Munia atricapilla novana Mathews

LeCroy, Mary, 2013, Type Specimens Of Birds In The American Museum Of Natural History Part 11. Passeriformes: Parulidae, Drepanididae, Vireonidae, Icteridae, Fringillinae, Carduelinae, Estrildidae, And Viduinae, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2013 (381), pp. 1-155 : 118

Munia atricapilla novana Mathews

Munia atricapilla novana Mathews, 1929: 91 (Utingu, Cape York, North Queensland).

Now considered an escaped cage bird. See Mayr et al, 1968: 380, fn.; Slater, 1975: 71, 265.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 720588 , adult sex?, collected at Utingu , Cape York , Queensland, Australia, on 8 August 1912, by Robin Kemp (no. 1389). From the Mathews Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: Mathews named this form after his collection had become the property of Rothschild; therefore, the type is said to be in the Rothschild Collection. I did not find it in Mathews’ catalog. However, he did receive four specimens of Lonchura castaneothorax collected at Utingu on 8 August 1912 by Kemp, and I see no reason to doubt the locality on Kemp’s label (contra Mayr, Mayr et al., 1968: 380, fn., although the specimen is referrable to L. a. atricapilla ). It is, however, probable that it was an escaped cage bird. Its feet are in fine condition and it shows no sign of having been recently in a cage, but the species is known to have been introduced in the Sydney area ( Hindwood and McGill, 1958: 107; Slater, 1975: 265) and cage birds might have been purchased in many places and carried widely.

According to Jack (1921: 739), Utingu was a coconut plantation on the mainland opposite Possession Island, 10.43S, 142.24E (USBGN, 1957).