Subspecies Chalcites lucidus plagosus (Latham, 1801)
- Cuculus plagosus Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [31] [based on the Glossy Cuckow 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] (138), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 76 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. (121); for identity of drawing, see Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; type locality restricted here to central coast of New South Wales because that region was the source of material for paintings of the Thomas Watling series, see 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].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (?lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 76 in BMNH), central coastal New South Wales (as Nova Hollandia). - Cuculus metallicus 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] [302] [no type locality specified except for reference to Australia and 'New Holland' in introduction of original publication—further restriction of type locality to New South Wales 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 revisers appears unjustified because the Linnean Society of London received material, via George Caley and Robert Brown, from New South Wales, Tasmania and perhaps elsewhere in southern Australia in the range of this species].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.63 unsexed adult, Australia (as New Holland)
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; 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 locality references:
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.; Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158-163 (cf. Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Mayr, E. 1932. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. XIX Notes on the Bronze Cuckoo Chalcites lucidus and its subspecies. American Museum Novitates 520: 1–9; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.); 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.Secondary source:
Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912]. - Chrysococcyx plagosus tasmanicus Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [17] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 626947 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 4633), Tasmania
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.Type locality references:
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 plagosus carteri Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [17] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 626949 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1465), Broome Hill, south 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.Type locality references:
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
- Mayr, E. 1932. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. XIX Notes on the Bronze Cuckoo Chalcites lucidus and its subspecies. American Museum Novitates 520: 1-9 [2]
Generic Combinations
- Chalcites lucidus plagosus (Latham, 1801). —
Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158-163 [159] - Chrysococcyx lucidus plagosus (Latham, 1801).
Distribution
States
New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Coastal and subcoastal E Australia, north to Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait islands—south to TAS and islands in Bass Strait (King Is., Furneaux group)—and inland to outer western footslopes of Great Dividing Range (Mitchell River, Georgetown, Springsure and Chinchilla, QLD, Moree, Gilgandra and Griffith, NSW) south-west to Murray Mallee and the South-East of SA, with outliers in Mt Lofty Range, Kangaroo Is., Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas, SA, and in SW Australia east to Esperance and north through Merredin and Morawa to Geraldton, rarely Carnarvon, WA—also non-breeding visitor at inland limits and across N Australia, including Stradbroke and Dunk Ils, QLD, Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait islands.
IBRA
NSW, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), 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), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), 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), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)
Ecological Descriptors
Arboreal, closed forest, diurnal, low open woodland, migratory, open forest, open heath, open scrub, tall forest, tall open shrubland, volant, woodland.
Extra Ecological Information
Arthropod-feeder, gregarious/randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary or in small groups during courtship and in loose flocks of 100 plus prior to migration, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying, taking insects and their larvae, flies swiftly and directly in shallow undulations, brood parasite parasitizing hosts building domed nests (mainly species of Acanthiza Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 and, to a lesser extent, Malurus Vieillot, 1816), lays plain olive-bronze eggs, disperses northwards on migration in Feb.-Mar. after breeding, reaching Lesser Sundas, New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago, and returning to breed in Aug.-Sept.
General References
Brooker, M. & Brooker, L. 1986. Identification and development of the nestling cuckoos, Chrysococcyx basalis and C. lucidus plagosus, in Western Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 13: 197-202 [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. (cf. Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240))] (nidification)
Brooker, M.G., Brooker, L.C. & Rowley, I. 1988. Egg deposition by the bronze-cuckoos Chrysococcyx basalis and Ch. lucidus. The Emu 88: 107-109 (nidification)
Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)
Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. The comparative breeding behaviour of two sympatric cuckoos, Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo Chrysococcyx basalis and the Shining Bronze-Cuckoo C. lucidus, in Western Australia: a new model for the evolution of egg morphology and host specificity in avian brood parasites. Ibis 131: 528-547 [Duncan, F.M. 1937. On the dates of publication of the Society's 'Proceedings', 1859–1926. With an appendix containing the dates of publication of 'Proceedings', 1830–1858, compiled by the late F.H. Waterhouse, and of the 'Transactions', 1833–1869, by the late Henry Peavot, originally published in P.Z.S. 1893, 1913. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 107: 71–84] (nidification)
Gill, B.J. 1983. Morphology and migration of Chrysococcyx lucidus, an Australasian cuckoo. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 10: 371-382 (movements, taxonomy)
Marchant, S. 1986. A note on brood parasitism by the Shining Bronze-Cuckoo. Australian Birds 20: 82-85 (nidification)
Mayr, E. 1932. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. XIX Notes on the Bronze Cuckoo Chalcites lucidus and its subspecies. American Museum Novitates 520: 1-9 (movements, taxonomy)