ED.Steinheimer 314 Bull. B.O.C. 2002 122(4) Ruppell, E. 1845. Systematische Uebersicht der Vogel Nord-Ost-Afrika's [...]. Schmerber'sche Buchhandlung,Frankfurta. M. Sharpe, R. B. 1906. Birds. In Lankester, E. R. (ed.) The history ofthe collections contained in the NaturalHistoryDepartmentsoftheBritishMuseum,vol.II(3).Pp.79-515.TrusteesoftheBritish Museum,London. Steinbacher,J. 1954. DieTypenderVogelsammlungvonF. H. von Kittlitz. Senckenbergiana 34: 301- 305. Steinheimer, F. D. Inpress. Darwin, Ruppell, Landbeck&Co. -Importanthistoricalcollections atthe NaturalHistoryMuseum,Tring.BonnerZool. Beitrdge. Address: The Natural History Museum, Bird Group, Dept. of Zoology, Akeman Street, Tring, HertfordshireHP23 6AP,UK. E-mail: [email protected] ©BritishOrnithologists' Club2002 First confirmed record ofAgyrtria versicolor (Trochilidae) for Peru byAndre-A. Weller Received27December2001 Amongthefive species oftheNeotropicalhummingbirdgenusAgyrtriaendemicto SouthAmerica(Weller 1998, 1999;formerlyincludedinAmazilia),theVersicolored Emerald A. versicolor has the widest geographical distribution, ranging from the lowlands of southern Venezuela and eastern Colombia southward to north-eastern Argentina(Misiones)andsouth-easternBrazil(MeyerdeSchauensee&Phelps 1978, Hilty & Brown 1986, Sick 1993). Five subspecies are currently recognized (Weller 1999; Fig. 1):A. v. milled (Venezuela soWuth ofRio Orinoco, C Colombia, NEPeru, NBrazil),A. v. hollandi(SEVenezuela, Guyana),A. v. nitidifrons(NEBrazil),A. v. kubtcheki (interior S Brazil, C Paraguay, NEArgentina), andA. v. versicolor(SE Brazil). The closely related taxon A. rondoniae, known only from the upper Rio Madeira(WBraziltoNEBolivia), isconsideredspecificallydistinct(Weller 1999), basedonreportedsympatrywithA. versicolor(Ruschi 1982),contrarytoSick(1993) who suggested it was a subspecies ofthe latter. A. v. milled is the most widespread subspecies, being mainly restricted to the basins of the Orinoco and Amazon and their tributaries (Fig. 1). The western distributional limits wereconsideredtobe incentralColombia, wherethetaxonhas been recorded from Arauca and Meta southward to Caqueta (Niceforo & Olivares 1967, Hilty & Brown 1986; specimen data). Moreover, a number ofspecimens are known fromthe "Bogotacollections",butitmaybereasonably presumedthatthese birds were actually collected in the region east ofthe Andes because the taxon is absentfromthewestern slopeoftheCordilleraOriental andfromallothermountain Andre-A.Weller 315 Bull. B.O.C. 2002 122(4) ranges belonging to the northern Andes (see also Berlioz & Jouanin 1944). The same applies torecords from Merida,Venezuela (e.g., SMF 80554; see also Hartert 1900), this place representing most likely another commercial trading place, while specimens actually came from the trans-Andean lowlands. In the south-west of the taxon's range, no confirmation (but see Weller 1999) exists for Peru since Zimmer (1950) questioned a record from Iquitos, uppermost Rio Amazon, mentioned by Simon (1910). Unfortunately, the latter provided no further comments on this locality and later even excluded Peru from the range of milleri (Simon 1921). Other authors such as Taczanowski (1884), Hartert (1900), Peters (1945) and, more recently, Parker et al. (1982) and Ruschi (1986) did not mention aPeruvian record ofA. versicolor. Thereis, however, aconfirmedrecordofA. v. millerifromIquitos. This isbased on an apparently overlooked specimen deposited in the bird collection of the Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt/Main (SMF 80523). According to the original label, it was obtained in August 1885 by H. v. Berlepsch and collected in "N.O. (=northeastern)Peru:Yquitos,Amaz. sup."on6(?)May 1878byH.Whitely. Since Hellmayr (1910) and Stephens & Traylor (1983) indicated that Whitely conductedfieldworkintheIquitosregionbetweenApriland September 1878, little doubtsexistabouttheoriginofthisspecimen.HenceIquitos(Loreto, 106m,03°46'S, 82° 78 50°W 12°N Figure 1.DistributionofAgyrtriaversicolormilleri,basedonexaminedspecimens.Asteriskwitharrow indicates singlePeruvian localityIquitos; dashedlinesarepolitical borders. 6 Andre-A.Welter 31 Bull. B.O.C. 2002 122(4) 73°15'W; Stephens & Traylor 1983) is the only confirmed collecting site of A. versicolorfor Peru as well as the south-westernmost record ofmilled. The SMF specimen is most likely an adult male (as noted on the label) which is indicatedbyitsplumagecolouration,e.g.,thestronglyglitteringturquoisebluehead feathers, extending to lores and neck, and by mensural characters (bill including operculum: 18.2 mm; wing, unflattened: 48.6 mm; rectrix 5: 27.6 mm; cf. Weller 1998). Females and immatures differ in these features by their less glittering and more turquoise crown feathers. Moreover, females exhibit greyish subterminal patches on the outermost tail feathers and have generally shorter wings and outer rectrices than males (Weller 1998). The back and rump ofthe Iquitos specimen are slightly darker, more emerald green to bluish green coloured, than in individuals fromColombiaandVenezuelawhichhavetheseplumagepartsratherbronze-green. Like other lowland amaziline trochilines of South America (e.g., Polyerata fimbriata; Weller 2000), A. versicolor inhabits chiefly semi-open habitats like cerrados (in Brazil) andedges ofhumid and gallery forests, ranging from nearsea- level to c. 600 m (SE Colombia). The disjunct localities ofspecimen records forA. v. milleri, mostly located on riversides (Fig. 1), probably reflect collecting gaps ratherthandiscontinuitiesinrangesincethepreferredhabitatsarewidespreadacross Amazonia. Similar distribution gaps, resulting from incomplete sampling, are assumedforseveralhigh-altitudeAndeanbirdtaxa,amongthemmanyhummingbirds (J. Haffer,pers.comm.,Schuchmannetal. 2001).Assumingacontinuousdistribution withinthewesternpartofitsrange,A. v. millerimayalsooccurintheRioPutumayo and Rio Napo drainages and thus mightbe still present in easternAmazonian Peru. At the southern limits, no definite localities based on specimen records are known southoftheAmazon,thoughoneobservationofA. versicolorfromPortoVelho, Rio Madeira (Ruschi 1982), probably refers to this race. Acknowledgements Duringmystudies,thefollowinginstitutionsandtheirstaffkindlyprovidedloanspecimensorpermitted accesstotheirbirdcollections:AmericanMuseumofNaturalHistory,NewYork(AMNH);TheAcademy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (ANSP); The Natural History Museum, Tring (BMNH); Phelps OrnithologicalCollection,Caracas(COP);FieldMuseumofNaturalHistory,Chicago(FMNH);Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Bogota (ICN); LosAngeles County Museum ofNatural History (LACMNH); National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (USNM); ForschungsinstitutSenckenberg,Frankfurt/Main(SMF);andA.KoenigResearchInstituteandMuseum ofZoology,Bonn(ZFMK).Particularly,IthankG.Mayr,SMF,fortheloanofthespecimeninquestion. CriticalcommentsbyN.Crompton,Brugg(CH),G.R.Graves,USNM,K.