Perameles cockerelli Ramsay, 1877c [not 1876]

Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (ser. 1) 1(4): 310. (March 1877).

Common name. Common Echymipera.

Current name. Echymipera kalubu cockerelli (Ramsay, 1877c), following Groves (2005c).

Syntype. PA.471, by subsequent determination. Male, skin mount, skull in situ, purchased from James Cockerell, registered in the Palmer Register in c. 1878. Original AM metal tag with “471” attached to the right hind leg. The former existence of at least one other syntype is inferred but its present whereabouts is unknown.

Condition. Skin mount (skull in situ), faded, hole in the left side, torn ear tips and missing tail tip.

Type locality. Given as “ New Ireland ” (Papua New Guinea) by Ramsay. Flannery (1995c) considered the type locality to be an error, based on the current absence of bandicoots from New Ireland, and the fact that many natural history specimens obtained by Brown had inaccurate locality data, being either from New Ireland, New Britain or one of the islands of the Duke of York group.

Comments. Ramsay did not indicate the number of specimens examined. The taxidermist’s department lists preparation of “1 Perameles cockerelli sp nov” as a mount, in the AM annual report for 1876 (Ramsay, 1877h). We regard PA.471 to be a syntype and not a holotype because Ramsay appears to have based his description on more than one specimen. Ramsay’s account of the species, (which was based on external characters only), includes body measurements for two individuals but it is not clear whether both specimens were in the AM at that time or whether he was using measurements from another specimen, perhaps in the possession of Cockerell or George Brown. Whittell (1954: 155) states that all of Brown’s collection was sent to London, and that only Cockerell’s collection remained in Sydney. However, a few of Brown’s specimens (without data) were recently found in private hands in Sydney (I. McAllen, pers. comm. 2016). Ramsay (1877i) provided further brief notes on colouration and notes on dentition that would have been visible from a skin mount. Miklouho-Maclay (1884) illustrated the head of a specimen of cockerelli and implied (1884: 719) that there was only one specimen, a skin mount, in theAM Collection. His drawing is consistent with the head of the skin mount of PA.471.