Subspecies Apus (Apus) pacificus pacificus (Latham, 1801)

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CAVS: 8966

Subspecies Apus (Apus) pacificus pacificus (Latham, 1801)

Hirundo pacifica Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [58] [based on the New Holland Swallow in Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801] (259), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 217 (=216) in BMNH, see Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (144); Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII; for identity of drawing, see Strickland, H.E. 1843. Remarks on a collection of Australian drawings of birds, the property of the Earl of Derby. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 333–338; cf. Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; Cypselus vittatus Jardine & Selby, 1840 in Jardine, W. & Selby, P.J. 1843. Illustrations of Ornithology. Edinburgh : W.H. Lizars New Series Vol. 4 53 pls pp. [published between 1836–1843] (text to pl. 39), which was presumed to be based on a type of Australian origin (see Mathews, G.M. 1913. A List of the Birds of Australia containing the names and synonyms connected with each genus, species, and subspecies of birds found in Australia, at present known to the author. London : Witherby xxvii 453 pp., and subsequent revisions; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.), is excluded from the synonymy of this form here because its type is from Canton, China, see 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.].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 216 (as 217) in BMNH), New South Wales, probably region of Port Jackson (as Nova Hollandia).
Type locality references:
Latham, J. 1801. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. 120-140 pls. [publication dated as 1801 - see Schodde et al. (2010)] (cf. Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII).
Cypselus australis Gould, J. 1840. Letter to Chairman of the Scientific Committee, Zoological Society of London, read before meeting of the Society of Oct. 8, 1839. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1839: 139-145 [Date published Mar 1840: publication dated 1839] [141] [based on seven specimens collected by J. Gould on 8 and 22 Mar. 1839 on the upper Hunter River, NSW, including the property 'Yarrundi'; two apparent syntypes, male and female, figured on pl. 11 in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 2 104 pls pp. [Pt 17, Dec. 1844] and passed to ANSP later, see 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; although 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 did not accept them as type material, these specimens seem to be of those originally collected by Gould, judged from Gould's remarks in the text to pl. 11 in his Birds of Australia Vol. 2 (Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 2 104 pls pp. [Pt 17, Dec. 1844]) and the locality 'New South Wales' cited 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 when effecting lectotypification of that material, see ICZN Art. 74(a); for identification of another paralectotype in LIVCM, see Wagstaffe, R. 1978. Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums. Liverpool : Merseyside County Museums, Merseyside County Council 33 pp.].
Type data:
Lectotype ANSP 21752 ♀ (Verreaux Cat. no. 1036), upper Hunter River valley, NSW (as Upper Hunter).
Paralectotype(s) ANSP (no. unspecified, ex J. Gould coll.); LIVCM D.589.
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].
Type locality references:
Hindwood, K.A. 1938. John Gould in Australia. The Emu 38: 95-118.
Micropus colcloughi Mathews, G.M. 1915. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2: 123-133 [Date published 129] [129] [Mathews designated no type, leading 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 to treat AMNH 635411 (coll. M.J. Colclough from Cape York) and AMNH 635412–635417 (coll. R. Kemp from Cape York and Claudie River) as syntypes—nevertheless, the epithet colcloughi, the type locality 'Cape York' in the protologue, and the attachment of Mathews' type label to Colclough's specimen all indicate that Mathews based this subspecies on one specimen, AMNH 635411, see ICZN Art. 73(a)].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 635411 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Cape York, QLD.
Micropus pacificus tormenti Mathews, G.M. 1923. In Proceedings of meeting of British Ornithologists' Club, Oct. 10, 1923. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 44: 15 [15] [published without description but based by reference on a description of Apus pacificus (Latham, 1802) in Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts i–iv xii pp. 1–384 pls 325–362 [volume publication dated as 1918–1919; Publication of Pt 1 (4 Mar. 1918), Pt 2 (15 May 1918), Pt 3 (26 Aug.), Pt 4 (19 Dec 1918), Pt 5 (12 June 1919)], and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(1); the latter description was specified as drawn from a specimen collected by J.P. Rogers at Point Torment, WA, on 10 Mar. 1911 and figured on pl. 348 in Mathews, G.M. 1923. In Proceedings of meeting of British Ornithologists' Club, Oct. 10, 1923. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 44: 15; holotype not cited by 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—its details were provided by M.K. Le Croy (pers. comm.)].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 635433 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 8604), Point Torment, northwest Australia.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Vaurie, C. 1959. Systematic notes on palaearctic birds. No. 38 Alcedinidae, Meropidae, Upupidae and Apodidae. American Museum Novitates 1971: 1-25 [17]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

All Australia and offshore islands but scarce in central and south-western sectors, uncommon in TAS, irregular on Christmas Is., and straggling rarely to Norfolk, Lord Howe and Macquarie Ils.

Note that conversion of the original AFD map of states, drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones to IBRA and IMCRA regions may have produced errors. The new maps will be reviewed and corrected as updates occur. The maps may not indicate the entire distribution. See further details below.

IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones (map not available)

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21), Christmas Island Province (23), Macquarie Island Province (24)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Antarctic Region

Macquarie Island (Aust. Terr.)

Australian Region

Australia
- Lord Howe Island
- New South Wales
- Norfolk Island
- Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N coastal, W plateau
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
New Zealand

Oriental Region

Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)

Ecological Descriptors

Aerial, arthropod-feeder, diurnal, gregarious, migratory, nocturnal, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, non-breeding summer migrant, feeds in loose aerial flocks, circling in wide sweeps on fast-beating wings and swallow-like glides, sleeps normally on wing at non-breeding quarters, breeds from southern Siberia to Kamchatka south to Mongolia, central China, Sakhalin, Japan and Ryu Kyu Ils, enters Australia in broad front across north-west and north coasts in Oct. and leaves in Apr., summer visitor only to Torres Strait islands, rarely over-winters on Cape York Peninsula.