• Cuculinae.

History of changes

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subgeneric Arrangement

• 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. [230] (based, for recognition of subgenus Vidgenia Mathews, 1918, on 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)]; also for generic limits, on Devillers, P. 1977. Projet de Nomenclature française des Oiseaux du Monde 4. Musophagidés aux Coliidés. Gerfaut 67: 337–365; Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp.; and except for exclusion of C. sonneratii (Latham, 1790) 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. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 2, 81–160 pp.)

Distribution

States

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

IBRA

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

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
• Indonesia
  • Aru Islands

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Delacour, J. 1951. Commentaires, modifications et additions à la liste des oiseaux de l'Indochine française (II). Oiseau et la Revue Française d'Ornithologie 21: 1-32, 80-119 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Mayr, E. 1964. On the taxonomy of Cuculus pallidus (Latham). The Emu 64: 41 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement implied)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

History of changes

• Cacomantis Müller, S. 1843. Land-en Volken Kunde, No. 6. pp. 161–192 in, Verhandlingen over de Natuurlijke Geschiedenis der Nederländsche Overzeesche Berittingen. Leiden : Natuurkundige Commissie in Öost-Indië en anderen Schrijuers. 472 pp. [177] [Cuculus inornatus Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 (=Cuculus pallidus (Latham, 1802)) incorrectly designated as type species by Gray, G.R. 1855. Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum 192 pp., see Cabanis, J. & Heine, F. 1863. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Pt 4 sect. 1. Halberstadt : R. Frantz 229 pp. [publication dated as 1862–1863]; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; designation of Cuculus flavus Gmelin, 1788 as type species commonly attributed to Salvadori, T. 1880. Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. Parte Prima. Torino : G.B. Paravia & Co. xii 573 pp. or 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, for example, by 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.; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.—however, the statement in a footnote by Cabanis & Heine (loc. cit.), 'uns gilt als solcher weder der doch wenigstens von Müller erwähtne C. fasciolatus, noch gar diese von demselben nicht einmal mit aufgeführte Art, sondern der gewiss nicht ohne Absicht von ihm vorangestellte C. flavus Gm.', satisfies the provisions for designation under ICZN Art. 69(a)(iv)].

  Type species:

   Cuculus flavus Gmelin, 1788 by subsequent designation, see 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] (=Cacomantis merulinus (Scopoli, 1786)).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

India, Sri Lanka and south-east Asia to Malesian archipelagos and Papuasia as far as Solomon Ils.

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: N coastal

Distribution References

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• 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. [231] (based on Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174 [166–170])

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

In ACT uncommon breeding summer migrant

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: N coastal

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 (subspecific arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

Mayr, E. 1941. List of New Guinea Birds. A Systematic and Faunal List of the Birds of New Guinea and Adjacent Islands. New York : American Museum of Natural History xi 260 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

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. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement subspecies)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

History of changes

• Cuculus dumetorum 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 form (as synonym) 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 Stone's selection of a type in ANSP bearing the locality 'Port Essington' is probably valid and effects lectotypification under ICZN Art. 74(a), see 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; 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; the prior name tymbonomus S. Müller, 1843 (type locality: Timor), has been applied in error to this form by Junge, G.C.A. 1937. The birds of south New Guinea Part 1 Non Passeres. Nova Guinea ns 1: 125–188; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; White, C.M.N. 1977. Notes on some non-passerine birds of Wallacea. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 97: 99–103; White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. [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. Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1913. Notes on Billberg's Synopsis Faunae Scandinaviae. Austral Avian Records 2: 33–48]; cf. Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. who confuses dumetorum Gould, 1845 with it nomenclaturally—the holotype of tymbonomus S. Müller, 1843, however, is referable to an endemic long-tailed subspecies on Timor, as appreciated by Mayr, E. 1944. The birds of Timor and Sumba. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 83: 123–194].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 20028 ♂ adult (Verreaux cat. no. 1616), Port Essington, NT (as Port Essington, Australia).
  Paralectotype(s) whereabouts unknown.

  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].
• Cacomantis lineatus Dodd, A.P. 1913. Description of a new cuckoo. The Emu 12: 165-166 [165] [although Greenway records that the holotype was taken on an unknown date by an unknown collector, the protologue makes it clear that it was collected by A.P. Dodd in the first week of Sept., 1912; for taxonomic identity of holotype, see Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; cf. 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 626048 imm. (ex G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Nelson, within 12 miles of Cairns, QLD
  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.
• Cacomantis pyrrophanus vidgeni Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 4 pp. 321-384 pls 352-362. [Date published 19 Dec. 1918] [326] [as Cacomantis pyrrhophanus vidgeni; holotype collected on 17 Apr. 1912, on which date the collector, W.R. MacLennan, was at Lockerbie, see MacGillivray, W. 1914. Notes on some North Queensland Birds. Emu 13: 132–186].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 626037 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Lockerbie, Cape York Peninsula, QLD (as Cape York)
  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:

  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. [233] (from itinery of collector, see MacGillivray, W. 1914. Notes on some North Queensland Birds. Emu 13: 132–186).

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. [233] (based on Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174 [166–170])

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal N Australia, west to King Sound, Kimberley Division—east to Cape York Peninsula and north-east coastal QLD—and south inland to Fitzroy, upper Ord and Negri River drainages, WA, the upper Victoria River drainage, Mataranka, McArthur River and gulf drainage, NT, and the lower Nicholson, Leichhardt and Norman Rivers, Gregory-Newcastle Range, and upper Burdekin River drainage, QLD, probably intergrades locally with C. v. variolosus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)—also off-shore islands: Buccaneer and Bonaparte Archipelagos, WA, Melville-Bathurst Ils, Groote Eylandt, and Sir Edward Pellew group, NT, and Wellesley Ils and islands in south Torres Strait, 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)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • Western Australia: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary or in dispersed sedentary pairs, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying on caterpillars and insects, flies in graceful undulations, brood parasite parasitizing honeyeaters, mainly Ramsayornis fasciatus (Gould, 1843) and R. modestus (G.R. Gray, 1858) whose eggs it mimics in east, also Melithreptus albogularis Gould, 1848, Conopophila rufogularis (Gould, 1843), and species of Rhipidura Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 and Myiagra Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 whose eggs it mimics in west.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

History of changes

• 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.

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.

General References

Beruldsen, G.R. 1978. The eggs of the Brush Cuckoo—Cacomantis variolosus. Australian Bird Watcher 7: 281-282 (nidification)

Blakers, M., Davies, S.J.J.F. & Reilly, P.N. 1984. The Atlas of Australian Birds. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press/Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xlvi 738 pp. (nidification, population density, distribution)

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Campbell, A.J. 1898. Notes on the Square-tailed Cuckoo. Victorian Naturalist 15: 18-20 (nidification)

Draffan, R.D.W., Garnett, S.T. & Malone, S.J. 1983. Birds of the Torres Strait: an annotated list and biogeographical analysis. The Emu 83: 207-234 (distribution)

Marchant, S. 1981. The breeding season at Moruya, New South Wales. Corella 5: 19-25 (nidification)

North, A.J. 1912. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney : Australian Museum Spec. Cat. 1 Vol. 3 vii 362 pp. (morphology, nidification, behaviour)

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, distribution)

History of changes

• Vidgenia Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 3 pp. 217-320 pls 343-351. [Date published 26 Aug. 1918: volume dated as 1918–1919] [311] [published without description but based by reference on Cacomantis castaneiventris Gould, 1867 and available on p. 311 of protologue under ICZN Art. 12(b)(5); published with description on p. 327 of 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 species:

   Cuculus castaneiventris Gould, 1867 by monotypy.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 4 pp. 321-384 pls 352-362. [Date published 19 Dec. 1918].
• Heteroscenes 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] [26] [published without description but based by reference on Columba pallida Latham, 1802 and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(5)].

  Type species:

   Columba pallida Latham, 1801 by monotypy.

Introduction

Heteroscenes included here, after Christidis and Boles (2008: 159), but see Schodde and Mason (1997: 227) for alternative arrangement.

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

New Guinea and satellite islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Ils, Vanuatu, Fiji, Loyalty Ils, New Caledonia.

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), 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), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), 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), Tanami (TAN), 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)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
• Indonesia
  • Aru Islands

Distribution References

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp.

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.

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. [26]

Distribution

States

Queensland

IBRA

Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
• Indonesia
  • Aru Islands

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164-174 (subspecific arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (subspecific arrangement and subsequent revisions)

Mayr, E. 1941. List of New Guinea Birds. A Systematic and Faunal List of the Birds of New Guinea and Adjacent Islands. New York : American Museum of Natural History xi 260 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

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. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (subspecific arrangement)

History of changes

• Cuculus castaneiventris Gould, J. 1867. On two new birds from eastern Australia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 3 20: 269-270 [published Oct.] [269] [as Cuculus (Cacomantis) castaneiventris, with type unspecified; published almost simultaneously in Gould, J. 1869. The Birds of Australia. Supplement. London : J. Gould 81 pls pp. [Pt 3, 1859] (text to pl. 55), the single specimen figured there being part of the type 'series' and probably the holotype—collected by J. Jardine, that specimen came from the region of Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, cf. Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp.].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1881.5.1.6315 unsexed adult, Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, QLD (as Cape-York district of Queensland, eastern Australia)
  Comment: for identification of type material, 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:

  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. [234] (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; 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.).
• Vidgenia yorki Mathews, G.M. 1922. Additions and corrections. Austral Avian Records 5: 1-9 [4] [based on an immature male; published without description but based by reference on a previously published description, and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(1): first described in Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 4 xii 499 pp. pls 325–499 [19 Dec. 1918] (329); for identification of holotype, see Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174, cf. 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 (where omitted); holotype figured on pl. 366 (upper figure) in Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 4 xii 499 pp. pls 325–499 [19 Dec. 1918]].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH no. unspecified ♂ imm. (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Cape York, QLD.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. [26]

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

NE Cape York Peninsula between Jardine River in north and Bloomfield River in south—also Booby Is. in Torres Strait and ?Aru Ils.

IBRA

Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
• Indonesia
  • Aru Islands

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, sedentary, tall forest, territorial, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

(randomly dispersed), seasonal breeder, solitary or in pairs, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying in low shrubbery and forest understorey, and at times on the forest floor, taking caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers, brood parasite parasitizing mainly Sericornis beccarii Salvadori, 1874 in Australia (G. Beruldsen, pers. comm.).

