Subspecies Pezoporus wallicus wallicus (Kerr, 1792)

Museums

Museum list

Regional Maps

CAVS: 8913

Subspecies Pezoporus wallicus wallicus (Kerr, 1792)

Psittacus wallicus 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. [581] [nom. nov. for Psittacus formosus Latham, 1790, preoccupied; validated as a correct name with above authorship and place of publication by International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature Direction 43].
Psittacus formosus 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. [103] [junior homonym of Psittacus formosus Scopoli, 1769, indet.? see Salvadori, T. 1891. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Psittaci, or Parrots. London : British Museum Vol. 20 xvii 658 pp. XVIII pls (605); and Direction 44, International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature; based on a mutilated specimen with only wings and tail—type material not traced, possibly ex Leverian Museum, but not recorded in museums receiving its collections, see von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14–54; Von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Part II. Ibis 3 3: 105–124; Wagstaffe, R. 1978. Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums. Liverpool : Merseyside County Museums, Merseyside County Council 33 pp.; cf. Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (439–440)].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (probably lost, possibly ex Leverian Museum), region of Port Jackson, NSW (as nova Wallia australi).
Type locality references:
Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 6 pp. 445-516 + xix pls 317-324. [Date published 11 Dec. 1917] [488] (by reference to specimen(s) being 'forwarded by some settler of the first colonists', 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.]).
Psittacus terrestris Shaw, G. 1793. Musuem Leverianum, containing select specimens from the Museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever, Kt. with descriptions in Latin and English. London : J. Parkinson 248 + 48 pp. [217] [based in part on Psittacus formosus Latham, 1790, preoccupied (=Psittacus wallicus Kerr, 1792), cf. Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pts 1–6 xix 516 pp. pls 275–324 [publication dated as 1916–1917]; type material formerly in Leverian Museum, dispersed, and not traced in museums receiving its collections, see von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Ibis 3 3: 14–54; Von Pelzeln, A. 1873. On the birds in the Imperial Collection at Vienna obtained from the Leverian Museum. Part II. Ibis 3 3: 105–124; Wagstaffe, R. 1978. Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums. Liverpool : Merseyside County Museums, Merseyside County Council 33 pp.; cf. Whittell, H.M. 1954. The Literature of Australian Birds: a History and Bibliography of Australian Ornithology. Perth : Paterson Brokensha xi 116 788 pp. (439–440); syntype figured on plate dated Feb. 1793 opposite p. 217 of original description and refigured on plate 3 in Shaw, G. 1794. Zoology of New Holland. pp. 33 pp. in Shaw, G. & Smith, J.E. (eds). Zoology and Botany of New Holland, and the isles adjacent. The figures by J. Sowerby, F.L.S. London : J. Sowerby Vol. 1].
Type data:
Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (?lost, ex Leverian Museum, figured in Shaw, G. 1793. Musuem Leverianum, containing select specimens from the Museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever, Kt. with descriptions in Latin and English. London : J. Parkinson 248 + 48 pp. include that of Psittacus formosus Latham, 1790), region of Port Jackson, NSW (as nova Hollandia).
Type locality references:
Mathews, G.M. 1917. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 6 pt 6 pp. 445-516 + xix pls 317-324. [Date published 11 Dec. 1917] [488] (by reference to specimen(s) being 'forwarded by some settler of the first colonists', 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.]).
Psittacus viridis Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recent discovered objects. Embellished with coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with extracts relating to animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls & accompanying text. [Publication dated as 1810–1811, pages and plates not numbered. See Mathews & Iredale (1912) for details of publication dates.] [text to pl. 11] [junior homonym of Psittacus viridis Meuschen, 1787 (=Amazona farinosa (Boddaert, 1783)), cf. Mathews, G.M. 1926. Another new book, which necessitates changes in nomenclature. Austral Avian Records 5: 81–100; nec Psittacus viridis Latham, 1790 (=Eclectus roratus (P.L.S. Müller, 1776)); nec Psittacus elegans viridis Kerr, 1792 (=Platycercus elegans (Gmelin, 1788)); based on a specimen in the collection of W. Bullock, now dispersed, 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.; Stresemann, E. 1975. Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present. [Transl. H.J. & C. Epstein, Cottrell, G.W. (ed.)]. Cambridge : Harvard University Press xii 432 pp. (120–121)].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (?lost, ex W. Bullock Museum, figured on pl. 11 in Perry, G. 1810. Arcana; or The Museum of Natural History: containing the most recently discovered objects. Embellished with Coloured plates, and corresponding descriptions; with Extracts relating to Animals, and remarks of celebrated travellers; combining a general survey of Nature. London : J. Stratford Vol. 1 84 pls pp. [publication dated as 1810–1811]), 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].
Pezoporus terrestris dombraini Mathews, G.M. 1914. Additions and corrections to my List of the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 2(5): 83-107 [Date published 24 Sep 1914] [91].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 623820 unsexed (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Tantanoola Heath, near Glenelg River, southeast of Saws, near VIC-SA border (as Glengelly River, S.E. of South Australia)
Comment: for identification and locality 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.
Pezoporus melanorrhabdotus Brookes, J. 1830. A Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the remainder of the Anatomical and Zoological Museum of Joshua Brookes, Esq., F.R.S. London : J. Brookes Pt II pp. [unpaginated] [nom. nud.; published in the second sale catalogue of the Joshua Brookes Museum, a copy of which is held in BMNH; assigned to synonymy of Pezoporus w. wallicus (Kerr, 1792) by 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. 1924. In Proceedings of meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, March 12, 1924. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 44: 69–70, but name unavailable under ICZN Art. 11(e)].
Type data:
Syntype(s).

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

Peters, J.L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 3 xiii 311 pp. [272-273]

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Formerly on coastal SA, patchy along coastal south-eastern Australia and, locally, coastwards tablelands of adjacent ranges, north to Wide Bay (Cooloola) and Fraser Is., QLD, and south-west to Port MacDonnell, SA, formerly reaching S Mt Lofty Ranges and Adelaide Plains (Mt Compass, Torrens River reed-beds), SA—main centres today are between Fraser Is., Wolvi, Beerwah and Caloundra, QLD, lower Richmond River to Red Rock, Myall Lakes (?extinct), Budderoo-Tianjara Plateaux, and Green Cape to Cape Howe, NSW, areas about Mallacoota, Marlo, Wilsons Promontory, Westernport, Carlisle River, Ports Campbell and Fairy, and mouth of Glenelg River, VIC, and Port Macdonnell area, SA—formerly patchily present from region of Sydney to Myall Lakes, NSW.

IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Kanmantoo (KAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

Folivore, granivore, gregarious, open heath, sedentary, swamp, terrestrial, tussock grassland, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, feeds on seeds among wet coastal heaths and fields of tussock Gahnia, rather solitary, flies low and directly with wing beats punctuated by gliding on down-swept wings, nests on bed of twigs and leaves on ground under tussocks or shrubs, rears blackish-downed, yellow-billed chicks (parental roles of sexes not established), sedentary or disperses locally to seasonal food sources.