A type specimen of The Paradise Parrot Psephotus pulcherrimus (Gould, 1845)

Abstract

A series of letters written from Australia by the naturalist and collector John Gilbert, to his employer John Gould in London, was recently discovered in Liverpool City Libraries and has since been edited for publication (Fisher 1985). One of these is a copy by the thirteenth Earl of Derby of a letter from Gilbert to Gould dated 8 June 1844, written from the Darling Downs (then part of New South Wales but now in Queensland). The letter mainly consists of the description of a new parrot discovered by Gilbert in the Darling Downs, which he hoped might be named after him; a commentary that was later used verbatim in the type description of Platycercus pulcherrimus Gould, 1845. This species, now named Psephotus pulcherrimus (Gould), is the Paradise or Ant Hi Parrot, which has not been seen alive since 1927 but may still exist in remote parts of Queensland (Forshaw and Cooper 1981).