Subspecies Cacomantis (Cacomantis) variolosus variolosus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

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CAVS: 8923

Subspecies Cacomantis (Cacomantis) variolosus variolosus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Cuculus variolosus Vigors, N.A. & Horsfield, T. 1827. A description of the Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 15: 170-331 [Date published 17 Feb 1827: publication dated 1826] [300] [as Variolosus; Cuculus pyrrophanus Vieillot, 1817 formerly used as senior synonym for this species, e.g., by Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.] and subsequent revisions; RAOU Checklist Committee, Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union 1926. Official Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union x 212 pp.—that name, however, applies to the New Caledonian form of Cacomantis flabelliformis (Latham, 1802), see Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; Amadon, D. 1942. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. L Notes on some non-passerine genera, 2. American Museum Novitates 1176: 1–21; for application of variolosus Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 to this taxon, see Hartert (loc. cit.), Mathews, G.M. 1911. On some necessary alterations in the nomenclature of birds. Pt II. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 1–22 [For publication date Mathews, G.M. 1913. New generic names, with some notes on others. Austral Avian Records 2: 55–62]].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.62 unsexed imm., Parramatta, NSW (as Paramatta)
Comment: for identification of holotype, 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.; cf. 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.
Cuculus insperatus Gould, J. 1845. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, March 25, 1845. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1845: 18-20 [published Apr.] [19] [no type specified in original description—but Gould's account of this species 20 months later in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 4 104 pls pp. (text to pl. 87, Pt 25, Dec. 1846) indicates that Cuculus insperatus Gould, 1845 was based on the two specimens described there, cf. 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; 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; accordingly, the designation 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 of ANSP 20032 as 'type' supersedes that of ANSP 20031 by 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 as a lectotypification under ICZN Art. 74(a) & (b); lectotype and paralectotype figured on pl. 87 in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 4 104 pls pp.].
Type data:
Lectotype ANSP 20032 ♂ adult (Verreaux cat. no. 1613), New South Wales.
Paralectotype(s) ANSP 20031 ♀ adult (Verreaux cat. no. 1614).
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:
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] (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).
Cuculus viridirufus Bonaparte, C.L. 1850. Conspectus Generum Avium. Tom. I. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill 543 pp. [Date published 24 Jun 1850] [103] [as viridi-rufus, and attributed to Temminck; published as synonym of Cuculus insperatus Gould, 1845, and unavailable under ICZN Art. 11(e), cf. Mathews, G.M. 1913. Additions and corrections to my Reference List. Austral Avian Records 2: 63–71].
Cuculus brisbanensis Diggles, S. 1876. Australian birds. Brisbane Courier 31(2874): 3 [Date published 5 Aug 1876] [3] [as Brisbanensis; also published in Diggles, S. 1878. Some new and rare species of birds. Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Queensland 2(appendiced pamplet): 9–12, see Mathews, G.M. 1912. Diggles's new species of Australian birds. Austral Avian Records 1: 68–72; Mathews, G.M. 1915. Diggles' Ornithology of Australia and other works. Austral Avian Records 2: 137–153; holotype not traced in QM by Ingram, G.J. 1987. Avian type specimems in the Queensland Museum. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 25: 239–254, but illustrated on p. 76 in volume 2 of drawings in the unpublished volume 4 of Diggles's Ornithology of Australia in the Mitchell Library, Sydney (cat no. A1525; notes A1526)].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost), Norman's Creek, Brisbane, QLD (as Norman's Creek)
Comment: for identity of holotype, see Mathews, G.M. 1915. Diggles' Ornithology of Australia and other works. Austral Avian Records 2: 137–153.
Type locality references:
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.; Ingram, G.J. 1987. Avian type specimens in the Queensland Museum. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 25: 239-254.
Cuculus westwoodia Mathews, G.M. 1913. Additions and corrections to my Reference List, Addenda. Austral Avian Records 1(8): 187-194 [Date published Jan.] [190].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 626052 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 14547), Westwood, near Rockhampton, QLD (as Central Queensland)
Comment: for identification of holotype and type locality, 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.
Type locality references:
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.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Mason, I.J. in Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1997. Aves (Columbidae to Coraciidae). In, Houston, W.W.K. & Wells, A. (eds). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia Vol. 37.2 xiii 440 pp. [232] (based on Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174 [166–170])

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal E Australia, north to Burdekin-Suttor Rivers, QLD, south to Gippsland and Dandenong Ranges, VIC, and inland to western slopes of Great Dividing Range (Belyando River, Carnarvon Range, Chinchilla, Bunya Mountains, QLD, Nandewar, Warrambungle, Hervey, and Brindabella Ranges and Snowy Mountains, NSW, and Strathbogie Ranges, VIC), straggling south to Otway Ranges and Ballarat, VIC—also north to Cape York Peninsula, Gulf of Carpentaria, islands in Torres Strait, S New Guinea, Aru and western Papuan Ils, and Moluccas on migration. Probably intergrades with C. v. dumetorum (Gould, 1845) through upper Burdekin River drainage and across Great Dividing Range there, QLD.

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, Qld, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

Australia
- New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
- Victoria

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, migratory, nomadic, open forest, tall forest, territorial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary or in dispersed pairs, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying from bare or open perches in mid and lower forest and woodland strata, taking caterpillars and other insects, flies in graceful undulations, breeding males hold territories in natal area, courting by insistent calling, displaying and courtship feeding, brood parasite parasitizing mainly species of flycatchers (Myiagra Vigors & Horsfield, 1827), fantails (Rhipidura Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) and robins (Petroica Swainson, 1830), its eggs mimicking those of these hosts, disperses northwards after breeding (Mar.-Apr.) and returns to breed in Sept.-Oct.