Subspecies Eurystomus orientalis pacificus (Latham, 1801)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Coracias pacifica Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [27] [based on the Pacific Roller 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] (371), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 64 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. (119–120); 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, cf. 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 (36)].

  Type data:

   Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 64 in BMNH), region of Port Jackson, NSW (as Nova Hollandia).

  Type locality references:

  Latham, J. 1801. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. 120-140 pls. [publication dated as 1801 - see Schodde et al. (2010)] [372] (cf. 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).
• Eurystomus 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] [326] [as Australis; first published as nom. nud. by Swainson, W. 1837. On the Natural History and Classification of Birds. In, Lardner, D. (ed). The Cabinet Cyclopaedia, no. 92. London : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman and John Taylor Vol. 2 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.] (333)].

  Type data:

   Holotype UMZC (institution uncertain), New South Wales (as New Holland), probably region of Port Jackson.

  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].
• Eurystomus orientalis bravi Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [285].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 643304 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1236), Trig Stream, Parry's Creek near Wyndham, north WA (as 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

• 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. [387]

 

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Throughout N and E Australia inland to northern fringes of Great Sandy Desert, WA, Barkly Tableland, NT, Selwyn Range, headwaters of the Diamantina, Thomson and Bulloo Rivers, QLD, and the Murray-Darling drainage at c. 144ºE as far S as N VIC inland of Great Dividing Range—also main offshore islands (including Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, all Torres Strait islands, islands of Great Barrier Reef, Fraser and Stradbroke)—accidental or erratic further south to the Pilbara, WA, and to Norfolk Is., Lord Howe Is., S VIC, TAS, the Mt Lofty-Flinders Ranges, SA, and Kangaroo Is.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

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)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf
  • Victoria
  • Western Australia: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Aerial, arboreal, arthropod-feeder, crepuscular, diurnal, low open woodland, low woodland, migratory, open forest, predator, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, aerial arthropod-feeder, flies in wide circling evolutions over tree tops, perches on high bare exposed branches, nests in shallow tree hollows, breeding summer migrant, winters north to New Guinea, Moluccas, Lesser Sundas and Sulawesi, and locally in NE QLD.

 

General References

Blackman, J.G. & Locke, D.K. 1978. Nocturnal flying height of a Dollarbird. The Emu 78: 163 (behaviour)

Christensen, V. 1954. Dates of arrival of three bird species. The Emu 54: 72-73 (movements)

Hyett, J. 1966. Dollar-birds nesting in southern Victoria. The Emu 66: 123-131 (nidification)

Lord, C.E. 1918. On the occurrence of the Australian Roller (Eurystomus pacificus) in Tasmania. The Emu 18: 136 (Tasmanian record)

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

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] (distribution, movements, behaviour, nidification)

Schodde, R., Van Tets, G.F., Champion, C.R. & Hope, G.S. 1975. Observations on birds at glacial altitudes on the Carstensz Massif, western New Guinea. The Emu 75: 65-72 [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)] (winter quarters)

Van Tets, G.F. 1965. Parental feeding of fledgling Dollar-bird. The Emu 65: 79 (behaviour, nidification)

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. (winter quarters)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		08-Jul-2014	MODIFIED