ABSTRACT
The Wallacean Region continues to be widely unexplored even in such relatively well-known animal groups as birds (Aves). We report the results of an ornithological expedition from late Nov 2013 through early Jan 2014 to eastern Sulawesi and a number of satellite islands (Togian, Peleng, Taliabu) as well as Ternate, providing details on numerous first records of bird species outside their previously known geographic or elevational ranges observed or otherwise recorded during this expedition. We also document what appears to be a genuinely new taxon, possibly at the species level, of kingfisher from Sulawesi that has been overlooked by previous ornithologists. Our results underscore our fragmentary knowledge of the composition of the avifauna of eastern Indonesia, and demonstrate that there continues to be a high degree of cryptic, undescribed avian diversity on these islands.
...
Scaly-breasted Kingfisher (
Actenoides princeps tax. nov.): On 3 Jan 2014 at ~2100m elevation on Gunung Tumpu on Sulawesi’s eastern peninsula (Table 1), FER observed a large male kingfisher perching silently on a branch about 2–3m above ground at ~10m distance for ~2 min before it flew into the distant canopy. The bird had a deep-blue cap and a beak that was mostly but not entirely bright red, with limited parts of the beak (such as the tip) more yellowish. The bird had a white throat and solid, unmarked, intensely orange underparts, with the orange reaching onto the nape in a collar, in a superficially similar fashion to the lowland-inhabiting Green-backed Kingfisher (
Actenoides monachus). However, the bird also had a conspicuous round buff loral patch and an earth-brown back with off-white scaling, confirming its affinity with the montane Scaly-breasted Kingfisher complex. The tail was mostly hidden by a branch but was probably all-brown based on suggestive glimpses.
The Scaly-breasted Kingfisher is a Sulawesi montane endemic with pronounced morphological variation across different mountain ranges (Coates & Bishop 1997). This complex may form a radiation of up to three species, and it was split into two by del Hoyo & Collar (2014). The complex is known from most mountain ranges of Sulawesi, but it has probably never been found on the isolated mountains on the eastern peninsula (Coates & Bishop 1997). The form we document from Gunung Tumpu, the highest and most isolated mountain on the eastern peninsula, appears to present additional morphological variation that exceeds the variation hitherto known within the complex. The observed individual differs from all other Scaly-breasted Kingfishers in its entirely orange and unbarred underparts (which are white with variable barring in other forms). It also differs from most but not all other forms in its largely red beak (Coates & Bishop 1997). As its resemblance to Green-backed Kingfishers in certain traits is highly superficial, a hybrid origin is extremely unlikely. It may well be the most distinct member of the Scaly-breasted Kingfisher complex. FER was unable to take a photograph. In the absence of a collected individual, this putatively distinct form remains undescribed.
...
Despite our failure to collect a type specimen, another significant result of our fieldwork is the discovery of a distinct, new taxon of kingfisher on the highest mountain of the eastern peninsula of Sulawesi that has previously gone unnoticed and represents some of the most distinct morphological variation within its species complex. The new population of Scaly-breasted Kingfisher (
Actenoides princeps tax. nov.) may well turn out to be sufficiently differentiated to constitute a species-level lineage. Future collecting efforts in eastern Sulawesi will need to specifically target this bird.
