Species Todiramphus (Cyanalcyon) pyrrhopygius (Gould, 1840)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Halcyon pyrrhopygia Gould, J. 1840. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 2 Pt 1, 104 pls. [Dec. 1840 as 1848 in Vol. 2] [text to pl. 22] [as pyrrhopygia and thus a noun in apposition in combination with a genus treated as masculine by Gould in the protologue; first published as nom. nud. in Sept. 1840 in Athenaeum 672: 717, see Whitley, G.P. 1938. New species in newspapers. Emu 38: 63–64; first read at meeting of Zoological Society of London, Sept. 8, 1840, but not published until May 1841 in Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1840: 113, see Sclater, P.L. 1893. List of the dates of delivery of the sheets of the "Proceedings" of the Zoological Society of London, from the commencement in 1830 to 1859 inclusive. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1893: 435–440; according to the original description, all of Gould's adult and immature material from the region of the Namoi River is syntypic, qualifying the individual figured on pl. 22 of the protologue to be designated as a lectotype but not holotype under ICZN Art. 74(a), see Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129–180, cf. Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109: 123–246].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 21386 ♂ adult (Verreaux cat. no. 668), lower Namoi River skirting Nandewar (as Nundawar) Range, NSW.
  Paralectotype(s) BMNH (no. unspecified (Jardine coll.)); ANSP 21387 imm (Verreaux cat. no. unspecified)
  Comment: for identification of type material, see Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109: 123–246.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129-180 [Date published 28 Feb 1913].
• Halcyon pyrrhopygius obscurus Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [288].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 640230 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1290), 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.

  Type locality references:

  Mathews, G.M. 1913. A List of the Birds of Australia containing the names and synonyms connected with each genus, species, and subspecies of birds found in Australia, at present known to the author. London : Witherby xxvii 453 pp.
• Halcyon pyrrhopygius utingi Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List. Austral Avian Records 1(5): 118-120 [Date published 24 Dec 1912] [118].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 640281 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 14682), 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.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. [234] (based on Keast, A. 1957. Variation in the Australian kingfishers (Aves: Alcedinidae). Records of the Australian Museum 24: 61–72)

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

Northern and inland Australia, becoming scarce to absent in extreme N Arnhem Land and Cape York Peninsula—south to wheat belt in SW Australia, WA (Moora, Kelleberrin, Norseman), upper Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas and Murray Mallee, SA, the VIC and NSW mallee south-east to Bendigo and Albury west of Great Dividing Range, and locally through the Hunter River valley to region of Sydney—accidental further south to environs of Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, and uncommon to rare or locally absent in all moister coastal regions east of Great Dividing Range.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), 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), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, W plateau
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, diurnal, hummock grassland, low open woodland, low woodland, migratory, nomadic, tall open shrubland, territorial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, anuriphagous, lacertiphagous, solitary or in dispersed pairs, feeds in pouncing sallies from vantage perches, nests in burrows in banks or termitaria, both sexes share nidificational duties, variably migratory south of c. 25ºS, shifting there to breed in Spring-Summer.

General References

Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1 Non-Passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Courtney, J. 1971. Breeding of the Red-rumped Kingfisher at Swan Vale, NSW. The Emu 71: 174-175 (nidification)

Deignan, H.G. 1964. Birds of the Arnhem Land Expedition. pp. 345-425 in Specht, R.L. (ed.). Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land. Zoology. Parkville : Melbourne University Press Vol. 4 xvii 533 pp. (synonymy)

Fry, C.H. 1980. The evolutionary biology of kingfishers (Alcedinidae). Living Bird 18: 113-160 (synonymy and specific limits)

Goodwin, D. in Hall, B.P. (ed.) 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions 1962–70. A report on the collections made for the British Museum (Natural History). Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions, No. 33. London : British Museum. 10 pls col. pl. map xi 396 pp. (synonymy)

Lea, A.M. & Gray, J.T. 1935. The food of Australian birds. An analysis of the stomach contents. Part II. The Emu 35: 63-98 (diet)

Lord, E.A.R. 1935. Notes on the Red-backed Kingfisher. The Emu 35: 59-62 (movements, nidification)

Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)

McBride, A.P. & Dampney, A.R. 1982. Red-backed Kingfisher breeding in County of Cumberland. Australian Birds 16: 46 (distribution, nidification)

Peters, J.L. 1945. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Vol. 5 xi 306 pp. (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

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. (synonymy and specific limits)

van Horne, B. 1987. Nesting and foraging behaviour of breeding Red-backed Kingfishers Halcyon pyrrhopygia. Corella 11: 65-67 (behaviour, nidification)

History of changes