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
Petaurides cinereus
Ramsay, 1890a
Rec. Aust. Mus.
1(4): 77. (
30 September 1890
).
Common name
. Northern Greater Glider.
Current name
.
Petauroides minor
(
Collett, 1887
)
, following Jackson & Groves (2015), who elevated
minor
to species rank.
Syntypes
. (2, by subsequent determination).
M.362
, adult, sex indeterminate from skin but given as male in old, handwritten type specimen index card, skin mount, label with skin states “?skull”, skull not sighted. An X-ray image of the specimen taken in 2013 revealed that the skull is not in the skin.
M.363
, female adult, skin mount, skull
in situ
, both registered in
August 1889
, both marked as “Belideus sp nov.” and amended in pencil: “types of
cinereus Ramsay
”, collected by E. J. Cairn and R. Grant. Both specimens collected in 1889 (
Ramsay 1890a
). The old specimen index card has one card for both specimens and states “M.362–3 (Group of 2), male, female”, indicating that originally both skin mounts were displayed as a group. The original M Register entry of
August 1889
for both specimens is “Belidius
sp. nov.
” with no other data.
Condition
.
M.362
and
M.363
: both skin mounts with faded fur, wire is protruding through both manus and pes on both mounts.
Type locality
. “
One of the spurs of the Bellenden Ker Range, North
Queensland
”
Ramsay (1890a)
. The locality column of the
M Register
has in old handwriting “Herberton
Distr.
Queensland
fide Grant” against both numbers, added subsequent to the initial register entry.
Figure 21. AM M.5732, holotype skull of
Phascolarctos cinereus victor
Troughton, 1935a
. (Photography by Stuart Humphreys).
Comments
.
Ramsay (1890a)
states that
two specimens
were obtained but he did not cite registration numbers. He described a male specimen, giving external and cranial measurements, which is presumably M.362, but no information is given for the second specimen. We have not found any indication of the whereabouts of Ramsay’s male skull, or any indication that it is in the AM Mammal Collection.
McKay (1988b)
designated M.12809, cranium and dentaries only, as a
lectotype
. A very old label in the M.12809 skull box reads “
Petauroides cinereus
sp nov. skull from type of the sp” on one side and on the other “Belideus (
Petaurus
) cinerea large grey one Cairn and Grant”. Despite these indications, the skull has been identified morphologically and by DNA sequencing as a specimen of
Pseudocheirus peregrinus
(K. Aplin, pers. comm. 2013), thereby invalidating
lectotype
status. The systematics of
Petauroides volans
(
Kerr, 1792
)
and associated taxa are currently under investigation (K. Aplin pers. comm.) and designation of a
lectotype
is premature.