Moluccan Whistler Pachycephala macrorhyncha Scientific name definitions

Pachycephala melanura pelengensis Neumann, 1941, Zoologische Mededelingen uitgegeven door het Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie te Leiden 23:112.—Peleng. (8 Neumann, O. (1941). Neue Subspecies von Vögeln aus Niederländisch-Indien. Zoologische Mededeelingen Leiden 23:109–113. Close )

The type series of pelengensis collected by Johannes J. B. Menden (fl. 1927‒1941) is held in the Museums für Tierkunde, Staatlichen Naturhistorischen Sammlungen, Dresden: the holotype, a female collected 4 August 1938 (SMTD C44709), along with the following paratypes, a juvenile male, 21 July 1938 (SMTD C45451), male, 6 August 1938 (SMTD C45452), and male, 28 July 1938 (SMTD C45453), male, 21 July 1938 (SMTD C45454) (9 Eck, S., and C. Quaisser (2004). Verzeichnis der Typen der Vogelsammlung des Museums für Tierkunde in den Staatlichen Naturhistorischen Sammlungen Dresden. Zoologische Abhandlungen 54:233–316. Close ).

Endemic to the Banggai Islands (east of Sulawesi).

Subspecies pelengensis is relatively small; both sexes are similar to clio, but the female’s upperparts are more olive, and the underparts are deeper yellow.

Pachycephala clio Wallace, 1863, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1863(3):341.—“Sula Islands and Bouru” [= Sula Islands and Buru]. (10 Wallace, A. R. (1863). List of birds from the Sula Islands (east of Celebes), with descriptions of the new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1862(3):333–346. Close )

Known from multiple syntypes involving both sexes collected by Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) held in the Natural History Museum, Tring, of which one is an adult male taken in 1861 in the Sula Islands (NHMUK 1873.5.12.528) (11 Warren, R. L. M., and C. J. O. Harrison (1971). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 2: Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close ). Gadow (12 Gadow, H. (1883). Catalogue of the Birds of the British Museum. Volume 8. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close ) listed a total of eight specimens from the Sula Islands collected by Wallace along with six from Buru in the collection of the British Museum.

Galbraith (3 Galbraith, I. C. J. (1956). Variation, relationships and evolution in the Pachycephala pectoralis superspecies (Aves, Muscicapidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology 4:133–222. Close ) and, subsequently, Mayr (4 Mayr, E. (1967). Subfamily Pachycephalinae, whistlers or thickheads. In Check-list of Birds of the World, Volume 12 (R. A. Paynter, Editor), Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA. pp. 3–51. Close ) both considered that Hartert’s (13 Hartert, E. (1899). [Exhibition of six new species of birds from Buru]. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 8:31–33. Close ) comment “P. clio of the Sula Islands” in the original description of his Pachycephala melanura buruensis (see above) to represent a formal restriction of the type locality of Wallace’s taxon.

Endemic to the Sula Islands (east of Sulawesi).

Subspecies clio is small, like buruensis, but male has upperparts brighter and yellower, and female has throat whitish with darker barring, and underparts slightly washed yellow.

Pachycephala melanura buruensis E. Hartert, 1899, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 8:32.—Buru. (13 Hartert, E. (1899). [Exhibition of six new species of birds from Buru]. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 8:31–33. Close )

Hartert (13 Hartert, E. (1899). [Exhibition of six new species of birds from Buru]. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 8:31–33. Close ) did not designate a type in the original description, based on specimens collected by Dumas, nor did he (14 Hartert, E. (1900). The birds of Buru, being a list of collections made on that island by Messrs. William Doherty and Dumas. Novitates Zoologicae 7:226–242. Close ) provide such information in his general paper on the birds of Buru, which also included a collection made by Doherty. Eventually, however, Hartert (15 Hartert, E. J. O. (1920). Types of birds in the Tring Museum. B. Types in the general collection. Nectariniidae to Troglodytidae. Novitates Zoologicae 27:425–505. Close ) listed as the type of buruensis an adult male collected on “Mt. Mada,” [= Kapalatmada] 3,000 ft., during August–September 1898 by Joannes Maximiliaan Dumas (1856‒1931) (16 LeCroy, M., and Justin J. F. J. Jansen (2011). Joannes Maximiliaan Dumas, bird collector in the East Indies and New Guinea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 131(3):171–188. Close ). Because there are currently three specimens with identical label data in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, LeCroy (17 LeCroy, M. (2010). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 8. Passeriformes: Pachycephalidae, Aegithalidae, Remizidae, Paridae, Sittidae, Neosittidae, Certhiidae, Rhabdornithidae, Climacteridae, Dicaeidae, Pardalotidae, and Nectariniidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 333:1–178. Close ) selected AMNH 657483, which has an original Rothschild type label, to serve as the lectotype, with the following paralectotypes in the same collection: AMNH 657484–657486, adult males; and AMNH 657487, immature male.