General References

Blakers, M., Davies, S.J.J.F. & Reilly, P.N. 1984. The Atlas of Australian Birds. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press/Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xlvi 738 pp. (distribution, including unconfirmed records)

Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Non-Passerines. Alderley, Qld : Dove Publications Vol. 1 464 pp. 493 pls. (morphology, voice)

Draffan, R.D.W., Garnett, S.T. & Malone, S.J. 1983. Birds of the Torres Strait: an annotated list and biogeographical analysis. The Emu 83: 207-234 (unconfirmed distribution)

MacGillivray, W. 1918. Ornithologists in North Queensland. The Emu 17: 63-87, 145-148, 180-212 [published between 1917–1918] (behaviour, habitat)

Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts 1-5 499 +xii pp. pls 325-370. (morphology, distribution, habitat, nomenclature)

Officer, H.R. 1967. In the footsteps of McLennan and Barnard at Cape York. The Emu 66: 279-287 (behaviour)

Rothschild, W. & Hartert, E. 1907. Notes on Papuan birds. Novitates Zoologicae 14: 433-446 (distribution)

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• Mason, I.J. 1982. The identity of certain early Australian types referred to the Cuculidae. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 102: 99-106 [105, nomenclature] (based on Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174)

Distribution

States

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

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), 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), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), 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), Tanami (TAN), 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)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

General References

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 (subspecific arrangement)

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

Mayr, E. 1941. List of New Guinea Birds. A Systematic and Faunal List of the Birds of New Guinea and Adjacent Islands. New York : American Museum of Natural History xi 260 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

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. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (subspecific arrangement; usually as Cacomantis pyrrhophanus =pyrrophanus (Vieillot, 1817))

History of changes

• Cuculus flabelliformis Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [30] [based on the Fan-tailed 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. 75 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.; 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; Mason, I.J. 1982. The identity of certain early Australian types referred to the Cuculidae. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 102: 99–106 [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 application of name over Sylvia rubricata Latham, 1802 through action of first reviser (ICZN Art. 24), and for appraisal of relevant nomenclature, see Mason (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.]; cf. North, A.J. 1906. Remarks on the names of some Australian birds. Ibis 8 6: 53–57 [Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1915. On the ornithology of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles (Levrault). Austral Avian Records 3: 5–20 [Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440]]; 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]; Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; Hartert, E. 1926. Answer to the "Remarks on 'Review of the genus Cacomantis'". Novitates Zoologicae 33: 55–56; 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; identity of Thomas Watling drawing no. 75 questioned because its grey breast band is anomalous in this species—but this anomaly probably caused by turning of head of specimen being drawn through 360 deg., reversing part of mantle on to breast; specimen since lost with other specimens drawn by artists of Australian First Fleet settlement—because of its disputed identity, a neotype from the type locality is chosen here, with the approval of the RAOU Taxonomic Advisory Committee].

  Type data:

   Neotype AM O.20641 ♀ adult, Sydney, NSW (as Nova Hollandia).

  Subsequent designation references:

  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. [236].
• Sylvia rubricata Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [55] [based on the Ruddy Warbler 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] (249), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawings nos. 202 and 203 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.; 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]; for application and juniority of name with respect to Cuculus flabelliformis Latham, 1802, and for appraisal of relevant nomenclature, see Mason, I.J. 1982. The identity of certain early Australian types referred to the Cuculidae. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 102: 99–106 [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. 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]; Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2–22; Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; Hartert, E. 1926. Answer to the "Remarks on 'Review of the genus Cacomantis'". Novitates Zoologicae 33: 55–56; although Thomas Watling drawing no. 202 is an unexceptionable figure of this species, drawing no. 203 represents Eopsaltria australis (Shaw, 1790), as pointed out by 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., and may represent the type of Sylvia flavigastra Latham, 1802; to tie rubricata Latham, 1802 to the present species, the specimen represented by Watling drawing no. 202 is chosen here as lectotype; type locality restricted here to the central coast of NSW because that region was the source of material for the 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:

   Lectotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 202 in BMNH), central coastal New South Wales (as Nova Hollandia).
  Paralectotype(s) whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 203 in BMNH).

  Subsequent designation references:

  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. [236].

  Type locality references:

  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. [236].
• Cuculus rufulus Vieillot, L.P. 1817. Coucou. pp. 202–238 in Nouveau Dictionaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'Agriculture, à l'Économie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une Société de Naturalistes et d'Agriculteurs. Nouvelle Édition Paris : Déterville. [234] [for application of name and appraisal of relevant nomenclature, see Mason, I.J. 1982. The identity of certain early Australian types referred to the Cuculidae. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 102: 99–106 [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.]; also 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; North, A.J. 1906. Remarks on the names of some Australian birds. Ibis 8 6: 53–57 [Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1915. On the ornithology of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles (Levrault). Austral Avian Records 3: 5–20 [Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440]]; cf. 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]; Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2–22; Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; Hartert, E. 1926. Answer to the "Remarks on 'Review of the genus Cacomantis'". Novitates Zoologicae 33: 55–56; 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; because of the disputed identity of the two syntypes (originally in H. Baillon coll. and now evidently lost), a neotype is chosen here, with the approval of the RAOU Taxonomic Advisory Committee, to settle application of name].

  Type data:

   Neotype ANWC 14401 ♂ imm., c. 8 km northeast of Branxton, NSW (as Nouvelle-Hollande).

  Subsequent designation references:

  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. [236].
• Cuculus prionurus Lichtenstein, H. 1823. Verzeichniss der Doubletten des zoologischen Museums der Königl. Universität zu Berlin nebst Beschreibung vieler bisher unbekannter Arten von Säugethieren, Vögelin, Amphibien und Fischen. Berlin : Königl. Universität x 118 pp. [9] [attributed to Illiger, ?ms.; also as incorrect subsequent spelling, prionulus by 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; type locality restricted to Sydney by Mathews, G.M. 1926. Remarks on 'Review of the genus Cacomantis'. Novitates Zoologicae 33: 53–54, but without evidence].

  Type data:

   Holotype ZMB, New South Wales (as Nov. Cambr. austr.)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see Hartert, E. 1926. Answer to the "Remarks on 'Review of the genus Cacomantis'". Novitates Zoologicae 33: 55–56.
• Cuculus cineraceus 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] [298] [as Cineraceus; also as incorrect subsequent spelling, cinerascens by Gray, G.R. 1849. The Genera of Birds: comprising their generic characters, a notice of the habits of each genus, and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera. London : Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans 3 Vols 669 pp. CLXXXV pls [published between 1844–1849 Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.] (p. 463 in Vol. 2 pp. iv 301–483, pls. LXX111–CXX, 1847); based both on material in Linnean Society of London coll. (now in BMNH), and on the Barred-tailed Cuckoo of Latham, J. 1822. A General History of Birds. Winchester : J. Latham Vol. III 416 pp. pls 38–59 (p. 310, no. 65)—latter name based on adults and immatures, two of which were in the possession of M. de Fichtel and are possibly now in NHMW, see von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14–54; 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.—lectotype chosen from them here to fix the type locality].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH 1863.7.7.60a ♂ adult, Parramatta, NSW (as 'Paramatta').
  Paralectotype(s) BMNH no. unspecified ♀ adult; NHMW unsexed (institution uncertain); NHMW unsexed (institution uncertain)
  Comment: for identification of syntypes in BMNH, 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;.

  Subsequent designation references:

  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. [237].

  Type locality references:

  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] [301] (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.]; Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; 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.).
• Cuculus incertus 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] [299] [as Incertus].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.61 unsexed, Parramatta, NSW (as Paramatta)
  Comment: for identification of type material, 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:

  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] [301] (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; Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171–455 [publication dated Jan. 1912, published 31 Jan.]; Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164–174; 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.).
• Cuculus rubricatus athertoni Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [11] [published anonymously, authorship credited in Austral. Avian Rec. 1: 65; although syntypes assumed 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, the original description quotes only one specimen as type, no. 9333 in G.M. Mathews' collection; this number, not cited by Greenway (loc. cit.), is presumed to belong to AMNH 626085 as quoted by Greenway].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH ?626085 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 9333), Barron River, north QLD (as Atherton, North Queensland.

  Type locality references:

  Hartert, E. 1925. Review of the genus Cacomantis Müll. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 164-174 (although 'Atherton' is quoted as type locality in the original description, 'Barron River' is given on the specimen label).
• Cuculus rubricatus albani Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [12] [published anonymously, authorship credited in Austral. Avian Rec. 1: 65; holotype figured on pl. 351 (bottom) and described in detail on p. 313 in Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 3 pp. 217–320 pls 343–351 [26 Aug. 1918, volume dated as 1918–1919]].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 626070 ♂ adult (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1416), Albany, 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.
• Cacomantis rubricatus eyrei Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 3 pp. 217-320 pls 343-351. [Date published 26 Aug. 1918: volume dated as 1918–1919] [320] [although syntypes 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, the original description states 'the type is a male from Eyre's Peninsula … collected on the 25th Aug., 1911'—this specimen (holotype) is presumed to be the first syntype quoted by Greenway (loc. cit.)—only if Greenway's second cited specimen, AMNH 626120, was also collected on Eyre Peninsula on 25 Aug. 1911 is there a case for accepting syntypes].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 626118 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified; institution uncertain), Warunna (=Warunda ?) Creek, Eyre Peninsula, SA (as Eyre Peninsula, South Australia).

  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

• Mason, I.J. 1982. The identity of certain early Australian types referred to the Cuculidae. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 102: 99-106 [105]

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal E and S Australia, north to Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait islands (passage migrant)—south to TAS and islands in Bass Strait (King Is., Furneaux group)—south-west to SW WA, north to the Murchison River (Mt Curious)—and inland in east to W footslopes of Great Dividing Range system (Georgetown, Hughenden, Barcaldine, Charleville, QLD, and Bourke, Griffith-Cocoparra Range, NSW), and in south to Murray-Darling River system and adjacent mallee, Mt Lofty-Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula north to Gawler Ranges and Ceduna, SA, and to a line from Eyre and Norseman through Merredin and Morawa to the Murchison River drainage, WA—also Dunk, Brampton, Fraser, Peel, Bribie, Moreton, Stradbroke, Kangaroo and Rottnest Ils, inter alia—non-breeding visitor at northern and inland limits, including Cape York Peninsula, Groote Eylandt (once), Aru Ils, and Trans-Fly region of S New Guinea.

