Anthus australis subrufus Mathews

LeCROY, M. A. R. Y., 2003, TYPE SPECIMENS OF BIRDS IN THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. PART 5. PASSERIFORMES: ALAUDIDAE, HIRUNDINIDAE, MOTACILLIDAE, CAMPEPHAGIDAE, PYCNONOTIDAE, IRENIDAE, LANIIDAE, VANGIDAE, BOMBYCILLIDAE, DULIDAE, CINCLIDAE, TROGLODYTIDAE, AND MIMIDAE, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 278 (278), pp. 1-156 : 45

Anthus australis subrufus Mathews

Anthus australis subrufus Mathews, 1912a: 425 (West Australia (Onslow)).

Now Anthus australis australis Vieillot, 1818 . See Schodde and Mason, 1999: 738, and Johnstone, 2001: 89.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 572870 , adult male, collected at Onslow, 21°39′S, 115°07′E ( Johnstone and Storr, 1998: 418), Western Australia, on 11 January 1901. From the Mathews Collection (no. 5187) via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: The Mathews Collection number of the holotype was cited in the original description. This specimen bears four labels: the field label without the collector’s name, the Mathews and Rothschild type labels, and Mathews’ yellow label indicating that it was figured in Mathews (1925 – 1927, pt. 4, p. 131 and pl. 558). According to Mathews’ catalog this specimen was obtained from the Western Australian Museum in Perth. There is no label from that institution, but the field label bears the number 3455, which may be a museum catalog number. Mathews (1925 – 1927: 131) noted that the specimen was collected on sand hills at Onslow.

Mathews (1925 – 1927: 131) gave 1907 as the year in which this specimen was collected, but his catalog lists 1901. The actual figure on the field label could be read either way. The shape of the field label and the handwriting compared with that on other specimens from the same area show the collector to have been John T. Tunney, who was collecting in the Onslow area in 1901 for WAM; by 1907 he was no longer collecting for WAM ( Whittell, 1954: 724). Therefore, it seems that 1901 is the correct date.

Mathews did not say how many specimens he had and gave the range as ‘‘ North­West Australia’’ just as he did for the next subspecies. Therefore, it is not possible to be certain which specimens from the Mathews Collection should be considered paratypes. There is only one other specimen collected by Tunney at Onslow in 1901: paratype AMNH 572871.

Many authors include this taxon in Anthus novaeseelandiae , as a synonym of A. n. subaustralis.