Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney
Author
Parnaby, Harry E.
Author
Ingleby, Sandy
Author
Divljan, Anja
text
Records of the Australian Museum
2017
2017-10-06
69
5
277
420
http://dx.doi.org/10.3853/j.2201-4349.69.2017.1653
journal article
10.3853/j.2201-4349.69.2017.1653
2201-4349
5237800
68F315FF-3FEB-410E-96EC-5F494510F440
Dasyuroides byrnei
Spencer, 1896a
Report of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central
Australia
,
Zoology
Part 2, 36, plate 3, plate 4, figs 1–4. (
February 1896
).
Common name
. Kowari.
Current name
.
Dasyuroides byrnei
Spencer, 1896a
; following Jackson & Groves (2015).
?
Paralectotype
. M.1140, male, skin mount, skull
in situ
, from “
Charlotte Waters
,
Central
Australia
” = NT, presented by
Prof. B. Spencer
, registered on
10 October 1896
.
Topotype
. M.1141, female, skin mount, skull
in situ
, details as per M.1140.
Comments
.
Dixon (1970)
designated a male in alcohol (specimen “a” of Spencer) as
lectotype
, and discussed the whereabouts of the seven original specimens listed “a–g” by Spencer. Dixon lists specimens b and c, and what she suspected to be specimen “g” in the collections of MV and notes that the whereabouts of remaining specimens are unknown, but that some are possibly in the AM. Given that “b” is the only female
syntype
, and assuming that Spencer correctly reported its sex, then AM.1141 must have been sent to Spencer after completion of the manuscript of the Horn report and therefore is not part of the type series. All specimens sent to Spencer before 1897 from his collectors were obtained by P. M. Byrne from Charlotte Waters, which included shipments of “males and females” in
October 1895
and
two specimens
in
July 1896
(
Calaby, 1996
). It is not clear if M.1140 is a
paralectotype
, or was sent after Spencer finished amending the proofs to the Horn Report, which Calaby states he received in
September 1895
. Some of Spencer’s letters to the AM have not survived, and there is no correspondence entered against M.1140–
41 in
the M Register. In a letter dated
5 September 1895
to the AM (AM Archives AMS9 Letters Received, S:65/1895), Spencer states that he hopes to send specimens of
Dasyuroides byrnei
“next week”.