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), 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), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), 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), Tanami (TAN), 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)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary, rarely in small groups, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying from bare or open perches in mid and lower stages of forest and woodland, taking caterpillars and other insects from foliage and ground, flies in graceful undulations, elevates tail on alighting, brood parasite parasitizing mainly species of Acanthiza Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 and Sericornis Gould, 1837 (Acanthizidae), evidently contracting southwards and coastwards to breed in Aug.-Jan. and dispersing northwards and inland in autumn-winter, with some birds remaining in breeding range—movements not well understood.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Campbell, A.J. 1898. Notes on the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. Victorian Naturalist 14: 100-104 (nidification)

Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (morphology, distribution, taxonomy)

Marchant, S. & Höhn, E.O. 1980. Field notes on the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. The Emu 80: 77-80 (morphology, nidification, voice, behaviour)

Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts 1-5 499 +xii pp. pls 325-370. (morphology, nidification, behaviour, history)

Mees, G.F. 1982. Birds from the lowlands of southern New Guinea (Merauke and Koembe). Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) 191: 1-188 4 pls (extralimital distribution)

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)

Smedley, D.I. 1983. Mating of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo. Corella 7: 43 (nidification)

History of changes

• Chalcites Lesson, R.P. 1830. Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux. Paris : F.G. Levrault Vol. 1 xxxii 659 pp., Vol. 2 (Atlas) xii 119. [Date published July 1830: Livr. 3, July 1830, dated 1831; Livr. 6 published 1831] [152] [livr. 2; validly applied at generic level, see Mathews (1918) cf. Mathews (1912); type species, Cuculus chalcites Temminck, 1821, has been identified with various species of both Chalcites Lesson, 1830 and Chrysococcyx Boie, 1826 by Shelley (1891), Mathews (1912, 1918), Hartert & Stresemann (1925) and RAOU Checklist Committee (1926), however, Temminck based Cuculus chalcites on male and female specimens, the latter being illustrated on plate 102, fig. 2 in Temminck & Laugier de Chartrouse (1838), that female (almost certainly in RMNH) is identifiable with Chalcites lucidus (Gmelin, 1788), and is chosen here as lectotype of Cuculus chalcites Temminck, 1821 to stabilize the application of Chalcites Lesson, 1830, cf. Mathews, G.M. 1918.].

  Type species:

   Cuculus chalcites Temminck, 1821 by absolute tautonymy (=Chalcites lucidus (Gmelin, 1788)).

  Secondary source:

   Temminck, C.J. & Laugier de Chartrouse, M. 1838. Nouveau Recueil de Planches Coloriées d'Oiseaux, pour servir de suite et de complément aux planches enluminées de Buffon. Paris : G. Levrault 102 livr. in 5 vols pp. [Date published Apr. 1822]; 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.; Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22; Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 4 pp. 321-384 pls 352-362. [Date published 19 Dec. 1918]; Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158-163; RAOU Checklist Committee, Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union 1926. Official Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union x 212 pp.
• Lamprococcyx 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] [11] [published without description but based by reference on five nominal species, including nominated type species, Cuculus lucidus Gmelin, 1788, and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(5); type species misidentified as Cuculus cupreus Boddaert, 1783 (=Chrysococcyx caprius (Boddaert, 1783)) by 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 (280); Lampromorpha Vigors, 1831 (type species: L. chalcopepla Vigors, 1831 (=Chrysococcyx caprius (Boddaert, 1783)) also misapplied here by Cabanis & Heine (loc. cit.), with Cuculus plagosus Latham, 1802 cited as type species by Salvadori, T. 1880. Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. Parte Prima. Torino : G.B. Paravia & Co. xii 573 pp. (345), see Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2–22 (5)].

  Type species:

   Cuculus lucidus Gmelin, 1788 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Salvadori, T. 1880. Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. Parte Prima. Torino : G.B. Paravia & Co. xii 573 pp.; 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.; Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22.
• Heterococcyx Salvadori, T. 1874. Catalogo sistematico degli uccelli di Borneo con note ed osservazioni di G. Doria ed O. Beccari intorno alle specie da essi raccolte nel ragioto di Sarawak. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genova 5: 61 [61] [type species identified with Chalcites basalis (Horsfield, 1821) by Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp., but redetermined as either C. minutillus cleis (Parker, 1981) or C. m. aheneus Junge, 1938 by S.A. Parker (pers. comm.); the type of Cuculus neglectus Schlegel, 1864 is a juvenile].

  Type species:

   Cuculus neglectus Schlegel, 1864 by monotypy (=Chalcites minutillus (Gould, 1859)).

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.
• Neochalcites Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [7] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; also published without description but based by reference on the described subspecies Chrysococcyx basalis mellori Mathews, 1912 and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(5) and (6)].

  Type species:

   Chrysococcyx basalis mellori Mathews, 1912 by original designation.
• Chrysococcyx Boie, J.F. 1826. Generalüebersicht der ornithologischen Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen. Isis von Oken, Jena 19(10): 969-982 [Date published Oct 1826] [977].
• Misocalius 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] [also as incorrect subsequent spellings, Mesocalius by Gould, J. 1865. Handbook to the Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 viii + 636 pp. [For publication date 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.] (621) and Nisocalius by Gray, G.R. 1870. Hand-list of Genera and Species of Birds, distinguishing those contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2 xv 278 pp. (218); published without description but based by reference on nominal species and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(5)—although the senior specific synonym cited by Cabanis & Heine (Cuculus palliolatus Latham, 1802) is now regarded as unidentifiable, Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847 was also quoted in its synonymy, clarifying application of type species under ICZN Art. 70(c)].

  Type species:

   Misocalius palliolatus Cabanis & Heine, 1863 by monotypy (Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847 non Cuculus palliolatus Latham, 1802).

  Secondary source:

   Gould, J. 1865. Handbook to the Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 viii 636 pp. [Date published Sep 1865]; Gray, G.R. 1870. Hand-list of genera and species of birds, distinguishing those contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum Part 2 pp. xv +278.
• Owenavis Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [3] [nom. nov. for Misocalius Cabanis & Heine, 1863, assumed unidentifiable and unavailable; published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].

  Type species:

   Chalcites osculans Gould, 1847 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. [114]

Introduction

Hughes (2000) proposed merger of Chrysococcyx, Chalcites and Misocalius. See Schodde & Mason 1997 for further information on the taxonomic history of this genus.

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Malay Peninsula, Malesian archipelagos, Papuasia to Solomon Ils, Vanuatu, Fiji, Loyalty Ils, New Caledonia, New Zealand.

IBRA

ACT, 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)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Lord Howe Island
  • New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, N coastal, 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

Distribution References

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp.

Hughes, J.M. 2000. Monophyly and phylogeny of cuckoos (Aves, Cuculidae) inferred from osteological characters. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 130: 263-307

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.

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (subgeneric arrangement within Chalcites)

History of changes

• Cuculus basalis Horsfield, T. 1821. Systematic arrangement and description of birds from the island of Java. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 133-200 [179].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1880.1.1.4773 unsexed adult, Java
  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.
• Sylvia versicolora Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [56] [also as incorrect subsequent spelling, versicolor by Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; based on the Variable Warbler 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] (250), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 155 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. (137); for identity of drawing, 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; cf. Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; 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; 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; Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801]; Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2–22; and 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. (Appendix B): its dull-barred ventrum, cream-grey iris and wash of rufous in the base of the tail identify it with female Chalcites basalis (Horsfield, 1821); although senior to basalis Horsfield, 1821, versicolora Latham, 1802 has never been employed as the senior synonym for any species of bronze-cuckoo—accordingly, it is not taken up here because, under ICZN Art. 80, it has been referred, by the Standing Committee on Ornithological Nomenclature of the Ornithological Committee, to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature for suppression under Art. 79 as an unused senior synonym; 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. 155 in BMNH), central coastal New South Wales (as Nova Hollandia).

  Type locality references:

  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. [240].
• Lamprococcyx modesta Diggles, S. 1876. Australian birds. Brisbane Courier 31(2874): 3 [Date published 5 Aug 1876] [3] [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. 75 in volume 2 of drawings in the unpublished volume 4 of Diggles' 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.; Mathews, G.M. 1915. Diggles' Ornithology of Australia and other works. Austral Avian Records 2: 137-153; Ingram, G.J. 1987. Avian type specimens in the Queensland Museum. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 25: 239-254.
• Chrysococcyx basalis mellori Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [14] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 626764 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 9683), Warunda Creek, Eyre Peninsula, SA (as Eyre's Peninsula, South 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.
• Chrysococcyx basalis wyndhami Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [14] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 628706 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 8662), Point Torment, 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

• Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158-163 [158]

Generic Combinations

• Chalcites (Chalcites) basalis (Horsfield, 1821).

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

All Australia except heavily forested sectors of south-west and east coasts and treeless deserts inland—also islands in Bass Strait (King and Furneaux Group), Kangaroo Is., northern coastal islands and, as passage migrant, islands in Torres Strait and Christmas Is.

IBRA

ACT, 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
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, diurnal, low open shrubland, low open woodland, low shrubland, low woodland, mangrove, migratory, nomadic, open forest, open heath, open scrub, sand hill desert, sand plain desert, solitary, tall open shrubland, tall shrubland, territorial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Territorial during breeding, randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, rarely in twos or small groups except during courtship, in mid to lower strata of dry sclerophyll forest to open woodlands, commonly perches on exposed branches, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying and gleaning in shrubbery and occasionally on the ground, taking insects and their larvae, flies directly in shallow undulations, courting males advertise territories by loud calling, courtship feeding, chasing and tail and wing fanning, brood parasite parasitizing mainly Maluridae (Malurus Vieillot, 1816) and Acanthizidae (Acanthiza Vigors & Horsfield, 1827), lays white eggs sparsely speckled red-brown, disperses north after breeding over N Australia as far as New Guinea, Moluccas, Lesser and Greater Sundas and Malay Peninsula, returning in June-Aug. to breed, though small numbers overwinter in S Australia and others remain in N Australia to breed.

