Subspecies Dacelo (Dacelo) leachii leachii Vigors & Horsfield, 1827

Museums

Regional Maps

• Dacelo leachii 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[Date published 17 Feb 1827: publication dated 1826] [205] [ex J. Latham ms for 2nd edn of Index Ornithologicus, unpublished; based on a specimen collected by Robert Brown on Matthew Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia in 1802 (=the New-Holland Kingfisher) in Latham, J. 1822. A General History of Birds. Winchester : J. Latham Vol. IV 362 pp. pls 60–78 (11); for identification of holotype, type locality and details of nomenclatural history, see Sharpe, R.B. 1892. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Picariae. Coraciae (contin.) and Halcyones. London : British Museum Vol. 17 xi 522 pp. XVII pls (206); 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. (415); Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 2 pp. 113–216 pls 337–342 [15 May 1918, volume dated as 1918–1919] (133–134); Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp.].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.14 ♂ adult, Keppel Bay, QLD (holotype labelled as Keppel Bay, Shoalwater Bay, Broad Sound).
• Dacelo leachii kempi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1: 81-103 [Date published 18 Sep 1912] [89].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 637801 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 13227), Utingu, north Cape York Peninsula, QLD (as Cape York)
  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.
• Dacelo leachii macarthuri Mathews, G.M. 1918. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pt 2 pp. 113-216 pls 337-342. [Date published 15 May 1918: volume dated as 1918–1919] [140].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 637785 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Borroloola, Macarthur (=McArthur) River, NT
  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

• 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. [354] (based on 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 [204–206])

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal N Australia, west to Kimberley Division south to Noonkanbah and Sturt Creek, WA—east to all N and E QLD—and south inland to upper Negri and Victoria Rivers and headwaters of Nicholson and Gregory Rivers, NT, and in QLD to headwaters of wooded rivers in Gulf of Carpentaria drainage and upper Georgina River in west and along coastal catchments and Great Dividing Range to upper Brisbane River valley in east—also large inshore islands off Kimberley Division, Melville-Bathurst Ils, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group, mainland islands off E QLD coast, and main SW islands in Torres Strait. Intergrades residually with D. l. occidentalis Gould, 1870 in extreme SW Kimberley, WA.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

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)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

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

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, carnivorous, diurnal, low open woodland, open forest, sedentary, territorial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, general carnivore, in communal groups, advertises territory by chorusing, feeds in pouncing sallies from arboreal perches, nests in tree hollows, all members of commune assist in nidificational duties.

 

General References

Keast, A. 1957. Variation in the Australian kingfishers (Aves: Alcedinidae). Records of the Australian Museum 24: 61-72 (taxonomy, distribution)

North, A.J. 1909. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania. Sydney : Australian Museum Spec. Cat. 1 Vol. 2 vii 380 pp. [published between 1906–1909] (morphology, feeding, nidification)

Parry, V.A. in Schodde, R. & Tidemann, S.C. (consultant eds) 1986. Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds. Sydney : Readers' Digest Services Edn 2. 639 pp. (group and territorial behaviour)

Thompson, H.A.F. 1984. The status of kingfishers and their allies (Coraciiformes) in the Darwin area, N.T., 1974 to 1982. Northern Territory Naturalist 7: 18-29 (distribution, habitat, status)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		12-Feb-2010	(import)