-L.Schuchmann,ZFMK,and an anonymous referee helped to improve the manuscript. This study was supported by the German ScienceCouncil(DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft,DFG,Schu766/5-1),aFrankChapmanCollection Study Grant(AMNH),aJessupAward(ANSP), aFieldMuseumGrant,andaSmithsonianShort-term VisitorGrant(USNM). References Berlioz, J., & C. Jouanin. 1944. Liste des Trochilides trouves dans les collections commerciales de Bogota. Oiseau 14(nouv. ser.): 126-155. Hartert, E. 1900.Trochilidae. In: Reichenow,A. (ed.),Das Tierreich. 9. Lieferung. Berlin. 7 Andre-A.Welter 31 Bull. B.O.C. 2002 122(4) Hellmayr,C. E. 1910. Notessurquelquesoiseauxdel'Ameriquetropicale.Rev. Fr. Orn. 1: 161-165. Hilty, S. L., &Brown,W. L. 1986.AguidetothebirdsofColombia.Princeton,N.J. MeyerdeSchauensee,R.,&Phelps,W. H.,Jr. 1978.AguidetothebirdsofVenezuela.Princeton,N.J. Niceforo, H. M. &Olivares,A. 1967.AdicionesalaavifaunaColombiana,IV. Hornero 10: 403-435. Parker,T.A.,Ill,Parker,S.A.&Plenge,M.A. 1982.AnannotatedchecklistofPeruvianbirds.Vermillion, So. Dakota. Peters,J. L. 1945. Check-listofbirdsoftheworld,Vol. 5. HarvardUniv. Press,Cambridge,Mass. Ruschi,A. 1982. Uma novaespecie de beija-flordo Brasil:Amazilia rondoniae n. sp. e achave para determinarasespeciesdeAmaziliaqueocorremnoBrasil.Bol.Mus.Biol.MelloLeitao,SerieZool. 100: 1-2. Ruschi,A. 1986.AvesdoBrasil.Vol. 5.Beija-flores. EspressaoeCultura, RiodeJaneiro. Schuchmann, K.-L.,Weller,A.-A. & Heynen, I. (2001). Systematics andbiogeographyoftheAndean genusEriocnemis(Aves:Trochilidae).J. Ornithol. 142:433-482. Sick, H. 1993.BirdsinBrazil. PrincetonUniv.Press,Princeton,N.J. Simon, E. L. 1910. Catalogue general des Trochilides observesjusqu'acejourdans larepublique de l'Ecuador.Rev. Fr. Orn. 1: 257-270. Simon,E. L. 1921.Histoirenaturelledes Trochilidae(synopsisetcatalogue). Paris. Stephens,L.,&Traylor,M.A.,Jr. 1983. OrnithologicalgazetteerofPeru. Cambridge, Mass. Taczanowski,L. 1884. OrnithologieduPerou,Vol. 1. Rennes. Weller, A.-A. 1998. Biogeographie, geographische Variation und Taxonomie der Gattung Amazilia (Aves: Trochilidae). Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis,Rhein. Friedrich-Wilhelms-Univ.,Bonn. Weller,A.-A. 1999. GenusAgyrtria Reichenbach, 1854. Pp. 597-599 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott,A., & J. Sargatal(eds.),Handbookofthebirdsoftheworld,Vol. 5. LynxEdicions. Barcelona. Weller,A.-A.2000.Biogeography,geographicalvariationandtaxonomyoftheNeotropicalhummingbird genus Polyerata Heine, 1863 (Aves: Trochilidae). Pp. 47-54 in Rheinwald, G. (ed.), Isolated vertebratecommunitiesin thetropics. Bonn. Zool. Monogr.46. Zimmer,J.T. 1950.StudiesofPeruvianbirds.-No.59.ThegeneraPolytmus,Leucippus,and.Amazilia. Am. Mus. Novit. 1475: 1-27. Address: A.-A. Weller, Research Group "Biology and Phylogeny of Tropical Birds", Ornithology, Alexander Koenig Research Institute and Museum ofZoology,Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany;e-mail: [email protected] ©BritishOrnithologists' Club2002 Further observations ofa Microeca flycatcher from the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea & by Phil Gregory Jon Hornbuckle Received29December2001 The genus Microeca contains six species, in the family Petroicidae, the Australo- PapuanRobins,aheterogeneousgroupofsmalltomedium-sizedinsectivorousbirds in 14 genera (Sibley & Monroe 1990). The Microeca species strongly resemble the OldWorldflycatchersinappearanceandbehaviourbutarerestrictedtoNewGuinea and Australia, except for the Golden-bellied Flycatcher M. hemixantha which is