General References

Brooker, L.C., Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, A.M.H. 1990. An alternative population-genetics model for the evolution of egg mimesis and egg crypsis in cuckoos. Journal of Theoretical Biology 146: 123-143 (nidification)

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))] (developmental morphology, 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)

Campbell, A.J. 1898. Notes on the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo. Victorian Naturalist 14: 151-153 [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)

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (synonymy)

Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (diet, behaviour, morphology)

Harrison, C.J.O. 1969. A reconsideration of Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo depositing its eggs using the bill. The Emu 69: 178-181 (nidification)

Kloot, T. 1969. Courtship feeding in Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo. The Emu 69: 116 (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)

Marchant, S. 1972. Evolution of the genus Chrysococcyx. Ibis 114: 219-233 (nidification, evolution)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (synonymy)

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)

Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp. (synonymy)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (synonymy)

Wolters, H.E. 1975–1982. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey xx 745 pp. (synonymy)

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• 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]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, 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)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

Friedmann, H. 1968. The evolutionary history of the avian genus Chrysococcyx. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 265: 1-137 (subspecific arrangement)

Gill, B.J. 1983. Morphology and migration of Chrysococcyx lucidus, an Australasian cuckoo. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 10: 371-382 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158-163 (subspecific arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

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. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Wolters, H.E. 1975–1982. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey xx 745 pp. (subspecific arrangement)

History of changes

• Cuculus lucidus Gmelin, J.F. 1788. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Linné, editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Regnum Animalium. Leipzig (Lipsiae) : G.E. Beer Vol. 1(1) 1-500 pp. [For publication date 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] [421] [based on the Shining Cuckow on p. 528 and pl.XXIII in Latham, J. 1782. A General Synopsis of Birds. London : B. White Vol. 1 vi 788 pp. I–XXXV pls [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.], in turn copied from G. Forster drawing no. 57 in BMNH, cited by 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. (182) and taken from a specimen collected on James Cook's last voyage to Australasia, see Lysaght, A. 1959. Some eighteenth century bird paintings in the library of Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820). Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History Hist.) (6 1: 235–371; Stresemann, E. 1950. Birds collected during Capt. James Cook's last expedition (1776–1780). Auk 67: 66–88; material since lost, 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.; Whitehead, P.J.P. 1969. Zoological specimens from Captain Cook's voyages. Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 5: 161–201 [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. Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.]].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on G. Forster drawing no. 57 (Vol. 1) in BMNH), Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand (as nova Zeelandia).

  Type locality references:

  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. [182] (as Charlotte Sound, under Cuculus nitens G.R. Forster, 1844).
• Lamprococcyx lucidus australis Mathews, G.M. 1916. In Proceedings of meeting of British Ornithologists' Club, May 10, 1916. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 36: 82-83 [83] [type locality subsequently modified by Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 4 pp. 321–384 pls 352–362 [19 Dec. 1918] (349), followed by Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158–163; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp., but evidently based on a different specimen without type status].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 626843 unsexed (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1458), Queensland
  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 (cf. Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.).

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

• Chrysococcyx lucidus (Gmelin, 1788). —
  Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [8]
• Chalcites lucidus (Gmelin, 1788). —
  Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158-163 [159]
• Lamprococcyx lucidus (Gmelin, 1788) [Cabanis & Heine, 1863]. —
  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] [11] (new combination as type species of Lamprococcyx)

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Passage migrant along coastal E Australia and eastern territorial islands.

IBRA

NSW, Qld, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Flinders (FLI), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

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 loose flocks of up to 200–300 prior to migration, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying, taking insects and their larvae, flies swiftly and directly in shallow undulations, passage migrant in Australia and its territories between Feb.-Mar. and Aug.-Sept. en route to summer breeding quarters in New Zealand and Chatham Ils and winter quarters across eastern Papuasia and Melanesia to Polynesia.

General References

Gill, B.J. 1983. Morphology and migration of Chrysococcyx lucidus, an Australasian cuckoo. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 10: 371-382 (movements, distribution, taxonomy)

Robertson, C.J.R. (consultant ed.) 1985. Reader's Digest Complete Book of New Zealand Birds. Sydney : Reader's Digest 319 pp. (morphology, nidification, voice, diet, distribution)

History of changes

• 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).

  Type locality references:

  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. [242].
• 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)

History of changes

Generic Combinations

• Chalcites (Chalcites) minutillus (Gould, 1859).

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• 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. [243] (based, for subspecific limits, on Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 187: 1–56 and Ford, J. 1981. Hybridization and migration in Australian populations of the Little and Rufous-breasted Bronze-Cuckoos. Emu 81: 209–222 [publication dated as 1869]; and, for specific limits, on Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158–163; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Friedmann, H. 1968. The evolutionary history of the avian genus Chrysococcyx. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 265: 1–137; Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey Lief. 2, 81–160 pp.)

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

IBRA

NSW, 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), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) 187: 1-56 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement for specific limits)

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. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

History of changes

• Chrysococcyx barnardi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [20] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; tail of holotype probably figured on pl. 359 (bottom right) 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 627025 ♂ adult (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1464), Coomooboolaroo, Dawson River, QLD
  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.

Generic Combinations

• Chalcites (Chalcites) minutillus barnardi (Mathews, 1912).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal central eastern Australia, breeding north to Fitzroy-Dawson-Mackenzie Rivers basin, QLD, south to Clarence River drainage, possibly Kempsey, NSW, and inland to Yamala and Chinchilla, QLD, and Tenterfield and Glen Innes, NSW—also North Stradbroke and Fraser Ils—and, out of breeding, north to NE QLD (inland to Richmond), Cape York Peninsula, Torres Strait islands and S New Guinea.

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary or in dispersed groups on edges of sclerophyllous forests dominated by Casuarina and Melaleuca, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying, taking insects and their larvae from foliage, flies directly in shallow undulations, breeding males appear to hold territories and court by insistent calling, chasing and courtship feeding, brood parasite parasitizing mainly species of Gerygone Gould, 1841, lays plain olive-bronze eggs, disperses northwards out of breeding in austral autumn and winter.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Ford, J. 1981. Hybridization and migration in Australian populations of the Little and Rufous-breasted Bronze-Cuckoos. The Emu 81: 209-222 [publication dated as 1869] (distribution)

McGill, A.R. & Goddard, M.T. 1979. The Little Bronze Cuckoo in New South Wales. Australian Birds 14: 23-24 (nidification, nestling plumage, taxonomy)

History of changes

• Chrysococcyx minutillus Gould, J. 1859. In Proceedings of meetings of Zoological Society of London, March 22, 1859. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1859: 128-129 [128] [prior publication by Gould in Athenaeum 1639: 425 (26 Mar. 1859) and Literary Gazette (n.s.) 39: 406 (26 Mar. 1859), as recorded by Bruce, M.D. & McAllan, I.A.W. 1990. Some problems in vertebrate nomenclature. II. Birds. Part 1. Bollettino del Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali. Torino 8: 453–485, rejected here because (1) the description is inadequate (=nom. nud.), and (2) of existing usage under ICZN Art. 80(a), insofar as an application by the Standing Committee on Ornithological Nomenclature of the International Ornithological Committee has been submitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature for suppression of all Gould names for birds found after 1990 to have been first published in notices of meetings in the Literary Gazette, London, and Atheneum; hitherto Cuculus malayanus Raffles, 1822 applied as senior synonym for this species, see Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158–163; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Friedmann, H. 1968. The evolutionary history of the avian genus Chrysococcyx. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 265: 1–137; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp., but that name applies instead to Chalcites xanthorhynchus (Horsfield, 1821), according to Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 187: 1–56].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1881.5.1.1958 unsexed, Port Essington, NT (as Port Essington, on the north coast of Australia)
  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 (299); 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.
• Chrysococcyx minutillus perplexus 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] [38] [published anonymously; authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; male syntype apparently figured on plate 358 (lower figure) and described in detail on pp. 361–362 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:

   
  Syntype(s) AMNH 626994 imm. (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Parry's Creek, north WA; AMNH 626995 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Parry's Creek, north WA
  Comment: for identification of syntypes, 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.
• Chrysococcyx minutillus melvillensis Zietz, F.R. 1914. The avifauna of Melville Island, Northern Territory. South Australian Ornithologist 1(1): 11-18 [14].

  Type data:

   Holotype SAMA B1288 ♂, Melville Island, NT (locality inferred, not specified)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see Condon, H.T. 1976. Vertebrate type-specimens in the South Australian Museum IV. Birds. Records of the South Australian Museum 17: 189–193; Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 187: 1–56.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) 187: 1-56 [30-32]

Generic Combinations

• Chalcites (Chalcites) minutillus minutillus (Gould, 1859).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal N Australia, west to Broome, WA, east to south-east head of Gulf of Carpentaria (Normanton), QLD, and south inland to middle Fitzroy and Ord River drainages, WA, the middle Victoria River drainage, Mataranka, NT, and estuarine streams of south coast of Gulf of Carpentaria, NT, QLD—also off-shore islands of Buccaneer and Bonaparte Archipelagos, Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group and Wellesley.

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf
  • Western Australia: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, mangrove, open forest, sedentary, territorial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary or in dispersed sedentary pairs in monsoon scrubs, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying, taking insects and their larvae from leaves and branchlets of trees, flies directly in shallow undulations, breeding males appear to hold territories in natal area and court by insistent calling, chasing and courtship feeding, brood parasite, parasitizing mainly species of Gerygone Gould, 1841, lays plain olive-bronze eggs.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Crawford, D.N. 1972. Birds of Darwin area, with some records from other parts of Northern Territory. The Emu 72: 131-148 (nidification, display)

Deignan, H.G. 1950. Notes on some forms of the genus Chalcites Lesson. The Emu 49: 167-168 (taxonomy)

Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (morphology, soft part colours, nidification)

History of changes

• Chrysococcyx russatus Gould, J. 1868. On two new Australian birds. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1868: 74-76 [76] [as russata, corrected under ICZN Arts. 32(c) & (d)].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) BMNH 1881.5.1.1952 adult, Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, QLD (as Cape-York district of Queensland); BMNH no. unspecified unsexed (3 specimens), Somerset, Cape York Peninsula, QLD (as Cape-York district of Queensland)
  Comment: for identification of syntypes, 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 (300); 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.; Parker, S.A. 1981. Prolegomenon to further studies in the Chrysococcyx "malayanus" group (Aves, Cuculidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen 187: 1–56.

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Cape York Peninsula south on west coast to Mitchell River, and NE QLD south on east coast to Broad Sound, and inland to Hann River and coast scarps of Great Dividing Range—also islands in SW Torres Strait (Moa, Booby, Prince of Wales) and off east coast (Dunk, Hinchinbrook).

IBRA

Qld: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, mangrove, open forest, sedentary, territorial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary or in dispersed groups in and on edges of closed forest, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying, taking insects and their larvae from foliage, flies directly in shallow undulations, breeding males appear to hold territories and court by insistent calling, chasing, and courtship feeding, brood parasite parasitizing mainly species of Gerygone Gould, 1841, lays plain olive-bronze eggs.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Ford, J. 1981. Hybridization and migration in Australian populations of the Little and Rufous-breasted Bronze-Cuckoos. The Emu 81: 209-222 [publication dated as 1869] (distribution)

Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts 1-5 499 +xii pp. pls 325-370. (morphology, nidification)

North, A.J. 1912. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney : Australian Museum Spec. Cat. 1 Vol. 3 vii 362 pp. (nidification)

History of changes

• 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).

