page_title: Jerdon's courser
section_title: Taxonomy
hierarchical_section_title: Jerdon's courser / Taxonomy
caption_attribution_description: English: Jerdon's Courser egg displayed in Zoology Museum, University of Aberdeen
context_page_description: Jerdon's courser is a nocturnal bird belonging to the pratincole and courser family Glareolidae endemic to India. The bird was discovered by the surgeon-naturalist Thomas C. Jerdon in 1848 but not seen again until its rediscovery in 1986. This courser is a restricted-range endemic found locally in India in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh. It is currently known only from the Sri Lankamalleswara Wildlife Sanctuary, where it inhabits sparse scrub forest with patches of bare ground.
context_section_description: The species was first collected by Thomas C. Jerdon from somewhere in the Eastern Ghats. The specimen was presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal where the curator, Edward Blyth described it, naming it as Macrotarsius rhinoptilus. These collections were moved to the Indian Museum in 1866 following a financial crisis. Some specimens had been mounted and exhibited for the public but John Anderson moved the type specimens for safe storage in 1872. The type specimens used by Blyth were catalogued but the specimen used by Blyth was already missing. A second catalogue by W.L. Sclater in 1892 also failed to list the specimen. The type specimen is therefore presumed lost. A second specimen collected by Jerdon was obtained by  Strickland and is now in the collection of the Cambridge University. This specimen was examined by Strickland who used the new genus and combination, Rhinoptilus bitorquatus. The label written by Alfred Newton notes the location as "Madras" and date as 1846. During this period Jerdon is thought to have received specimens from near Nellore or Cuddapah. A third specimen in Jerdon's collection was acquired by Thomas Campbell Eyton and then to Henry Baker Tristram, and the specimen is now at National Museums Liverpool. Several other specimens exist in collections but a neotype, replacement for the type specimen, has not been suggested.
caption: Jerdon's courser egg displayed in Zoology Museum, University of Aberdeen.
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