Subspecies Chalcites minutillus minutillus (Gould, 1859)
- Chrysococcyx minutillus Gould, J. 1859. In Proceedings of meetings of Zoological Society of London, March 22, 1859. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1859: 128-129 [128] [prior publication by Gould in Athenaeum 1639: 425 (26 Mar. 1859) and Literary Gazette (n.s.) 39: 406 (26 Mar. 1859), as recorded by Bruce, M.D. & McAllan, I.A.W. 1990. Some problems in vertebrate nomenclature. II. Birds. Part 1. Bollettino del Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali. Torino 8: 453–485, rejected here because (1) the description is inadequate (=nom. nud.), and (2) of existing usage under ICZN Art. 80(a), insofar as an application by the Standing Committee on Ornithological Nomenclature of the International Ornithological Committee has been submitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature for suppression of all Gould names for birds found after 1990 to have been first published in notices of meetings in the Literary Gazette, London, and Atheneum; hitherto Cuculus malayanus Raffles, 1822 applied as senior synonym for this species, see Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158–163; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Friedmann, H. 1968. The evolutionary history of the avian genus Chrysococcyx. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 265: 1–137; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp., but that name applies instead to Chalcites xanthorhynchus (Horsfield, 1821), according to Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 187: 1–56].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH 1881.5.1.1958 unsexed, Port Essington, NT (as Port Essington, on the north coast of Australia)
Comment: for identification of holotype, see Shelley, G.E. 1891. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Picariae-Cuculidae. London : British Museum Vol. 19 xii 484 pp. 13 pls (299); Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. - Chrysococcyx minutillus perplexus Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [38] [published anonymously; authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; male syntype apparently figured on plate 358 (lower figure) and described in detail on pp. 361–362 in Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 4 pp. 321–384 pls 352–362 [19 Dec. 1918]].
Type data:
Syntype(s) AMNH 626994 imm. (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Parry's Creek, north WA; AMNH 626995 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Parry's Creek, north WA
Comment: for identification of syntypes, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306. - Chrysococcyx minutillus melvillensis Zietz, F.R. 1914. The avifauna of Melville Island, Northern Territory. South Australian Ornithologist 1(1): 11-18 [14].
Type data:
Holotype SAMA B1288 ♂, Melville Island, NT (locality inferred, not specified)
Comment: for identification of holotype, see Condon, H.T. 1976. Vertebrate type-specimens in the South Australian Museum IV. Birds. Records of the South Australian Museum 17: 189–193; Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 187: 1–56.
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) 187: 1-56 [30-32]
Generic Combinations
- Chalcites (Chalcites) minutillus minutillus (Gould, 1859).
Distribution
States
Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Coastal and subcoastal N Australia, west to Broome, WA, east to south-east head of Gulf of Carpentaria (Normanton), QLD, and south inland to middle Fitzroy and Ord River drainages, WA, the middle Victoria River drainage, Mataranka, NT, and estuarine streams of south coast of Gulf of Carpentaria, NT, QLD—also off-shore islands of Buccaneer and Bonaparte Archipelagos, Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group and Wellesley.
IBRA
NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
- Queensland: N Gulf
- Western Australia: N coastal
Ecological Descriptors
Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, mangrove, open forest, sedentary, territorial, volant, woodland.
Extra Ecological Information
Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary or in dispersed sedentary pairs in monsoon scrubs, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying, taking insects and their larvae from leaves and branchlets of trees, flies directly in shallow undulations, breeding males appear to hold territories in natal area and court by insistent calling, chasing and courtship feeding, brood parasite, parasitizing mainly species of Gerygone Gould, 1841, lays plain olive-bronze eggs.
General References
Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)
Crawford, D.N. 1972. Birds of Darwin area, with some records from other parts of Northern Territory. The Emu 72: 131-148 (nidification, display)
Deignan, H.G. 1950. Notes on some forms of the genus Chalcites Lesson. The Emu 49: 167-168 (taxonomy)
Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (morphology, soft part colours, nidification)