  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.
• 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

• Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. [28]

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)

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (synonymy)

Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (morphology, diet, taxonomy)

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)

Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp. (synonymy)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (synonymy)

History of changes

• Cuculus Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10 Edn., 824 pp. [110] [based on Cuculus, prebinominal specific name in synonymy; validated as correct name with above authorship, place of publication, and below-cited type species by International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature Direction 17; gender masculine, see also Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (14)].

  Type species:

   Cuculus canorus Linnaeus, 1758 by Linnaean tautonymy.

  Secondary source:

   Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.
• Nicoclarius Bonaparte, C.L. 1854. Conspectus Volucrum Zygodactylorum. Ateneo Italiano 2: 116-129 [121] [published without description but based by reference on six nominal species, including Cuculus optatus Gould, 1845, and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(5)].

  Type species:

   Cuculus optatus Gould, 1845 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1855. Catalogue of the Genera and Subgenera of Birds contained in the British Museum. London : British Museum 192 pp. [97].

Taxonomic Decision for Subgeneric Arrangement

• 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. [225] (based on Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. [14–21])

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Africa, Madagascar, Eurasia, Malesian archipelagos, and Papuasia to Solomon Ils.

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)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Central Eastern Transition (15), Kenn Transition (16), Kenn Province (17), Northeast Province (18), Northeast Transition (19), Cape Province (20), Norfolk Island Province (21), Christmas Island Province (23)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Lord Howe Island
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal

Oriental Region

• Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)

Distribution References

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Delacour, J. 1951. Commentaires, modifications et additions à la liste des oiseaux de l'Indochine française (II). Oiseau et la Revue Française d'Ornithologie 21: 1-32, 80-119 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

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. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

Mayr, E. 1964. On the taxonomy of Cuculus pallidus (Latham). The Emu 64: 41 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

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. (subgeneric arrangement and similar generic limits)

Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp. (subgeneric arrangement and similar generic limits Cuculus Linnaeus, 1758, excluding species as in Peters (loc. cit.))

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

History of changes

• Cuculus optatus 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.] [18] [because the account of this form in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 4 104 pls pp. (Pt 21, Dec. 1845) appeared only eight months after original publication, it is likely that the material described and figured there on pl. 84, and deposited in ANSP, is syntypic, see 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, 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; from wing measurements of the lectotype (male) provided later by Stone, Junge, G.C.A. 1937. Further notes on the birds of Simalur. Temminckia 2: 197–202 referred optatus Gould, 1845 to the synonymy of nominotypical C. saturatus Hodgson, 1843, with the result that the later name horsfieldi Moore, 1857 (type locality: Java) has often been used subspecifically for the large-sized migratory Australian population, see Junge, G.C.A. 1937. Further notes on the birds of Simalur. Temminckia 2: 197–202; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Vaurie, C. 1965. The Birds of the Palaearctic Fauna A systematic reference. Non-Passeriformes. London : H.F. & G. Witherby xx 763 pp.; cf. Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.; nevertheless Stone's wing measurement is anomalously small for a male, even for nominotypical saturatus, and conflicts with Gould's of 7 3/4 inches in the protologue, itself matching those of Australian populations and horsfieldi Moore, 1857, see data in Roselaar, C.S. in Cramp, S. (ed.) 1985. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa The Birds of the Western Palaearctic. Oxford : Oxford University Press Vol. 4 960 pp. 98 pls (422)—accordingly, optatus Gould, 1845 is used here as the senior name for this form; the names Cuculus assimilis Brehm, 1843 and, by the measurements of its lectotype, C. canoroides S. Müller, 1845 also apply to this form, cf. Junge, G.C.A. 1937. Further notes on the birds of Simalur. Temminckia 2: 197–202—nevertheless, the latter is junior to optatus Gould, Apr. 1845 under ICZN Art. 21(c) and the former is not taken up for reasons detailed above under Cuculus saturatus Hodgson, 1843 (q.v.); Cuculus bubu Dybowski, 1868, nom. nud. as synonym of C. optatus Gould, 1845 according to Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp., is excluded here because it is not based on Australian material].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 19980 ♂ adult (Verreaux cat. no. 1600), Port Essington, Cobourg Peninsula, NT (as Port Essington, Australia).
  Paralectotype(s) whereabouts unknown (not traced).

  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] (cf. <0054>).
• Cuculus cantor 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] [34] [quoted 'ex Illiger', reference not traced, and published without description in synonymy of Cuculus optatus Gould, 1845—unavailable under ICZN Art. 11(e)].
• Cuculus optatus belli Mathews, G.M. 1916. In Proceedings of meeting of British Ornithologists' Club, May 10, 1916. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 36: 82-83 [83] [for identification of type series and type locality, see Hartert, E. 1928. Types of birds in the Tring Museum. C. Additional and overlooked types. Novitates Zoologicae 34: 189–230; 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; specification by Hartert, E. 1928. Types of birds in the Tring Museum. C. Additional and overlooked types. Novitates Zoologicae 34: 189–230 of specimen R. Bell 37 as type effects lectotypification under ICZN Art. 74b cf. 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 data:

   Lectotype AMNH 625154 ♂ adult (presumably Roy Bell coll. no. 37 in G.M. Mathews coll. no. unspecified; institution uncertain), Lord Howe Is.
  Paralectotype(s) AMNH 625157–625159 ♂; AMNH 625155–625156 ♀; AMNH 625162 ♂; AMNH 625160–625161 ♀; AMNH 625163 ♀.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Hartert, E. 1928. Types of birds in the Tring Museum. C. Additional and overlooked types. Novitates Zoologicae 34: 189-230.

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. [227] (based on Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.)

Miscellaneous Literature Names

• Cuculus saturatus Hodgson, 1843 [misidentification, see Christidis & Boles (2008)]. —
  Junge, G.C.A. 1937. Further notes on the birds of Simalur. Temminckia 2: 197-202 (misidentification)
  Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [161]

Introduction

Often treated as a subspecies of C. saturata but raised to full species following Christidis and Boles (2008: 161), but see their discussion.

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal N Australia, south to Pilbara (Dampier), WA, in west and region of Sydney, NSW, in east, straggling there to Shoalhaven River and Narooma—and inland to much of Kimberley Division, WA, Arnhem Land, NT, and Cape York Peninsula and Great Dividing Range (Ravenshoe, lower Mitchell and Lynd Rivers, Richmond, Mitchell, and Toowoomba, QLD, and Cataract and Apsley Rivers, NSW)—also off-shore islands: Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group, inshore islands off E QLD, Lord Howe Is.—vagrant on Christmas Is. (subsp.?).

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), 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), Finke (FIN), Gascoyne (GAS), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

IMCRA

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

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Lord Howe Island
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal

Oriental Region

• Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, gregarious, low woodland, mangrove, migratory, open forest, tall forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic (slight), solitary or congregates in feeding groups in mid and upper stage of forest and woodland, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying mainly on caterpillars, beetles, phasmids and cicadas, flies swiftly and directly in falcon-like manner, commonly silent, non-breeding summer migrant from northern E Palaearctic, arrives in Nov.-Dec. and leaves Apr.-May, winters from India through Malesian archipelagos to Papuasia and Australia, vagrant to New Zealand.

General References

Bravery, J.A. 1967. Field notes on the Oriental Cuckoo, Cuculus saturatus. The Emu 66: 267-271 (behaviour)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [161]

Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Non-Passerines. Alderley, Qld : Dove Publications Vol. 1 464 pp. 493 pls. (morphology, nidification, voice, taxonomy)

Cramp, S. (ed.) 1985. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palaearctic. Oxford : Oxford University Press Vol. 4 960 pp. 98 pls. [417-422] (general biology)

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, distribution)

Mees, G.F. 1979. Die Nachweise von Cuculus canorus L. im indo-australischen Raum. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 55: 127-134 (regional misidentification with Cuculus canorus Linnaeus, 1758)

Zillman, E.E. 1965. Observations on the Oriental Cuckoo at Gin Gin, Queensland. Australian Bird Watcher 2: 148-151 (behaviour)

History of changes

• Eudynamys 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] [303] [gender feminine; also as incorrect subsequent spellings, Eudynamis by Lesson, R.P. 1828. Manuel d' Ornithologie, ou Description des Genres et des principales Espèces d'Oiseaux. Paris : Roret Vol. 2 448 pp., Eudynames by Gray, J.E. In Griffith, E. & Pidgeon, E. 1829. The Class Aves, arranged by the Baron Cuvier, with specific descriptions, Vol. 2. The Animal Kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation, by the Baron Cuvier. (English transl.). London : Whittaker, Treacher & Co. Vol. VII. 586 pp. 60 pls, and Eudinamys by Blyth, 1842, according to Cabanis, J. & Heine, F. 1863. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Pt 4 sect. 1. Halberstadt : R. Frantz 229 pp. [publication dated as 1862–1863] (reference not traced); not preoccupied by Dynamene Stephens, 1826 (type species Cuculus maculatus Gmelin, 1788 =Eudynamys scolopacea (Linnaeus, 1758)), because that name is a junior homonym of Dynamene Leach, 1814 (Crustacea), see Mathews, G.M. 1920. The Birds of Australia. Supplement No. 1. Check List of the Birds of Australia Part 1. Orders Casuariiformes to Menuriformes. London : Witherby iv 1–116 pp. [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) (collation of livraisons affecting original description) Mathews, G.M. 1911. On some necessary alterations in the nomenclature of birds. Pt II. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 1–22 (collation of livraisons affecting original description) Sherborn, C.D. 1922. Index Animalium; sive, Index nominem quae ab A.D. 1758 generibus et speciebus animalium imposita sunt, societatibus eruditorum adiuvantibus. Sectio Secunda, 1801–1850. London : British Museum Pt 1 cxxxvi 128 pp. [lxxx]]; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.; cf. 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.].

  Type species:

   Cuculus orientalis Linneaus, 1766 by subsequent designation, see Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.].

  Secondary source:

   Lesson, R.P. 1828. Manuel d' Ornithologie, ou Description des Genres et des principales Espèces d'Oiseaux. Paris : Roret Vol. 2 448 pp.; Gray, J.E. in Griffith, E. & Pidgeon, E. 1829. The Class Aves, arranged by the Baron Cuvier, with specific descriptions, Vol. 2. The Animal Kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation, by the Baron Cuvier. (English transl.). London : Whittaker, Treacher & Co. Vol. VII. 586 pp. 60 pls; 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]; 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.; Mathews, G.M. 1920. The Birds of Australia. Supplement No. 1. Check List of the Birds of Australia Part 1. Orders Casuariiformes to Menuriformes. London : Witherby pp. iv 1-116. [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) (collation of livraisons affecting original description) Mathews, G.M. 1911. On some necessary alterations in the nomenclature of birds. Pt II. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 1–22 (collation of livraisons affecting original description) Sherborn, C.D. 1922. Index Animalium; sive, Index nominem quae ab A.D. 1758 generibus et speciebus animalium imposita sunt, societatibus eruditorum adiuvantibus. Sectio Secunda, 1801–1850. London : British Museum Pt 1 cxxxvi 128 pp. [lxxx]]; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.
• Eudynamis 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] [49] [unjustified emendation of Eudynamys Vigors & Horsfield, 1827].

