Systematic notes on Asian birds. 9. The “Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées” of Temminck & Laugier (1820-1839)

The “Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées” of Temminck & Laugier (1820-1839) contains many descriptions of new birds and is of fundamental importance to the history of ornithology. A new detailed review of the evidence presented by the book itself has brought clarity to the relationships between the plates and the livraisons2 of which they were a part. The opportunity has been taken to provide a fresh list of dates for the livraisons, this contains minor changes to that of Zimmer (1926) and the earlier, more widely known one of Sherborn (1898). After this study reached its conclusions important new information has come to light, which confirms the main findings. The second part of this paper reviews specific cases investigated. These relate to Asian taxa. There is every probability that similar cases will be found in the context of some names given to birds from other regions. Various appendices provide details to assist future workers, who will now want to assess the dates used in their regions, and one appendix summarises changes needed based on this work.