Species Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847
Black-eared Cuckoo
- Chalcites osculans Gould, J. 1847. On eight species of Australian birds; and on Anthus minimus Vig. and Hors., as the type of a new genus Chthonicola Gould. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1847: 31-35 [published Apr.] [32] [no type specified in original description—but Gould's account of this species eight months later in Gould, J. 1847. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Pt 29 in 4 104 pls pp. [published Dec. 1847, publication dated as 1848 Mathews, G.M. 1920. Dates of ornithological works. Austral Avian Records 4: 1–27 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.] (text to pl. 88) indicates that Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847 was based on the two specimens cited there as collected by him in New South Wales, 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, 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 designation of ANSP 20046 as type effects lectotypification under ICZN Art. 74(a) & (b), 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); types figured on pl. 88 in Gould, J. 1847. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Pt 29 in 4 104 pls pp. [published Dec. 1847, publication dated as 1848 Mathews, G.M. 1920. Dates of ornithological works. Austral Avian Records 4: 1–27 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.]; for their identification, 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].
Type data:
Lectotype ANSP 20046 unsexed adult (Verreaux cat. no. 1618), New South Wales.
Paralectotype(s) ANSP 20045 ♂ (Verreaux cat. no. unspecified).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:
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, Philadelphia 109: 123-246 (type locality cannot be restricted to 'Gundermein on the lower Namoi' River because it is not clear which of the types in ANSP came from there). - Misocalius palliolatus Cabanis, J. & Heine, F. 1863. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Halberstadt : R. Frantz Part 4 (1) 229 pp. [publication dated as 1862–1863] [16] [deliberate use of unidentifiable species-group name, Cuculus palliolatus Latham, 1802, in sense of Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847, and available as newly proposed in combination with a new genus-group name (Misocalius Cabanis & Heine, 1863) under ICZN Arts 11(i) and 70 (c) through reference to Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847 in protologue; type material includes specimens in both the Ferdinand Heine Museum and Gould collections 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 and 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 under Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847 (q.v.)].
Type data:
Syntype(s) MMH unsexed (ex F. Heine Museum), New South Wales (as West-Australien, Neu-Süd-Wales); ANSP 20045 ♂ (Verreaux cat. no. 1618 ex J. Gould coll.), New South Wales (as West-Australien, Neu-Süd-Wales); ANSP 20046 imm. adult (Verreaux cat. no. unspecified ex J. Gould coll.), New South Wales (as West-Australien, Neu-Süd-Wales). - Owenavis osculans rogersi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [13] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; holotype apparently figured on pl. 354 and described in detail on pp. 332–333 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:
Holotype AMNH 626236 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 8385), Point Torment, WA (as Parry's Creek, North-west Australia)
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.
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
Generic Combinations
- Chalcites (Misocalius) osculans Gould, 1847.
- Chrysococcyx osculans (Gould, 1847).
Distribution
States
New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Inland and subcoastal mainland Australia, north patchily to all north coast between Kimberley Division and Cape York Peninsula—east to western slopes and watersheds of Great Dividing Range, rarely straggling further east to coast—south to central VIC, Wimmera and Murray Mallee north of Grampians, the South-East, Murray River basin, Yorke and central Eyre Peninsulas, SA, and wheat belt of WA as far south-west as Bremer and Cheyne Bays, Lake Grace, Northam and N Swan River plain, WA—and west to west coast north of Swan River plain to Kimberley Division, WA—avoiding treeless deserts inland and dense, wet, forests of extreme south-west, south-east and east coasts—also present on off-shore islands along north coast and in Torres Strait as migrant or straggler to S New Guinea, Aru and Kai Ils and Moluccas.
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), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), 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)
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, W plateau
- Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
- South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal
- Tasmania
- Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
Ecological Descriptors
Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, desert, diurnal, low open shrubland, low open woodland, low shrubland, low woodland, nomadic, open forest, open scrub, sand hill desert, sand plain desert, solitary, tall open shrubland, tall shrubland, volant, woodland.
Extra Ecological Information
Partly migratory, randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, rarely in groups of 2–4 except during courtship, in mid to lower arboreal strata in drier inland woodlands, commonly perches on exposed bare branches, feeds on various insects and their larvae by perch-and-pounce sallying in low shrubbery and over open bare ground, flies directly in shallow undulations, breeding males advertise territory by protracted calling, zig-zag chases and tail-fanning, brood parasite parasitizing hosts that build domed nests, mainly Pyrrholaemus Gould, 1841 and Chthonicola Gould, 1847 (Acanthizidae), lays plain chocolate-red eggs, disperses in Feb.–Mar. after breeding to N Australia from Kimberley Division to Gulf of Carpentaria and islands immediately north, and returns to southern Australia in July–Aug. to breed, some individuals remain year-round.
General References
Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)
Lea, A.M. & Gray, J.T. 1935. The food of Australian birds. An analysis of the stomach contents. Part II. The Emu 35: 63-98 (diet)
Mason, I.J. in Schodde, R. & Tidemann, S.C. (consultant eds) 1986. Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds. Sydney : Reader's Digest 639 pp. (morphology, nidification, voice, behaviour, distribution)
Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)
Ryan, J.V. 1980. A study of the Black-eared Cuckoo. Bird Observer (Australia) No. 586 p. 90. (nidification)
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. (synonymy and specific limits)