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. [248]

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Sri Lanka, India, west and south China through south-east Asia and Malesian archipelagos to Papuasia east to Solomon Ils; vagrant to New Zealand.

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), 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), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea

Distribution References

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• 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. [249] (based on Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp., for subspecific limits and on Sibley, C.G. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1990. Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiv 1111 pp., for similar specific limits)

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), 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), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Details of nominate subspecies, not present in Australia

Cuculus orientalis Linnaeus, C. 1766. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio duodecima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 1327 & 36 pp. [168] [based on le Coucou noir des Indes in Brisson, M.-J. 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. IV 576 liv pp. XLVI pls (142); holotype figured on pl. X, fig. 1 in Brisson, M.-J. 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. IV 576 liv pp. XLVI pls-but specimen since destroyed, see Stresemann, E. 1952. On the birds collected by Pierre Poivre in Canton, Manila, India and Madagascar (1751–1756). Ibis 94: 499–523 [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. 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) Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385–499 + xii pls 363–370 Appendixes A & B [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B]]; name applied to resident Moluccan form by Hartert, E. 1903. On the birds of the Key and South-East Islands, and of Ceram-laut. Novitates Zoologicae 10: 232–254; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.]

Type data: holotype MNHP (ex W.G. Graaf Bentinck per Réaumur Museum, destroyed, figured in Brisson, M.-J. 1760. Ornithologie ou méthode contenant la Division des oiseaux en Ordres, Sectiones, Genres, Espèces & leurs Variétés. Paris : J.-B. Bauche Vol. IV 576 liv pp. XLVI pls
Type locality: Amboina, Moluccas (as Indes Orientales), see Stresemann, E. 1952. On the birds collected by Pierre Poivre in Canton, Manila, India and Madagascar (1751–1756). Ibis 94: 499–523 [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. 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) Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385–499 + xii pls 363–370 Appendixes A & B [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B]]

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts i-iv xii pp. 1-384 pls 325-362. [Date published 4 Mar. 1918: 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)] (subspecific arrangement, subspecific limits and subsequent revisions)

Mayr, E. 1937. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. XXXV Notes on New Guinea Birds. II. American Museum Novitates 939: 1-14 (subspecific arrangement)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Rand, A.L. 1941. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 32 New and interesting birds from New Guinea. American Museum Novitates 1102: 1-15 (subspecific arrangement)

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. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (subspecific arrangement and for similar specific limits)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

History of changes

• Cuculus cyanocephalus Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [30] [based on the Blue-headed 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] (137), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 72 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. (120); 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 east 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. 72 in BMNH), central coastal New South Wales (as Nova Hollandia).

  Type locality references:

  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. [249].
• Eudynamys flindersii 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] [305] [based partly on specimen in coll. of Linnean Society London (now in BMNH) and partly on the Flinders Cuckoo in Latham, J. 1822. A General History of Birds. Winchester : J. Latham Vol. III 416 pp. pls 38–59 (pp. 308–309), the latter in turn based on two specimens with the comment that they were from 'the north Coast of New Holland; met with there by Capt. Flinders, during his voyage of discovery. In Mr. Bullock's Museum'—material from both sources possibly the same; the 'north coast of New Holland' was referred to by Flinders, M. 1814. A Voyage to Terra Australis. London : G. & W. Nicol Vol. 2 613 pp. (114–252) as the land east of Torres Strait, westwards to Arnhem Bay, thus including the range of both Australian forms: flindersii Vigors & Horsfield, 1827 is referred here to the synonymy of cyanocephalus Latham, 1802 because its measurements in the original description and material in BMNH fit that form; Lectotypification effected under ICZN Art. 74(a); lectotype cited by 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. (416) and 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. (99), incorrectly as holotype, labelled as from the north coast of QLD].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH 1863.7.7.64 imm. ♂ (in near ♀ plumage, ex Linnean Society of London coll.), north coast of QLD (as north coast of New Holland).
  Paralectotype(s) whereabouts unknown (?lost, ex W. Bullock coll.).

  Subsequent designation 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. [325].

  Type locality references:

  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. [250] (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.]; 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.).
• Eudynamys australis Swainson, W. 1837. Animals in Menageries. In, Lardner, D. (ed.). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. London : Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman & John Taylor Vol. 6(98) 373 pp. [publication dated 13 Jan. 1838] [344] [as Eudynamis Australis].

  Type data:

   Holotype UMZC (institution uncertain), New South Wales (as Australia).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912].

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. [250] (based on Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.)

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal east Australia, breeding north to lower Burdekin and Suttor River drainages, QLD, south to Mallacoota, VIC, and west inland to summit ridges of Great Dividing Range—also Fraser Is. and islands in Moreton Bay—on migration to west slopes of Great Dividing Range (Brindabella, Herveys, Warrumbungle and Nandewar Ranges, NSW, and Darling Downs, Mitchell, Blackall and Richmond, QLD), and across all north Australia from Cape York Peninsula around Gulf of Carpentaria drainage west to Arnhem Land and Victoria River drainage, NT, and Kimberley Division, WA, south to Fitzroy-Margaret Rivers—also, on migration, northern offshore islands: Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group, Wellesley Ils and islands in Torres Strait, reaching western Papuan islands, Moluccas and east Lesser Sundas.

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), 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), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Torres Strait Islands
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, crepuscular, diurnal, frugivorous, gregarious, low woodland, mangrove, migratory, open forest, tall forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, solitary or in dispersed groups, skulks in foliage of vine and gallery forests where feeds on figs, mistletoe drupes and exotic fruits, and to a lesser extent on insects by perch-and-pounce sallying, males more pugnacious and less secretive than females and call incessantly alone or antiphonally with mated females during breeding, brood parasite parasitizing mainly larger honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), oriolids (Oriolidae), magpie-larks (Grallina Vieillot, 1816) and drongos (Dicrurus Vieillot, 1817), lays pink-buff eggs marked chestnut and brown, migrates south to breeding range Sept.-Oct., the males arriving first and singing, and north to winter range Jan.-Apr.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Non-Passerines. Alderley, Qld : Dove Publications Vol. 1 464 pp. 493 pls. (morphology, feeding, voice, nidification, taxonomy)

Crouther, M.M. 1985. Some breeding records of the Common Koel Eudynamys scolopacea. Australian Bird Watcher 11: 49-56 (morphology, nidification, behaviour)

Crouther, M.M. & Crouther, M.J. 1984. Observations on the breeding of figbirds and Common Koels. Corella 8: 89-92 (nidification)

Disney, H.J. de S. 1992. Ageing, sexing and plumage of the Australian Koel Eudynamys cyanocephala. Corella 16: 97-103 (morphology)

Dudman, T.D. & Dudman, D. 1979. Koel behaviour. Sunbird 10: 78 (behaviour)

Gosper, D. 1962. Breeding records of the Koel. Australian Bird Watcher 1: 226-228 [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)

Gosper, D. 1964. Observations on breeding of the Koel. The Emu 64: 39-41 [Browning, M.R. & Monroe, B.L., Jr 1991. Clarifications and corrections of the dates of issue of some publications containing descriptions of North American birds. Arch. Nat. Hist. 18: 381–405 (cf. 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., 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)) Rossem, A.J. van 1946. Dates for volume 1 of Bonaparte's 'Conspectus Generum Avium'. Auk 63: 243] (nidification)

Guthrie, T.H. 1972. Koels displaying. Australian Bird Watcher 4: 168-169 (behaviour)

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. [326] (morphology, nidification, behaviour)

Roberts, N.L. 1961. Koel display and courtship. The Emu 61: 242-243 (nidification, display)

History of changes

• Eudynamys orientalis subcyanocephala Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [21] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65; as subcyanocephalus, corrected under ICZN Art. 34(b)].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 627513 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1470), Parry's Creek, 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.

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal north Australia, west to Kimberley Division (King Sound), WA—east to Cape York Peninsula and south-east to upper Burdekin River drainage, QLD—inland south to Fitzroy River, Lansdowne and Lake Argyle, WA, the middle Victoria River drainage, Larrimah, and northern rim of Barkly Tableland, NT, and Selwyn Range and Gulf of Carpentaria drainage to upper Cloncurry and Flinders Rivers, QLD—also Buccaneer and Bonaparte Archipelagos, WA, Melville-Bathurst Ils, Groote Eylandt, and Sir Edward Pellew group, NT, and Wellesley Ils, and islands in Torres Strait, QLD—wintering migrant to SE New Guinea.

IBRA

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), 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), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, crepuscular, diurnal, frugivorous, gregarious, low woodland, mangrove, migratory, open forest, tall forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, solitary or in small dispersed groups, skulks in foliage of vine and gallery forests where feeds on figs, mistletoe drupes and other fruits and, to a lesser extent, insects by perch-and-pounce sallying, males more pugnacious and less secretive than females, calling incessantly alone or antiphonally with mated females during breeding, brood parasite parasitizing mainly larger honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), oriolids (Oriolidae) and drongos (Dicrurus Vieillot, 1817), lays pink-buff eggs marked chestnut and brown, migrates south to breeding range Sept.-Oct., the males arriving first and singing, and north to winter range March-Apr.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

History of changes

• Heteroscenes Cabanis & F. Heine, Sr., 1863.

Distribution

States

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

IBRA

ACT, 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), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), 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), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), 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), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), 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), 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)

History of changes

• Columba pallida Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [60] [based on the Pale Pigeon 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] (270), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 226 in BMNH, 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; for its identity, see Cabanis, J. & Heine, F. 1863. Museum Heineanum. Verzeichniss der ornithologischen Sammlung des Oberamtmann Ferdinand Heine auf Gut St. Burchard vor Halberstadt. Pt 4 sect. 1. Halberstadt : R. Frantz 229 pp. [publication dated as 1862–1863]; 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]; Mathews, G.M. 1915. On Columba pallida Latham. Austral Avian Records 3: 1–4 [Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1915. On the ornithology of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles (Levrault). Austral Avian Records 3: 5–20 [Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440]]; for other interpretations, see Hartert, E. 1905. List of birds collected in north-western Australia and Arnhem Land by Mr. J.T. Tunney. Novitates Zoologicae 12: 194–242 [Mathews, G.M. 1912. Dates of issue of Lear's Illustr. Psittacidae and of the Verhandelingen over de Naturlijke (sic) Geschiedenis.: Land-en Volkenkunde. Austral Avian Records 1: 23–24 (published without author)]; North, A.J. 1906. Remarks on the names of some Australian birds. Ibis 8 6: 53–57 [Mathews, G.M. & Iredale, T. 1915. On the ornithology of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles (Levrault). Austral Avian Records 3: 5–20 [Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440]]; 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. (145); type locality restricted here to central coast of NSW 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. 226 in BMNH), central coastal New South Wales (as Nova Hollandia).

