Phonygammus yorki Mathews

Phonygammus yorki Mathews

Phonygammus yorki Mathews, 1924: 17 (Black Gin Creek, Cape York).

Now Phonygammus keraudrenii gouldii (Gray, 1859). See Hartert, 1929a: 58; Mayr, 1962d: 180; Nunn and Cracraft, 1996; Schodde and Mason, 1999: 523–526.

HOLOTYPE: AMNH 677370, male adult, collected at Black Gin (Black Jin, as on label)

Creek, 10.55S, 142.22E (USBGN, 1957), Cape York, Queensland, Australia, on 23 December 1912, by Robin Kemp (no. 2180). From the Mathews Collection via the Rothschild Collection.

COMMENTS: In the original description, Mathews said that the type was in the Rothschild Collection (indicating that his collection had already been purchased by Rothschild) and was collected at Black Gin Creek, Cape York, on 23 December 1912. It bears, in addition to Robin Kemp’s original label, a Rothschild Collection label printed ‘‘Ex. Coll. G.M. Mathews,’’ a Rothschild type label, and a ‘‘Figured’’ label. This last label indicates that it was the model for Mathews (1926: pl. 593, lower fig., opp. p. 384, text p. 384) where the correct data are listed, but it is not said to be the type of yorki. However, this is the only specimen that was collected on Black Gin Creek by Kemp and is thus the holotype. No other locality or specimen was mentioned in the original description. I did not find it listed in Mathews’ catalog. According to Hartert (1929a: 58), this type is an individual variant.