Subspecies Ceyx azureus ruficollaris (Bankier, 1841)
- Alcyone ruficollaris Bankier, R.A. 1841. A new species of the Australian genus Alcyone. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 6: 394-395 [394] [applied in error to Todiramphus sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) by Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts 1–5 499 +xii pp. pls 325–370; Peters, J.L. 1945. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 5 xi 306 pp.; Wolters, H.E. 1975. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey xx 745 pp. [published between 1975–1982 Mathews, G.M. 1925. The Birds of Australia. Supplements 4 & 5. Bibliography of the Birds of Australia Pts 1 & 2. London : H.F. & G. Witherby viii 149 pp.]: see Hartert, E. 1930. III. List of the birds collected by Ernst Mayr. Novitates Zoologicae 36: 27–128 (99); Schodde, R. & Holyoak, D.T. 1977. Application of Halcyon ruficollaris Holyoak and Alcyone ruficollaris Bankier. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 97: 32, and applied to both this species and Todiramphus sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) by Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (ex R.A. Bankier coll.), Port Essington, NT. - Alcyone pulchra Gould, J. 1846. Descriptions of eleven new species of Australian birds. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1846: 18-21 [Date published July 1911: published May] [19] [lectotypification of Gould material in ANSP effected by Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129–180 under ICZN Art. 74(a), and accepted here on the likelihood that the specimen chosen was among those few available to Gould from Port Essington when he drew up his description of Alcyone pulchra, cf. Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109: 123–246].
Type data:
Lectotype ANSP 21237 ♀ (Verreaux cat. no. 649), Port Essington, NT.Subsequent designation references:
Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129-180 [Date published 28 Feb 1913]. - Alcyone azurea alisteri 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] [37] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; holotype figured on pl. 332 and described in detail on pp. 85–86 in Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 1 pp. 1–112 pls 325–336 [4 Mar. 1918]].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 636824 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1250), Parry's Creek, near Wyndham, north WA
Comment: for identification of holotype, 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.
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1976. Infra-specific variation in Alcedo azurea Latham (Alcedinidae). The Emu 76: 161-166 [164]
Distribution
States
Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Coastal N Australia and inland along north-draining streams, west to middle Fitzroy and Ord Rivers, Kimberley Division, WA, and east via Victoria, Roper and Gulf of Carpentaria river systems NT, QLD, to Cape York Peninsula, south-east to region of Princess Charlotte Bay (Stewart River)—also offshore islands: Augustus in Kimberley Division, Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group, and SW islands in Torres Strait (?subspecies)—may reach Tanimbar, Romang and Babar in Banda Sea. Intergrades with A. a. azurea (Latham, 1802) on central east coast of Cape York Peninsula south from Princess Charlotte Bay to about Endeavour River, QLD.
IBRA
NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
- Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal, NE oceanic
- Western Australia: N coastal
Ecological Descriptors
Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, estuary, lentic freshwater, littoral, lotic freshwater, mangrove, nomadic, open forest, piscivore, resident, swamp, tall forest, territorial, volant.
Extra Ecological Information
Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, piscivore, arthropod-feeder on sheltered waterways, solitary or in dispersed pairs, feeds by diving from vantage perches low over water, nests in tunnels in banks beside water.
General References
Hartert, E. 1924. Types of birds in the Tring Museum. B. Types in the general collection. IV. Novitates Zoologicae 31: 112-134 (dispersal)
Ingram, G. 1976. Birds from some islands of the Torres Strait. Sunbird 7: 67-76 (distribution)
Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1976. Infra-specific variation in Alcedo azurea Latham (Alcedinidae). The Emu 76: 161-166 (plumages, age classes, distribution, taxonomy)
Thompson, H.A.F. 1984. The status of kingfishers and their allies (Coraciiformes) in the Darwin area, N.T., 1974 to 1982. Northern Territory Naturalist 7: 18-29 (distribution, habitat, status)
History of changes
Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
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12-Feb-2010 | (import) |