Thekla's Lark (1 Viewer)

Simon Wates · May 7, 2017

I noticed, while looking at a friend's Collin's Bird Guide app. that Galerida theklae is called Thekla's insted of Thekla Lark now. I suppose this is an update? As Thekla is named after a person the apostrophe does make sense; Dupont's Lark, Montagu's Harrier, Sykes's Warbler for example. Maybe everyone knows except me :-O.

Has this always been an oversight - or has it just been corrected? If so, a bit surprising for a european bird.

Mike Earp · May 7, 2017

Simon Wates said:
I noticed, while looking at a friend's Collin's Bird Guide app. that Galerida theklae is called Thekla's insted of Thekla Lark now. I suppose this is an update? As Thekla is named after a person the apostrophe does make sense; Dupont's Lark, Montagu's Harrier, Sykes's Warbler for example. Maybe everyone knows except me :-O.

Has this always been an oversight - or has it just been corrected? If so, a bit surprising for a european bird.

Thekla's was new to me but I see that it is now used by Birdlife International/IUCN (http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22717387; http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22717387/0) and HBW (http://www.hbw.com/species/theklas-lark-galerida-theklae).

sicklebill · May 7, 2017

Amazing, it is indeed an eponym, I just checked James Jobling's dictionary in HBW Alive (click on the scientific name and the derivation comes up), and it's named after a lady named Thekla, the daughter of the German ornithologist Brehm. I too had no idea, so Thekla's Lark it will indeed now be

Ian Lewis · May 8, 2017

and it's named after a lady named Thekla, the daughter of the German ornithologist Brehm.

I believe its one of just three birds recorded in the Western Paleartic named after women. The others of course being Eleanora's falcon and Lady Amherst's Pheasant.

If anyone knows of any others let me know.

Ian

Welsh Peregrine · May 8, 2017

Stella's Ida?

Nutcracker · May 8, 2017

Welsh Peregrine said:
Stella's Ida?

Glauca's Gull? :eek!:

Mike Earp · May 8, 2017

Anas penelope

Simon Wates · May 8, 2017

Mike Earp said:
Thekla's was new to me but I see that it is now used by Birdlife International/IUCN (http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22717387; http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22717387/0) and HBW (http://www.hbw.com/species/theklas-lark-galerida-theklae).

Thanks....so in wide use.

sicklebill said:
Amazing, it is indeed an eponym, I just checked James Jobling's dictionary in HBW Alive (click on the scientific name and the derivation comes up), and it's named after a lady named Thekla, the daughter of the German ornithologist Brehm. I too had no idea, so Thekla's Lark it will indeed now be

I seem to remember that the species was being described by another ornithologist (who's name I can't remember) and he named it after Brehm's young daughter, Thekla, who very sadly passed away at that time. I've always liked this name and will continue to do so in the fitting way!

aegithalos · May 8, 2017

Ian Lewis said:
and it's named after a lady named Thekla, the daughter of the German ornithologist Brehm.

I believe its one of just three birds recorded in the Western Paleartic named after women. The others of course being Eleanora's falcon and Lady Amherst's Pheasant.

If anyone knows of any others let me know.

Ian

Arabian Scops-owl (Otus pamelae)

Keith

Welsh Peregrine · May 8, 2017

Seeing post 7, of course we have the reverse with Dafila Scott being named after the generic (or subgeneric) name of the Pintail.

Simon Wates · May 8, 2017

and the Phoebes

l_raty · May 8, 2017

Simon Wates said:
I seem to remember that the species was being described by another ornithologist (who's name I can't remember) and he named it after Brehm's young daughter, Thekla, who very sadly passed away at that time. I've always liked this name and will continue to do so in the fitting way!

Alfred Edmund Brehm (the son of Christian Ludwig Brehm) described it and named it after his sister.

In sororis dilectae defunctae memoriam appellata. (= Named in memory of a beloved defunct sister.)

[here]

Simon Wates · May 8, 2017

l_raty said:
Alfred Edmund Brehm (the son of Christian Ludwig Brehm) described it and named it after his sister.

In sororis dilectae defunctae memoriam appellata. (= Named in memory of a beloved defunct sister.)

[here]

Thanks for the clarification....I thought I'd remembered incorrectly. So, a rather emotive name.

Nutcracker · May 8, 2017

Simon Wates said:
and the Phoebes

Onomatopoeic, their song goes 'fee-bee'. But whether the female personal name Phoebe is named after the bird, no idea!

