In reply to Mike Owen's request for info about the scientific name of some
populations of Western Australian corellas, I hope the following helps.
For a while now, since the 1979 publication of a paper by Schodde, Mason
and Weatherly in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club (99:
128-137) and which was called "Relationships and speciation in the
Australian corellas (Psittacidae)", the Western Australian long-billed
corellas (note lower case initial letters!) have been classified in the
species Cacatua pastinator. In 1987, the late Julian Ford published a
short article in the Western Australian Naturalist (16: 172-176) called New
subspecies of the Grey Shrike-thrush and Long-billed Corella from Western
Australia. The corella subspecies he named was Cacatua pastinator butleri.
The latest publication bearing on the subject is of course the Zoological
Catalogue of Australia volume dealing with Australian parrots published
recently by CSIRO and authored by Dick Schodde and Ian Mason. They
recognize the western long-billeds as the Western Corella Cacatua
pastinator, with two subspecies C. p. pastinator and C. p. derbyi. Ford's
name of C. p. butleri has been synonymized with C. p. derbyi in their work.
The eastern long-billeds are recognized as the Long-billed Corella Cacatua
tenuirostris with no subspecies, and the other Australian corellas are
recognized as the Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea, with several subspecies.
I guess the last word may not have been said on corella relationships and
taxonomy! Certainly a fascinating group of birds.
Cheers
Leo Joseph
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