Subspecies Todiramphus (Todiramphus) sanctus sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

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CAVS: 8979

Subspecies Todiramphus (Todiramphus) sanctus sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827)

Halcyon sanctus Vigors, N.A. & Horsfield, T. 1827. A description of the Australian birds in the collection of the Linnean Society; with an attempt at arranging them according to their natural affinities. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 15: 170-331 [Date published 17 Feb 1827: publication dated 1826] [206] [first described and illustrated as the Sacred Kingfisher in Phillip, A. 1789. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island compiled from authentic papers. London : J. Stockdale viii x 298 lxxiv pp. 54 pls, and there confused with Alcedo sacra Gmelin, 1788 (=Todiramphus chloris (Boddaert, 1783)), see Mathews, G.M. 1919. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 7 pts 1–5 499 +xii pp. pls 325–370].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.15 imm., New South Wales (as New Holland, but holotype labelled New South Wales)
Comment: for identification of holotype, 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 (269); 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. (415); 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.
Alcedo collaris Forster, J.R. 1791. Tagebuch einer Reise nach Neu Süd-Wallis von John White, Esq. Magazin von merkwürdigen neuen Reise Beschreibungen. Berlin : J.R. Forster Vol. 5. [127] [junior homonym of Alcedo collaris Scopoli, 1786 (=Todiramphus chloris (Boddaert, 1783)); based on the Sacred Kingfisher on p. 193 and associated plate in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.]; later applied by the Forsters to Todiramphus veneratus (Gmelin, 1788), 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. (182); for further details, see Iredale, T. 1937. J.R. & G. Forster, naturalists. Emu 37: 95–99; Mathews, G.M. 1942. Additions to the list of Australian birds and other notes. Australian Zoologist 10(suppl.): 161–166].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on pl. opposite p. 193 in White, J. 1790. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales with Sixty-five Plates of Non descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. London : J. Debrett 299 pp. 65 pls [published before Aug.]), region of Port Jackson, NSW.
Halcyon westralasianus Campbell, A.J. 1901. Stray feathers. The Emu 1: 25-26 [25] [proposed conditionally under authorship of initials A.J.C. (= A.J. Campbell), and available under ICZN Art. 15].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (possibly NMV H.L. White coll. no. 936, ex A.J. Campbell coll.), Vasse, southwest WA.
Halcyon sanctus ramsayi Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [289] [basionym cited as Sauropatis sanctus ramsayi Mathews, 1912 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. and by 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 data:
Holotype AMNH 639405 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 1298), Parry's Creek, near Wyndham, north WA (as North-West Australia (Parry's Creek))
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.
Halcyon sanctus confusus Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [289].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 639497 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 5869), Cooktown, north 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

Keast, A. 1957. Variation in the Australian kingfishers (Aves: Alcedinidae). Records of the Australian Museum 24: 61-72 [68-69]

Distribution

States

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

Extra Distribution Information

All Australia and main offshore islands except rainforests and central and western deserts, shrub steppe and grass plain—accidental trans-Bass Strait visitor to TAS and King Is., frequent passage migrant on Ashmore Reef, and rare transient migrant on Christmas Is., Indian Ocean.

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

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), 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), King (KIN), 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), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater, Territory of Ashmore & Cartier Islands

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

Australia
- New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin
- Northern Territory: N Gulf
- Queensland: NE coastal
- South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal
- Tasmania
- Territory of Ashmore & Cartier Islands
- Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
Indonesia
- Irian Jaya
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands

Oriental Region

Christmas Island (Aust. Terr.)

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, diurnal, mangrove, migratory, open forest, piscivore, territorial, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, anuriphagous, lacertiphagous, solitary or in dispersed pairs, feeds in pouncing sallies from mid-height arboreal perches, nests in hollows, both sexes share nidificational duties, breeding summer migrant south of c. 20ºS, present year round in north, fanning out to winter from Torres Strait islands, New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago to Solomons in east and through Lesser and Greater Sundas to Sumatra in west.