Mike Earp · May 8, 2017

Not far from the Western Palearctic, there is Afghan Snowfinch Pyrgilauda theresae, which is sometimes known as Theresa's Snowfinch. It was named for Theresa Clay by her cousin Richard Meinertzhagen, who also named several other forms after her, some from the Western Palearctic.

l_raty · May 8, 2017

I presume sspp don't count?
If you are hard splitter, you may succeed adding a couple -- e.g., Motacilla werae (formed from a German-style transliteration of the first name of Вера Владимировна Бутурлина, Vera Vladimirovna Buturlina, wife of Sergei Aleksandrovich Buturlin), Ardea monicae ("Monica de la Salle" according to James' Key, but I know nothing about her), or Cyanistes hedwigii (Hedwig Sauer-Gürth).

---
PS - "Phoebe" (the name) is from Ancient Greek (φοίβη = 'the bright one'). Can't have been inspired by the call of an American songbird.

John Cantelo · May 8, 2017

Even before she was featured in 'Biographies for Birdwatchers' (Pub 1988) I've known that the lark was named after a woman who died tragically young. Oddly, until now I've never questioned why the bird's name didn't have an apostrophe as it should. Perhaps the oddness of her name accounts for it since many wouldn't have appreciated the bird was named after anyone.

MJB · May 8, 2017

Irena puella - Asian Fairy-bluebird. I know the derivation isn't as it appears, but imagining a bird named after 'the girl Irene' is impossibly romantic!
MJB

Björn Bergenholtz · May 10, 2017

I simply got curious on this sudden etymological spree, on various female commemorations ... (and a bit suspicious

)

Especially regarding the Mauritanian Heron Ardea (cinerea) monicae JOUANIN & ROUX 1963* mentioned by Laurent.

l_raty said:
I presume sspp don't count?
If you are hard splitter, you may succeed adding a couple -- ... , Ardea monicae ("Monica de la Salle" according to James' Key, but I know nothing about her) ...

Today's HBW Alive Key explains this eponym as:

monicae
Monica de la Salle (fl. 1963) French traveller, naturalist, collector (subsp. Ardea cinerea).

The reason for my suspiciousness is that in my notes (for my MS, not regarding this bird) I have a certain Monica de la Salle, a US librarian (of French Heritage), working for the (National) Audubon Society, in New York, in the late 1940's until the early 1950's, (from at least 1948 until 53/4), director of exhibitions (whose full name was Monica Avery de la Salle) ...

If she´s equal of the person commemorated in the eponym monicae is unknown to me.

Could be a simple coincident ... or not?

Have anyone seen the OD?

Björn
______________________

*Jouanin, C. & F. Roux.1963. Une race nouvelle de Héron Cendré Ardea cinerea monicae. L'Oiseau et la Revue Française d'Ornithologie, 33: 103–106.

l_raty · May 10, 2017

Calalp said:
Have anyone seen the OD?

I've not seen the entire OD, but snippets can be seen in [Google Books]
"de la Salle" seems to occur in the work on p.106 only. Neither "Monica", nor its French version "Monique", seem to occur in the text. This is what I can reconstruct:

Si ce fut pour nous un agréable devoir de dédier cette sous-espèce à Mme de la Salle grâce à laquelle l'un de nous a pu prendre sur le terrain une connaissance directe de ces oiseaux, nous ne saurions terminer sans exprimer notre gratitude à l'abbé R. de Naurois qui non seulement eut le grand mérite de faire connaître l'avifaune étonnante du Banc d'Arguin, mais encore qui n'hésita pas, dans un esprit de collaboration scientifique désintéressée, à associer ses collègues à son exploration. Nos remerciements vont aussi à J. Dragesco dont l'aide en Mauritanie fut aussi cordiale que précieuse, et qui a collecté pour le Muséum de Paris les deux spécimens sans lesquels cette courte étude eut été impossible ; à C. Vaurie qui, ayant récemment étudié la variation intraspécifique chez Ardea cinerea, nous encouragea vivement à décrire la race du banc d'Arguin avant la publication de son ouvrage « The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna » (Non-Passeriformes) et qui nous fit parvenir, pour comparaison un couple de jouyi choisi par ses soins comme typique.

IOW, 'monicae' is dedicated to a 'Mme de la Salle', whose first name is not explicitly stated, and who helped either Roux or Jouanin to see the birds in the field. She did not collect the types -- these were collected by J. Dragesco.

Thekla's Lark (1 Viewer)

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