Ailuroedus melanotus

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COMMENTS: When Mathews described this form, he noted only that the type was from Bellenden Ker. Mathews had nine specimens from Bellenden Ker, cataloged as numbers 18157 – 18165. AMNH 679659 bears, in addition to Olive’s label, Mathews and Rothschild type labels with the number 18162 written on them but not cited in the original description. Hartert (1929 a: 55) listed the unique specimen collected on 16 November 1899 as the type, thereby designating it the lectotype. The eight paralectotypes are AMNH 679660, 679661, 679663 – 679668, five males, three females, collected by Olive on Bellenden Ker between 22 November 1899 and 19 February 1900. Each bears Olive’s unique field number, and the number ‘‘ 1550 ’’ that appears on each label may be a lot number of the skins purchased by Mathews. Both Mathews and Rothschild purchased parts of the Olive collection, and AMNH 679662 is a Rothschild specimen from Bellenden Ker that was never in the Mathews Collection; it does not include the number ‘‘ 1550 ’’ on its Olive label. Robinson and Laverock (1900) published on Olive’s collection, and on pages 623 – 624 reported that Olive collected many specimens of maculosus. By 1930, Mathews (1930: 892 – 893) himself considered fairfaxi a synonym of maculosus. See the discussion regarding species limits under A. crassirostris, above.