Megalurus timoriensis montanus Mayr and Gilliard

LeCroy, M., 2008, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History. Part 7. Passeriformes: Sylviidae, Muscicapidae, Platysteiridae, Maluridae, Acanthizidae, Monarchidae, Rhipiduridae, And Petroicidae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 313 (1), pp. 1-287 : 14-15

Megalurus timoriensis montanus Mayr and Gilliard

Megalurus timoriensis montanus Mayr and Gilliard, 1951: 9 (summit grasslands of Mt. Hagen, Central Highlands, Mandated Territory of New Guinea).

Now Megalurus macrurus montanus Mayr and Gilliard, 1951 . See Schodde and Mason, 1999: 702.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 348221 , adult male, collected at the summit camp, Mount Hagen , 12,000 ft, 05.45S, 144.05E ( Times Atlas ), Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea (5 Central Highlands, Mandated Territory of New Guinea), on 20 July 1950, by William Lamont on the Gilliard Mount Hagen Expedition.

COMMENTS: The AMNH number of the holotype was cited in the original description. The number of specimens collected was not given, either in the original description or in the later report on both the 1950 and 1952 expeditions ( Mayr and Gilliard, 1954: 346) ; however, measurements were given for two males and two females ( Mayr and Gilliard, 1951: 9), including the holotype. Additionally, there are two unsexed specimens from the summit grasslands. Paratypes are AMNH 705119–705123 .

Dickinson (2003: 577) tentatively included montanus in M. macrurus alpinus , and this may be correct. M. m. alpinus has been identified in high altitude grasslands in southeastern Papua New Guinea and in the Snow Mountains of Papua Province, Indonesia, overlapping the range of montanus. However, the entire complex of taxa needs to be re-examined, especially the anomalous mid-mountain form from Telefomin ( Gilliard and LeCroy, 1961: 48) that seems closest to the high-altitude alpinus.