Species Trichoglossus rubritorquis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827

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CAVS: 0255

Species Trichoglossus rubritorquis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827

Red-collared Lorikeet

Trichoglossus rubritorquis 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] [291] [published without clues to restricted locality, see 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]; Mathews' (loc. cit.) restriction of the type locality to Derby is illogical because that port was not established until the 1880s—instead, northwest Australia, including Arnhem Land and the Kimberley Division, is as precise a location as possible, given the likelihood that the holotype came from either the collections of Robert Brown, or the coastal explorations of P.P. King, or the attempted settlements at Port Essington or Fort Dundas, Melville Is., before 1826].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH 1863.7.7.55 unsexed adult (ex Linnean Society of London coll.), northwest coast of Australia (as New Holland)
Comment: for deposition and identification of holotype, 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 (60); 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. (416); 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.
Trichoglossus rubritorquatus Finsch, O. 1868. Die Papageien, monographisch bearbeitet. Leiden : E.J. Brill Vol. 2 vii 996 pp., 5 pls. [824] [unjustified emendation of Trichoglossus rubritorquis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827].
Trichoglossus rubritorques 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. [60] [unjustified emendation of Trichoglossus rubritorquis Vigors & Horsfield, 1827].
Trichoglossus rubritorquis melvillensis Mathews, G.M. 1912. Additions and corrections to my Reference List to the Birds of Australia. Austral Avian Records 1(2): 25-52 [Date published 2 Apr 1912] [35] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 617445 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 10876), Melville Island, NT
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.
Type locality references:
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. [139] (based on Condon, H.T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia Pt 1 Non-passerines. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union xx 311 pp.)

Introduction

Assigned to subspecies status, to follow recognition of a single species T. haematodus by Christidis and Boles (2008: 153), although these authors state that changes are likely when detailed studies are carried out.

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal Kimberley Division, Arnhem Land and S Gulf of Carpentaria, west to Dampier Land (Broome), WA, south to the Fitzroy-Margaret Rivers, upper Ord, middle Victoria and S Roper River drainages, WA/NT, and east along the Gulf of Carpentaria drainage to the lower Leichhardt River, QLD, where it abuts on T. h. moluccanus (Gmelin, 1788)-T. h. septentrionalis Robinson, 1900—also main off-shore islands, e.g., Melville-Bathurst, Groote Eylandt, Sir Edward Pellew group, and straggling to Torres Strait, also Kisar and (?)Romang in Lesser Sundas—erratic in south coastal Australian cities as aviary escapees.

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

NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

Australia
- Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
- Queensland: N Gulf
- Western Australia: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, closed forest, diurnal, frugivorous, gregarious, mellivore, nomadic, open forest, tall forest, volant, woodland.

Extra Ecological Information

Seasonal breeder, feeds on nectar, pollen, fruit-flesh and (accidentally?) seeds and insects in tree crowns in eucalypt and paperbark woodlands and forests and in pockets of rainforest and mangroves, flocks and roosts in communal groups, flies directly on swiftly beating wings, nests on bed of wood dust in tree hollows, incubation by female, both sexes rear whitish-downed, dark-billed chicks, wanders locally and regionally to seasonal food sources.