  Type locality references:

  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. [228].
• Cuculus cinereus Vieillot, L.P. 1817. Coucou. pp. 202–238 in Nouveau Dictionaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'Agriculture, à l'Économie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une Société de Naturalistes et d'Agriculteurs. Nouvelle Édition Paris : Déterville. [226] [junior homonym of Cuculus cinereus Meuschen, 1787, nec Bolton, 1798 (=Eudynamys scolopacea (Linnaeus, 1758), Cuculidae), see Mathews, G.M. 1926. Another new book, which necessitates changes in nomenclature. Austral Avian Records 5: 81–100; for identification of type material, see Pucheran, J. 1852. Etudes sur les types peu connus du Musée de Paris. Sixième article. (Grimpeurs). Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris 2 4: 555–564; the name Cuculus variegatus Vieillot, 1817 (Vieillot, L.P. 1817. Coucou. pp. 202–238 in Nouveau Dictionaire d'Histoire Naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'Agriculture, à l'Économie rurale et domestique, à la Médecine, etc. Par une Société de Naturalistes et d'Agriculteurs. Nouvelle Édition Paris : Déterville., p. 224), non Scopoli, 1786 (=Eudynamys scolopacea (Linnaeus, 1758)), is a further synonym that is nevertheless excluded here, being based on material from Timor, see Pucheran, J. 1852. Etudes sur les types peu connus du Musée de Paris. Sixième article. (Grimpeurs). Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris 2 4: 555–564 and Hellmayr, C.E. 1916. Weiteres zur avifauna von Timor. Novitates Zoologicae 23: 96–111].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP (institution uncertain; ex H. Baillon coll.), New South Wales (as la Nouvelle-Hollande).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912].
• Cuculus inornatus 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] [297] [as Inornatus; based on male and female (syntypes), only one of which identified in BMNH by 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 (262); 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. (416); 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.; lectotypification effected under ICZN Art. 74].

  Type data:

   Lectotype BMNH 1863.7.7.58 ♂ adult, Parramatta, NSW (as Paramatta).
  Paralectotype(s) BMNH (institution uncertain; ex Linnean Society of London coll.).

  Subsequent designation 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. [262].

  Type locality references:

  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] (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; 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.).
• Cuculus albostrigatus 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] [298] [as Albo-strigatus; page of original publication commonly miscited as 297].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.59 unsexed imm., New South Wales (as New Holland).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (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; 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.).
• Chalcites simplex Lesson, R.P. 1844. Catalogue descriptif des oiseaux nouveau, rares ou peu connus, de la collection Abeillé. Écho du Monde Savant, 11th year: col. 1137–1139. [col. 1138].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP imm. (institution uncertain), New South Wales (as la Nouvelle-Hollande)
  Comment: type material not cited as in MNHP by Pucheran, J. 1853. Etudes sur les types peu connus du Musée de Paris. Sixième article. (Grimpeurs). Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris 2 5: 65-73.

  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.
• Heteroscenes occidentalis 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] [27] [proposed conditionally but available under ICZN Art. 15; based on an immature specimen obtained through L. Preiss or collectors associated with him, see Glauert, L. 1948. The ornithological collecting of Dr. L. Preiss in 1839. Western Australian Naturalist 1: 147–148; Meise, W. 1951. Notes on the ornithological collection of Preiss in the Swan River Colony, 1838–1841. Emu 51: 148–151; all Preiss's material came from the Swan River district, WA, see inward correspondence, Colonial Secretary's Office, vol. 68, letters 11/10/1839, 23/10/1839, lodged in Battye Library, State Library of Western Australia, Perth].

  Type data:

   Holotype MMH imm. (unchecked), Swan River district, WA (as Westaustralien).

  Type locality references:

  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. [229] (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.]; RAOU Checklist Committee, Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union 1926. Official Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union x 212 pp.; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.).
• Heteroscenes pallidus tasmanicus Mathews, G.M. 1916. List of additions of new sub-species to, and changes in, my "List of the Birds of Australia". Austral Avian Records 3(3): 53-68 [Date published 4 Apr 1916] [58] [syntypes 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].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) AMNH no. unspecified 3♂ adults (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Tasmania
  Comment: for identification of syntypes, see Mayr, E. 1964. On the taxonomy of Cuculus pallidus (Latham). Emu 64: 41.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Mayr, E. 1964. On the taxonomy of Cuculus pallidus (Latham). The Emu 64: 41 [41]

Generic Combinations

• Cuculus pallidus (Latham, 1801).
• Cacomantis (Vidgenia) pallidus (Latham, 1801).
• Heteroscenes pallidus (Latham, 1801).

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

All mainland Australia (except heavily forested coastal sectors and treeless deserts) and TAS—also islands in Bass Strait (King and Furneaux Group), Kangaroo Is., north coastal islands; vagrant on islands in Torres Strait, Christmas Is. and Lord Howe Is., also S New Guinea, Flores, Timor (resident?), Moluccas, and New Zealand.

IBRA

ACT, 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), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), 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), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), 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), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), 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), 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
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, crop, desert, diurnal, low open shrubland, low open woodland, low shrubland, low woodland, migratory, open forest, open scrub, sand plain desert, solitary, tall open shrubland, tall shrubland, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Less commonly sandhill desert, seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, usually solitary, commonly perches on exposed bare brachlets and stumps, feeds on various insects by perch-and-pounce sallying, flies gracefully and directly with undulations, elevates tail on alighting, brood parasite parasitizing hosts that build cup-shaped nests, mainly honeyeaters (Meliphagidae), particularly species of Lichenostomus and Melithreptus, migrates erratically according to seasonal conditions, generally inland and north across N Australia in Jan.-Mar. after breeding and south to southern coasts and Tasmania in July-Aug. to breed, males arriving earlier than females and advertising territory by loud calling.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Campbell, A.J. 1898. Notes on the Pallid Cuckoo. Victorian Naturalist 14: 58-62 (nidification)

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (synonymy)

Gentilli, J. 1949. Pallid Cuckoo observations, 1949. Western Australian Naturalist 2: 59-64 (behaviour)

Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (behaviour, diet, taxonomy)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts i-iv xii pp. 1-384 pls 325-362. [Date published 4 Mar. 1918: 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)] (morphology, nidification, behaviour, history)

North, A.J. 1912. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney : Australian Museum Spec. Cat. 1 Vol. 3 vii 362 pp. (morphology, nidification, behaviour)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

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)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (extra Australian distribution)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (synonymy)

History of changes

• Scythrops Latham, J. 1790. Index ornithologicus, sive Systema Ornithologiae; complectens avium divisionem in classes, ordines, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates: adjectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, &c. London : Leigh & Sotheby Vol. 1 & 2 xviii 920 pp. [141].

  Type species:

   Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, 1790 by monotypy.

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Sulawesi, Lesser Sundas, Moluccas, islands in Banda Sea, New Guinea and satellite islands, Bismarck Archipelago.

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), 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), 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), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Norfolk Island Province (21)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, N coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea

Distribution References

History of changes

Taxonomic Decision for Subspecies Arrangement

• Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. [40] (Australian populations. Other forms are resident in Indo-melanesian island arcs north of Australia)

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

In ACT rare, non-breeding summer migrant

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), 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), 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), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Norfolk Island Province (21)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, N coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement for other infraspecific arrangement of Australian populations and subsequent revisions)

Schodde, R. 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. [252] (subspecific arrangement)

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. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

White, C.M.N. & Bruce, M.D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, the Moluccas & Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia). An annotated check-list. B.O.U. Check-list No. 7. London : British Ornithologists' Union 524 pp. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (subspecific arrangement and specific limits)

History of changes

• Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, J. 1790. Index ornithologicus, sive Systema Ornithologiae; complectens avium divisionem in classes, ordines, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates: adjectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, &c. London : Leigh & Sotheby Vol. 1 & 2 xviii 920 pp. [141] [as novae Hollandiae; based on the Psittaceous Hornbill on plate opposite p. 165 in Phillip, A. 1789. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island compiled from authentic papers. London : J. Stockdale viii x 298 lxxiv pp. 54 pls; because Phillip and Surgeon-General John White drew their material from the same sources at Port Jackson, it is possible that the specimen identified by von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14–54 in NHMW as possible 'type' of the Anomalous Hornbill in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.] (142–143) is also a type of Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, 1790—but according to White, more than one specimen is involved].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (uncertain, possibly NHMW, ex Leverian Museum cat. no. 131, figured on plate opposite p. 165 in Phillip, A. 1789. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island compiled from authentic papers. London : J. Stockdale viii x 298 lxxiv pp. 54 pls), region of Port Jackson, NSW (as nova Hollandia).

  Type locality references:

  Phillip, A. 1789. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island compiled from authentic papers. London : J. Stockdale viii x 298 lxxiv pp. 54 pls.
• Scythrops psittaceus Kerr, R. 1792. The Animal Kingdom, or Zoological System, of the celebrated Sir Charles Linnaeus; being a translation of that part of the Systema Naturae, as lately published, with great improvements, by Professor Gmelin of Goettingen. Class II. Birds. London : J. Murray & R. Faulder xii 644 pp. [619] [nom. nov. for Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, 1790].
• Scythrops australasiae Shaw, G. 1812. General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Aves. London : Kearsley, Wilkie & Robinson Vol. VIII Pt 2 vi pp. 244-557 pls 46-84. [Date published 1811] [378] [based partly on Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, 1790 and the Anomalous Hornbill of White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.] (143)—and open to interpretation as nom. nov. for Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, 1790, based on same material; syntype figured on pl. 50 of original description; usually considered published in 1811, 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; 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; Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp.; Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (?lost, figured on pl. 50 in Shaw, G. 1812. General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Aves. London : Kearsley, Wilkie & Robinson Vol. VIII Pt 2 vi pp. 244–557 pls 46–84 [publication dated 1811], also that of Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, 1790, q.v.), New South Wales (as New-Holland).

