birding-aus

Diomedea exulans Linnaeus,1758 is determinable

To:
Subject: Diomedea exulans Linnaeus,1758 is determinable
From: John Penhallurick <>
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 14:23:15 +1000
Re my speculation the other day that, on the basis of Medway's discussion
of the type of Diomedea exulans Linnaeus 1758, that the name was
indeterminable.  Many thanks to Chris Robertson of NZ for a long (and
expensive for him ) phone call. I believe he is correct in equating
Linnaeus's type (= the bird described by Edwards) with a bird from Tristan
da Cuna or Gough Island, the race or species corrently called dabbenena
Mathews,1929.  Edwards' wing measurements fit this shortwinged taxon much
better than chionoptera of the higher latitudes.  And it is much harder to
be confident about the length of Edwards's culmen. The uncertain factor is
that the Albatross population that used to breed on Tristan became extinct
a century ago, and we can't tell whether this was the same species\race as
the form still living on Gough I.  Apart from this, we can confidently
equate Edwards' and Linnaeus's birds with the smaller, short-winged taxon
that breeds on Gough I.  This also makes sense in terms of the geography of
the early voyages that first collected albatrosses.  So we have exulans in
On Gough I. (with dabbenena as a junior synonym); chionoptera on all the
high altitude breeding sites, antipodensis and gibsoni on subantarctic NZ
islands, and amsterdamensis from the Indian Ocean. This treatment of
exulans and chionoptera corresponds to what is in HANZAB, by the way.
John Penhallurick
Associate Professor John M. Penhallurick<>
Canberra, Australia
Phone BH( 61 2) 6201 2346   AH (61 2) 62585428
FAX (61 2) 6258 0426
Snail Mail  Division of Communication and Education,
            University of Canberra,A.C.T.2601, AUSTRALIA 

OR (Private) PO Box 3469, BMDC, BELCONNEN, ACT 2617, AUSTRALIA

"I'd rather be birding!" 
"Vivat,crescat,floreat Ornithologia" Hartert,Vog.pal.Fauna,p.2016.
"The market where possible,the state where necessary"(Margaret Thatcher)
"Sunt lacrimae rerum." Virgil, Aeneid,i,462.

Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Diomedea exulans Linnaeus,1758 is determinable, John Penhallurick <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU