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Oriental Cuckoo?

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Subject: Oriental Cuckoo?
From:
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 13:52:28 Australia/Canberra
Has anyone picked up on the fact that in HBW 4, Robert Payne, the world's 
leading 
authority on the Cuculidae, splits horsfieldi from saturatus, on the basis of 
song and size(see p.512).  I pointed out to Payne that Ian Mason in Schodde & 
Mason 1997 points out that optatus Gould,1845, was incorrectly referred to the 
synonymy of C.saturatus saturatus by Junge,1937,Temminckia,2,pp.197-202, on the 
basis of W.Stone's lectotype.  Mason points out that Stone's lectotype does not 
in fact appear to be a specimen of the taxon in question.  This means that that 
the correct name of the form breeding in Northern Asia (Horsfield's Cuckoo) is 
C.optatus Gould 1845.  As this is the form that migrates to Australia, Oriental 
Cuckoo (C.saturatus) should be taken off the Australian list.  As far as I can 
discover, it doesn't extend beyond Indonesia.

Any interest?

John Penhallurick


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