Australian Biological Resources Study

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CAVS: 8869

Subspecies Eolophus roseicapilla roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817)

 

Generic Combinations

  • Eolophus roseicapillus roseicapillus (Vieillot, 1817).

 

Introduction

The holotype of Cacatua roseicapilla Vieillot, 1817 was collected by the Baudin Expedition (1801–1803); although the stand on which it is mounted carries the reference 'donnée au M. Péron au Port Jackson', where the Baudin expedition put in for much of 1802, both the identity of the type and itinerary of the expedition are consistent with the specimen having come from Shark Bay, Western Australia (Whittell 1954, Streseman 1951). The specimen is further known to be the WA form with grey crustose orbital skin (I.C. Rowley, pers. comm. [in Schodde 1997]), consistent with the name roseicapilla, the original description '… la tête, le cou et tout le dessous du corps rose …', and the figure of the holotype (as Cacatua rosea Vieillot, 1822) on pl. 25 in Vieillot (1822) — see also: Mathews (1920); Mathews (1925); and Zimmer (1926). The holotype is also described and figured as Psittacus eos Kuhl, 1820 in Temminck et al. (1838, pl. 81). The holotype of E. roseicapilla Vieillot survives today as a worn and rather grimy skin in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris (Voisin & Voisin 2008, Schodde 2016).

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia


Extra Distribution Information

Coastal, subcoastal and inland W Australia, north to the southern fringes of the Eighty Mile Beach and Great Sandy Desert (including the Pilbara), WA—east erratically to the Tanami Desert and sparsely through the Gibson and Great Victoria Desert, WA to the central Australian ranges, NT (Murchison-Davenport, Macdonnell-Reynolds, Petermann-Mann and ?Birksgate Ranges)—and south formerly to western fringes of Nullarbor Plain and the mulga-eucalypt line (Shark Bay to Goongarrie just north of Kalgoorlie and Coonara), WA, before European settlement, and now breeding south to Katanning and towards Balladonia—still scarce to absent along south coast (Israelite Bay to Cape Leeuwin) and missing from Nullarbor Plain—sight records from S Kimberley Division (Derby) unconfirmed. Intergrades with E. r. albiceps Schodde, 1989 through centralian range systems.


Note that conversion of the original AFD map of states, drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones to IBRA and IMCRA regions may have produced errors. The new maps will be reviewed and corrected as updates occur. The maps may not indicate the entire distribution. See further details below.
IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)
drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones (map not available)

IBRA

NT, SA, WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Murchison (MUR), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

  • Australia
    • Northern Territory: W plateau
    • South Australia: W plateau
    • Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, diurnal, granivore, gregarious, low open shrubland, low open woodland, low woodland, nomadic, open scrub, sedentary, tall open shrubland, terrestrial, tussock grassland, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, sexually dimorphic, feeds communally on ground and in fruiting shrubs on seeds, including cereals, flocks in small to large groups, flies with deep, erratic wing beats with little gliding, nests in tree hollows lined with wood debris, both parents incubate and feed pink-downed chicks, wanders regionally or locally to food sources.

 

General 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

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (type locality/distribution for Cacatua roseicapilla & Psittacus eos)

Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 3 pp. 217-296 pls 291-299. [Date published 17 Apr. 1917: volume dated as 1916–1917] [226]

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.

Peters, J.L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 3 xiii 311 pp. (type locality/distribution for Cacatua roseicapilla & Psittacus eos)

Rowley, I. 1974. Bird Life. Sydney : Collins 284 pp. [147-149] (general biology, behaviour)

Rowley, I. 1980. Parent-offspring recognition in a cockatoo, the galah, Cacatua roseicapilla. Australian Journal of Zoology 28: 445-456 (behaviour)

Rowley, I. 1988. Moult by the Galah Cacatua roseicapilla in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. Corella 12: 109-112 (moult)

Rowley, I. 1990. Behavioural Ecology of the Galah Eolophus roseicapillus in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. Chipping Norton, Sydney : Surrey Beatty & Sons xii 188 pp. (breeding biology, population ecology, distribution)

Schodde, R., Black, A. B. & Fornasiero, F. J. 2016. East or west: to which subspecies does the type specimen of the Galah, Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) (Aves: Cacatuidae), belong? Zootaxa 4067(4): 489–493

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. [103] (type locality/distribution for Cacatua roseicapilla & Psittacus eos)

Stresemann, E. 1951. Type localities of Australian birds collected by the 'Expedition Baudin' (1801–1803). The Emu 51: 65-70

Temminck, C.J. & Laugier de Chartrouse, M. 1838. Nouveau Receuil de Planches Coloriées d'Oiseaux, pour servir de suite et de complément aux planches enluminées de Buffon. Paris : G. Levrault Vol. 1. (livr. 14, 1821)

Voisin, C. & Voisin, J.-F. 2008. Liste des types d'oiseaux des collections du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle de Paris. 16: Perroquets (Psittacidae). Zoosystema 30: 463–499

Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 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)

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
10-Nov-2020 AVES 17-Mar-2020 MODIFIED
30-Aug-2016 Cacatuini 11-Dec-2017 MODIFIED
29-Feb-2012 29-Feb-2012 MOVED
18-Jan-2011 MODIFIED