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912].
• Scythrops australis Swainson, W. 1837. On the Natural History and Classification of Birds. In, Lardner, D. (ed.). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia. London : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman and John Taylor Vol. 2(92) vi 398 pp. [publication dated 1836-1837 Kluge, A.G. 1971. John Edward Gray and "The Zoological Miscellany". In Gray, J.E. (1831–1844). The Zoological Miscellany. [reprint]. U.S.A. Misc. Publ. of Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.] [299] [based on the Anomalous Hornbill on plate opposite p. 142 in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.]; the specimen on which this plate is based may be in NHMW, see von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14–54—but more than one specimen is involved, see White (1790)].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (uncertain, possibly NHMW (ex Leverian Museum cat. no. 131) figured on pl. opposite p. 142 in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.]), region of Port Jackson, NSW (as Australia).

  Type locality references:

  White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls. [published before Aug.] [142-143].
• Cuculus praesagus Bonaparte, C.L. 1850. Conspectus Generum Avium. Tom. I. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill 543 pp. [Date published 24 Jun 1850] [97] [based on a manuscript name of Reinwardt, in turn based on material from Sulawesi, see Temminck, C.J. in Temminck, C.J. In Temminck, C.J. & Laugier de Chartrouse, M. 1838. Nouveau Recueil de Planches Coloriées d'Oiseaux, pour servir de suite et de complément aux planches enluminées de Buffon. Paris : G. Levrault livr. 42 pp. [published Jan. 1824]—but published as synonym of Scythrops novaehollandiae Latham, 1790, interpretable as a nom. nov. for that name based on same type, and unavailable under ICZN Art. 11(e)].
• Scythrops novaehollandiae neglectus Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [297] [holotype probably illustrated on pl. 361 and described in detail on p. 377 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 629004 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1480), Parry's Creek, 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

• Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. [40]

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

All coastal and subcoastal north and east Australia, west to Kimberley Division, WA-south in west to central Fitzroy River-Christmas Creek, WA, the upper Victoria River drainage and Barkly Tableland, NT, and Selwyn Range, QLD, and inland in east to Longreach and Cunnamulla, QLD, Moree, Gilgandra and Dubbo, NSW, contracting south-east as far as Bega on coast, straggling inland to upper channel country of Diamantina and Cooper drainage, QLD, rarely reaching Lake Eyre, SA, Bulloo River basin, QLD and east VIC-also Buccaneer and Bonaparte Archipelagos, Melville-Bathurst Ils, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew Group, Mornington Is., islands in Torres Strait, and Dunk, Brampton and Fraser Ils-vagrant to VIC, TAS, New Zealand, and New Caledonia.

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Flinders (FLI), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), King (KIN), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), 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), 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), Wet Tropics (WT)

IMCRA

Norfolk Island Province (21)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, N coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Papua New Guinea

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, closed forest, diurnal, frugivorous, gregarious, low woodland, migratory, open forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, solitary, in pairs or small groups, feeds arboreally mainly on fruit (e.g., Ficus spp.) and less commonly insects (Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Phasmatodea), often perches on high exposed branches, flies in graceful cuckoo-like undulations over tree tops, brood parasite parasitizing Corvus spp., Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) and Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802), disperses on migration to Papuasia, Moluccas and Lesser Sundas in Mar.-Apr. and returns to breed Aug.-Sept.

General References

Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)

Coates, B.J. 1985. The Birds of Papua New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Non-Passerines. Alderley, Qld : Dove Publications Vol. 1 464 pp. 493 pls. (morphology, nidification, voice, diet)

Goddard, M.T. & Marchant, S. 1983. The parasitic habits of the Channel-billed Cuckoo Scythrops novaehollandiae in Australia. Australian Birds 17: 65-72 [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)

Johnson, C.N. 1983. Courtship feeding and mating in the Channel-billed Cuckoo. Corella 7: 44 [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.] (nidification)

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, behaviour)

McCulloch, E.M. 1980. The Channel-billed Cuckoo. Bird Observer (Australia) 581: 42-43 [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] (general behaviour)

Morris, A.K. 1980. The Channel-billed Cuckoo in the Coonabarrabran District. Bird Observer (Australia) 584: 71 [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] (voice, diet, behaviour)

History of changes

• Urodynamis Salvadori, T. 1880. Ornitologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. Parte Prima. Torino : G.B. Paravia & Co. xii 573 pp. [370] [published without description but based by reference on Cuculus taitensis Sparrman, 1787 and available under ICZN Art. 12(b)(5); date of publication taken from Salvadori's own citations of date of publication of volume, see 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. Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385–499 + xii pls 363–370 Appendixes A & B [publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B] (Appendix B); Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.].

  Type species:

   Cuculus taitensis Sparrman, 1787 by original designation.

  Secondary source:

   Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385-499 + xii pls 363-370 Appendixes A & B. [Date published 12 June 1919: publication dated as from preface, 12 June 1919 given in Appendix B]; 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.; Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp.

Introduction

Accorded full genus status, following Christidis and Boles (2008: 159).

Distribution

States

Northern Territory

Extra Distribution Information

New Zealand and Chatham, Auckland and Kermadec Ils to central and east Polynesia, east and north Melanesia west to Bismarck and Louisiade Archipelagos, and Micronesia.

IBRA

NT: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

IMCRA

Lord Howe Province (14), Norfolk Island Province (21)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Lord Howe Island
  • Norfolk Island
  • Northern Territory: N coastal
• New Zealand

Distribution References

General References

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [159]

History of changes

• Cuculus taitensis Sparrman, A. 1787. Museum Carlsonianum. In quo Novas et Selectas Aves, Coloribus ad vivum brevique descriptione illustratas, Suasu et Sumtibus Generosissimi Possessoris. Holmiae : Typographia Regia Fasc. 2 pls 26-50. [publication dated as 1786–1789 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. 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)] [text to pl. 32] [also as incorrect subsequent spellings, tahituis by Gmelin, J.F. 1788. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Linné, editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Regnum Animalium. Leipzig (Lipsiae) : G.E. Beer Pt 1 pp. 1–500 [For publication date 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] (412), taitiensis by Vieillot, L.P. in Bonnaterre (L'Abbé) & Viellot, L.P. 1823. Tableau Encyclopédique et Méthodique des Trois Règnes de la Nature. Ornithologie, Troisieme partie. Paris : Agasse livr. 93 pp. 849–1460 (1329), tahitiensis by Cassin, J. 1858. United States Exploring Expedition. During the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Under the command of Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Vol. VIII (revised) and Atlas Mammalogy and Ornithology. Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott & Co. viii 466 pp. 53 pls (text to pl. 22, fig. 2), and tahitensis by Potts, T.H. 1870. On the birds of New Zealand. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 3: 59–109 [Waterhouse, F.H. 1885. The Dates of Publication of some of the Zoological Works of the late John Gould, F.R.S. London : R.H. Porter xi 59 pp. [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. Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 5 pp. 385–499 + xii pls 363–370 Appendixes A & B (Appendix B)]]].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) NHRM (institution uncertain, figured on pl. 32 in Sparrman, A. 1789. Museum Carlsonianum. In quo Novas et Selectas Aves, Coloribus ad vivum brevique descriptione illustratas, Suasu et Sumtibus Generosissimi Possessoris. Holmiae : Typographia Regia Fasc. 2 pls 26–50 pp. [publication dated as 1786–1789 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. 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)]), Tahiti, Society Islands (published without locality)
  Comment: for identification of type material, see Sundevall, C.J. 1857. Kritisk framställning af fogelarterna uti äldre Ornithologiska arbeten. I. Museum Carlsonianum. II. Le Vaillant, Oiseaux d'Afrique. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar ns 2(3): 16–60.
• Urodynamis taitensis belli Mathews, G.M. 1918. In Proceedings of meeting of British Ornithologists' Club, November 13, 1918. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 39: 23-25 [24] [holotype apparently figured on pl. 19 and described in detail on p. 31 in Mathews, G.M. 1928. The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant with Additions to "The Birds of Australia". London : H.F. & G. Witherby xii 139 pp. pls 1–45].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 627566 ♂ adult (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Watermill Creek, Norfolk Is. (as Norfolk Island)
  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:

  Mathews, G.M. 1928. The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant with Additions to "The Birds of Australia". London : H.F. & G. Witherby xii 139 pp. pls 1-45.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Bogert, C. 1937. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. XXXIV The distribution and the migration of the Long-tailed Cuckoo (Urodynamis taitensis Sparrman). American Museum Novitates 933: 1-12 [1]

Generic Combinations

• Eudynamys taitensis (Sparrman, 1787). —
  Stanger, M., Clayton, M., Schodde, R., Wombey, J. & Mason, I. 1998. CSIRO List of Australian Verebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing iii 124 pp. [67]

Miscellaneous Literature Names

• Urodynamys taitensis Sparrman, 1787 [misspelling of Urodynamis]. —
  Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [163] (correct spelling on page 159)

Distribution

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, carnivorous, closed forest, diurnal, low open woodland, migratory, open heath, open scrub, solitary, tall forest, tall open shrubland, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

General carnivore, seasonal breeder, solitary in tree canopy, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying on insects, small herptiles and eggs and nestlings of other birds, flies gracefully in shallow undulations, brood parasite, passage migrant, passes through Australian territories en route to breeding range in New Zealand and its island dependencies and to non-breeding range from eastern Papuasia through Melanesia and Micronesia to eastern Polynesia.

General References

Bogert, C. 1937. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. XXXIV The distribution and the migration of the Long-tailed Cuckoo (Urodynamis taitensis Sparrman). American Museum Novitates 933: 1-12 (distribution, movements, history)

Checklist Committee, Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Inc. (E.G. Turbott, Convener) 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. Auckland : Random Century xv 247 pp. (synonymy)

Dow, D.D. 1972. The New Zealand Long-tailed Cuckoo: nest parasite or predator? The Emu 72: 179-180 (nidification)

Gill, B.J. 1980. Foods of the Long-tailed Cuckoo. Notornis 27: 96 (diet)

Mathews, G.M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Australasian region. London : British Ornithologists' Union Pt 1 iv 426 pp. (synonymy)

Peters, J.L. 1940. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 4 xii 291 pp. (synonymy)

Robertson, C.J.R. (consultant ed.) 1985. Reader's Digest Complete Book of New Zealand Birds. Sydney : Reader's Digest 319 pp. [255] (morphology, voice, nidification, behaviour, distribution)

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)

Wolters, H.E. 1976. Die Vogelarten der Erde. Eine systematische Liste mit Verbreitungsangaben sowie deutschen und englischen Namen. Hamburg : Paul Parey pp. Lief. 2, 81-160. (synonymy)

History of changes