Ptilotula penicillata centralia 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 : 96-97

Ptilotula penicillata centralia Mathews

Ptilotula penicillata centralia Mathews, 1923b: 37 (Central Australia).

Now considered to be from an area of intergradation between as many as three subspecies of

Lichenostomus penicillata . See Schodde and Mason, 1999: 255–256.

SYNTYPES: AMNH 695646 , immature male, Old Crown Point , on 28 September 1913 (S.A. White no. 1246) ; AMNH 695650 , female, Apperina Bore , on 8 August 1913 (1252) ; AMNH 695651 , male, between Horseshoe and Apperina Bore, on 8 August 1913 (1247) ; AMNH 695652 , female, 16 miles north of Horseshoe Bore , on 5 September 1913 (1254) ; AMNH 695653 and AMNH 695654 , males, Christmas Creek , on 12 August 1913 (1255 and 1249) ; AMNH 695656 , female, Hamilton Bore , on 6 October 1913 (1198) ; AMNH 695657 , male, 15 miles w. of Indulkana Spring , on 12 July 1914 (1628) ; AMNH 695658 and AMNH 695659 , males, Lindsay Creek , on 3 October 1913 (1248 and 1250) ; AMNH 695660 , male, Macumba , on 6 August 1913 (1245) ; AMNH 695661 , female, Opossum Water Hole , on 8 August 1913 (1251) ; AMNH 695662 , male, Running Water , on 27 August 1913 (1199) ; all collected by S.A. White. From the Mathews Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews (1923b: 37) described Ptilotula penicillata centralia thus: ‘‘Differs from P. p. calconi Mathews in having the white ear-patch less noticeable and in being white on the under-surface and lighter above. Type, Central Australia.’’ There are in AMNH 13 specimens of penicillata collected in Central Australia in 1913 and 1914 by S.A. White, none of which have any indication that they were Mathews’ selected type. Moreover, none of them are white below, all are darker above than calconi, and the size of the ear-patch depends on the ‘‘make’’ of the skin. The description was undoubtedly published after the text for this species in The Birds of Australia ( Mathews, 1924: 548–560) was completed. On p. 549, centralia is listed, but the date of publication is incorrectly given as ‘‘ Feb. 21 st, 1913.’’

In the text, Mathews (1924: 552) quoted White, who was writing about the geographical variation in color in this species: ‘‘… the lightest of all is a common bird in the interior and is what I call leilavalensis. ’’ Additionally, White wrote ( Mathews, 1924: 555): ‘‘This was an extremely common bird, and we collected it from around Oodnadatta, and then all through our journey.’’ Finally, Mathews (1924: 558–560) listed the eight subspecies of P. penicillata that he recognized, without mentioning centralia. By 1930, Mathews (1930: 783) had synonymized centralia with calconi.

Although centralia could be considered a nomen dubium (ICZN, 1999: 111, Glossary) with a description at variance with its type material, it was nevertheless published availably under the Code, with type locality specified as ‘‘Central Australia.’’ I therefore feel it advisable to treat all of the S.A. White specimens from ‘‘Central Australia,’’ collected pre-1923, as syntypes of centralia, but not the specimens from Oodnadatta sent to Mathews by White. Eight S.A. White specimens from Central Australia in SAMA are also syntypes (B. Blaylock, personal commun.).

White (1914b, 1915 a, 1915b) reported on his 1913 and 1914 trips, and most of the collecting localities of the syntypes of centralia are shown on the accompanying maps.

Salomonsen (1967: 382) recognized centralia as a valid subspecies of Meliphaga penicillata .