 ZMA 30152 Click image for a larger version | Near-Threatened A small broadbill of the Malay Peninsula (ssp. continentis), Sumatra, Borneo, and islands in between (nominate viridis), and some of the Barisan Is. off W Sumatra (ssp. siberu). Inconspicuous, staying motionless for long periods in the dense middle and upper storey of primary or mature secondary forest. Less widely distributed and less catholic in its habitat choice as Eurylaimus ochromalus [elsewhere on this site], but after clearance of much of the lowland forest will probably survive in hill forest and in larger patches of remnant lowland forest.
Items in the ZMA - 13 birds:
ZMA 10738 Adult male, 14 Sep 1920, Di Alor Parmba [= Alas Peurba (05°00'N, 97°10'E)], Aceh, N Sumatra, Indonesia, coll. F.C. van Heurn, ex Snouckaert, skin.
ZMA 10739, 30017-30018 & 46735 Adult [male], unsexed juvenile, juvenile female & adult female, 27 Jun 1916 (two) and 5 & 9 Jun 1914, Serbadjadi (03°23'N, 98°57'E), 58 m, Serdang, NE Sumatra, Indonesia, coll. L.P. le Cosquino de Bussy 233d-233e & 233a-233b, skins.
ZMA 10740-10741 [Adults, male & female], [1898-1904], Batangkuis area (c. 03°34'N, 98°50'E), Deli, NE Sumatra, Indonesia, coll. K. Waldeck, presented 23 Dec 1904, skins.
ZMA 10766-10767 Adult males, 24 & 10 May 1914, Long Paleban (02°44'N, 116°33'E), on Kayan R, E Kalimantan, Indonesia, coll. C. Lumholtz 381 & 328, skins.
ZMA 23558 & 32524 Adults, [male] & male, died 9 Jun 1970 & 9 May 1977 in the Amsterdam Zoo, skins.
ZMA 30152 [Adult male], undated [1930s], 'Sumatra', Indonesia, collector unknown, ex Colonial Institute, no nr., skin.
ZMA 37408 Adult female, died 5 Apr 1989 in captivity in the Netherlands, don. D. Bijlsma (Purmerend) , skin.
Remarks The races differ mainly in size, as the supposed colour differences of the plumage (purer green vs bluer-green) depend largely on wear, birds becoming bluer when worn. According to the literature, nominate viridis is smaller (wing male 92.5-100.5 mm, female 98-106 mm), and continentis is larger (male 98-106 mm, female 107-113 mm) (Lambert & Woodcock 1996). Our birds from NE Sumatra have wing 92-96 mm (male) and 96-100 mm (female), the males from Borneo have wing 98 & 99 mm, while the birds from captivity have wing 100 & 102 (males) and 107 mm (female). Apparently, the ZMA birds from Sumatra and Borneo are nominate viridis, while the captive birds are continentis. The species was frequently imported in the 1980-1990s in the Netherlands, apparently mostly from western Malaysia. Whether siberu is valid has to be checked with specimens: it is said to be large as continentis or larger still, and with darker and more bluish-green plumage (Lambert & Woodcock 1996).
De Bussy's 233c, female, 15 Jun 1916, Basilam [= Pesilam (c. 03°48'N, 98°20'E)], Langkat, NE Sumatra, has never reached the ZMA.
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