AMNH , male, AMNH 421045 About AMNH , 421046 About AMNH , females ; Mount Tafa , west slope, AMNH 421047 About AMNH , 421048 About AMNH , females. Of these, AMNH 421033 About AMNH was exchanged to ZMB in 1936, and AMNH 421048 About AMNH was exchanged to FMNH in the mid- 1960s .

Mayr and Rand (1937: 223–224) and Gilliard (1959) considered brassi an altitudinal subspecies of M. belfordi , occurring at mid-mountain altitudes, with a sharp break in size between brassi and the high-altitude nominate subspecies. Salomonsen (1967: 419) considered brassi a synonym of M. b. belfordi , without comment, and this was tentatively followed by Dickinson (2003: 438), but see Diamond (1972: 387–396). Higgins et al. (2008: 613) recognized brassi and suggested that it and nominate belfordi may represent different species. Further study is needed.