The identity of the Chocolate Albatross Diomedea spadicea of Gmelin, 1789 and of the Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans of Linnaeus, 1758 | Notornis and Birds New Zealand

摘要

The Chocolate Albatross of Latham (which was the foundation of Diomedea spadicea of Gmelin, 1789) was based for all relevant taxonomic purposes on the painting by Sydney Parkinson of a Wandering Albatross taken in 1768 in the South Atlantic Ocean off the Rio de la Plata, Daniel Solander's manuscript description of the specimen indicates it was probably an example of the population breeding at the Tristan da Cunha group and Gough island, in which case dabbenena of Mathews, 1929 as the name of the subspecies would be pre-dated by 140 years by spadicea of Gmelin, 1789. Continuing confusion over the identity of the population to which the Wandering Albatross described by Linnaeus belonged has prompted a full examination of the sources on which he based his Diomedea exulans. As a result of this examination it is concluded that exulans as the name of the nominate subspecies of the Wandering Albatross is properly applicable to the larger southern populations which breed at South Georgia, Marion and Prince Edward, Gozet, Kerguelen and Macquarie Islands.