Endemic to Buru.

Subspecies buruensis male has back dark greenish olive, uppertail-coverts black and very narrowly edged olive, primary coverts black, breast-band very narrow near ear-coverts; female has mantle dull brownish olive, faintly washed yellow, breast-band grayer and somewhat darker than throat and belly, belly buffy brown.

Pachycephala macrorhyncha Strickland, 1849, Contributions to Ornithology for 1849, p. 91-19, Plate 30.—Ambon Island. (18 Strickland, H. E. (1849). Pachycephala macrorhyncha. In Contributions to Ornithology for 1849 (W. Jardine, Editor), W. H. Lizars, Edinburgh. pp. 91-19 Close )

Strickland stated that “The specimen here figured, was purchased by E. Wilson, Esq., from M. Ed. Verreaux with the label–‘Pachycephala albicollaris, Amboina,’ attached”; it (the holotype) is now in the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University, Philadelphia (ANSP 15222) (19 Stone, W. (1899). A study of the type specimens of birds in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with a brief history of the collection. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia 51:5–62. Close ).

Synonym:
Pachycephala pectoralis alfurorum Stresemann, 1914, Novitates Zoologicae 21:132.—Mt. Sofia, 4,800 ft., Seram Island (20 Stresemann, E. (1914). Die Vögel von Seran (Ceram). Novitates Zoologicae 21:25–153, pls. 3–5. Close ). The holotype, an adult male collected on 14 June 1911 by Erwin Friedrich Theodor Stresemann (1889–1972) during the Second Freiburger Molukken-Expedition, is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 657506), along with 11 paratypes: AMNH 657501–657505, AMNH 657507–657510, AMNH 657512, and AMNH 657513, from Manusela, Mt. Sofia, Wahai, Mt. Hoale, and Orangebirge (17 LeCroy, M. (2010). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 8. Passeriformes: Pachycephalidae, Aegithalidae, Remizidae, Paridae, Sittidae, Neosittidae, Certhiidae, Rhabdornithidae, Climacteridae, Dicaeidae, Pardalotidae, and Nectariniidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 333:1–178. Close ). There an additional 11 paratypes (six males, five females) in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, all collected by Stresemann and F. K. Baron van Dedem (fl. early 1900s) between 27 April 1910 and 5 July 1911 (RMNH.AVES.14878–148881, RMNH.AVES.130247–130253) (21 Dekker, R. W. R. J., and C. Quaisser (2006). Type specimens of birds in the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden. Part 3. Passerines: Pachycephalidae-Corvidae (Peters’s sequence). NNM Technical Bulletin 9, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Leiden, the Netherlands. Close ), and Stresemann (20 Stresemann, E. (1914). Die Vögel von Seran (Ceram). Novitates Zoologicae 21:25–153, pls. 3–5. Close ) also mentioned specimens collected by William G. Stalker (1879‒1910) from Seram, of which there are four in the Natural History Museum, Tring, all collected in October and November 1909, and all said to be males (although two are in female-type plumage): NHMUK 1910.12.28.245, NHMUK 1910.12.28.246, NHMUK 1910.12.28.247, and NHMUK 1910.12.28.248 (G. M. Kirwan, pers. obs.).

Endemic to Seram and Ambon.

Subspecies macrorhyncha male has mantle brownish olive, uppertail-coverts black, throat feathers long (separating ear-coverts from breast-band), primary coverts black; female crown olive-brown, upperparts dull brown, throat whitish, breast grayish, breast and belly moderately washed yellow.

Pachycephala fusco-flava P. L. Sclater, 1883, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1883:198.—Larat. (22 Sclater, P.L. (1883). Additional notes on birds collected in the Timor-Laut, or Tenimbar, group of islands by Mr. Henry O. Forbes. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1883(2): 194–200, pls. 26–28. Close )

This name is based on two syntypes, an immature male and a female collected by Henry Ogg Forbes (1851–1932), held in the Natural History Museum, Tring, of which the former, taken on 15 September 1882, is NHMUK 1883.5.30.99 (11 Warren, R. L. M., and C. J. O. Harrison (1971). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 2: Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close ) and the latter collected on 11 August 1882 is NHMUK 1883.5.30.100 (G. M. Kirwan, pers. obs.).

Endemic to the Tanimbar Islands (Larat, Yamdena).

Subspecies fuscoflava is very large, male has collar very narrow, chin and throat yellow, breast and belly lemon-yellow; female has throat yellowish white, underparts slightly washed yellow.