Subspecies Tanysiptera (Uralcyon) sylvia sylvia Gould, 1850

Museums

Regional Maps

• Tanysiptera sylvia Gould, J. 1850. A brief account of the researches in natural history of John McGillivray, Esq., the naturalist attached to H.M. surveying ship the Rattlesnake, on the north-eastern coasts of Australia, New Guinea &c. Contributions to Ornithology Jardine 1850: 92-107 [105] [published concurrently by Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1850: 200 (Feb. 1851) and in Gould, J. 1869. The Birds of Australia. Supplement. London : J. Gould 81 pls pp. [Pt 3, 1859]; only those specimens collected by J. Macgillivray on H.M.S. Rattlesnake are syntypes, 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.—these are not necessarily the birds illustrated on pl. 6 in Gould, J. 1869. The Birds of Australia. Supplement. London : J. Gould 81 pls pp. [Pt 3, 1859]; type locality specified on p. 99 of original description].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) BMNH 1851.1.11.5 ♂ adult, Cape York, QLD; BMNH ♀ (no. unspecified), Cape York, QLD
  Comment: for identification of syntypes in BMNH, 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 (301); 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:

   Gould, J. 1869. The Birds of Australia. Supplement. London : J. Gould Part 3 81 pls. [1859]; 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.
• Uralcyon sylvia dydimus 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].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 640658 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. unspecified), Tully 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.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Peters, J.L. 1945. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 5 xi 306 pp. [219]

 

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

From north-east Cape York Peninsula, south to Mackay district; migrating to south-west and north New Guinea in winter, coastal E Cape York Peninsula and NE QLD, from Cape York, Jardine River and islands in Torres Strait south to Shoalwater Bay—accidental on more inland tablelands and as far south as region of Gladstone and offshore islands.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

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
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, anuriphagous, lacertiphagous, solitary or in dipersed pairs in rainforest midstage, feeds in pouncing sallies from arboreal perches, nests in burrows in termitaria in rainforests in summer, both sexes share nidificational duties, passage migrant through Torres Strait islands, winters in south central and N New Guinea.

 

General References

Bell, H.L. 1981. Information on New Guinean Kingfishers, Alcedinidae. Ibis 123: 51-61 (status at winter quarters)

Chisholm, A.H. 1932. The White-tailed Kingfisher. The Emu 32: 81-83 pl. 13 (discovery, distribution, movements)

Gill, H.B. 1964. The White-tailed Kingfisher. The Emu 63: 273-276 (general biology, nidification)

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

Nix, H.A. 1984. The Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher in central Queensland. Sunbird 14: 77-79 (distribution, movements, behaviour)

Rand, A.L. 1938. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 19. On some non-passerine New Guinea birds. American Museum Novitates 990: 1-15 (taxonomy)

 

History of changes

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