Felix de Azara (1 Viewer)

there are a number of animal species named after Spanish officer and naturalist Felix de Azara, including Synallaxis azarae, Akodon azarae, Dasyprocta azarae and Aotus azarae.

My question is why is the specific name azarae (as if he was a woman) instead of azarai? Aotus and to a much lesser extent Dasyprocta are sometimes used with azarai but this is in the minority (usually azarae is used for both these species).

Treating the name as a first-declension masculine.

ah, that makes sense. Is it "proper" though, given that it is a person's name? Or "should" it correctly be azarai?

Groves used azarai for Aotus azarae (a species of douroucouli) in 1993, apparently on a ICZN ruling, but relatively few seem to have followed that since.

"ae" is how Latins most generally wrote "ai"... (Unless the 'i' had a consonant function, that is--but we would now usually write the letter 'j' rather than 'i' in most such cases.)

Masculine personal names with a genitive in -ae are in no way unusual. Standard Latin names (classical nominative in -a): Numa, Catilina, Murena (genitive Numae, Catilinae, Murenae); also names inherited from Greek with nom. in -as: Aeneas, Lucas, Judas, Thomas (gen. Aeneae, Lucae, Judae, Thomae); as well as a few other such names in -es: Anchises (Aeneas' father), Perses (gen. Anchisae, Persae).
Otoh, second-declension nouns or names in -aus are basically non-existent in Latin. (The only genuinely Latin nouns with a nominative that ends in -aus are fraus, gen. fraudis, and laus, gen. laudis: both third-declension words, and both feminine...) However some Greek masculine nouns/names in -αος were used by Latins in a way that produced genitives in -ai (eg. Greek Μενελαος, in Latin Menelaus, gen. Menelai). A name or noun with an -ai ending in a Latin text looks immediately pretty exotic, though.

The Code explicitly allows both endings: -ae (under Art. 31.1.1) and -ai (under Art. 31.1.2) (see the treatment of Poda in the examples that come with these articles), and protects the original spelling.

Groves used azarai for Aotus azarae in 1993, citing "Art. 31" of the ICZN (but overlooking 31.1.1 and 31.1.3). In 2005, he himself reverted to the original spelling.
(Note that "a ruling of the ICZN" would be a decision made on a specific case by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature. There was no ruling here, I believe; it was just a personal interpretation of an article of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.)

thanks very much I_raty. I knew I would get a thorough explanation on here at some point.

Trochilus azara

Vieillot named it Trochilus azara, Blanco de Baxo or Le Colibri Azara. See here. Unfortunatelly I can't find the name in the key. So what ist the synonym för this hummingbird? Is it really a Heliomaster furcifer (Shaw, 1812)?

LE COLIBRI AZARA "Trochilus Azara" ... a k a "Pico flores blanco de baxo" (here), with a reference back to Azara's Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los páxaros del Paragüay y Rio de la Plata, vol. 2, 1802 (here, on pp.491-492, or 509-510 of the 587 scans) and his "DEL TURQUÍ DEBAXO".

However, note that the Index (on p. vii, or p. 17/587), of this work by Félix de Azara, lists; "Turquí debaxo" on p. 491 versus "Blanco debaxo" on p.494!

If of any help?

Björn (... with no knowledge of neither French nor Spanish)

NÚM. CCXCVII.

DEL BLANCO DEBAXO.

Longitud 4 5/6 pulgadas: cola 1 1/3: braza 5 1/2:
pico 14 lineas, todo negro y un poco corvo.
La garganta hasta la cola es parda clara, con
pocos reflexos de oro en el costado del cuer-
po ; pero una tira á lo largo del pecho es
blanca como el vientre. Sobre la cabeza par-
do dorado, y sus costados pardos. El colo-
drillo hasta la cola y cobijas verdes azuladas
en conjuncion, y verdes doradas en la opo-
sicion. La cola está casi en el propio caso ;
pero obscurean las bordas y puntas, te-
niendo ademas una mancha blanca muy
notable en el extremo la pluma de afuera,
y un poquito el de su inmediata. Remos 15,
con salto del 9 al 10. Cola 10 plumas en es-
calerilla, la de afuera 2 lineas mas larga.

Click to expand...

"Blanco debaxo" is a variant of "blanco debajo", meaning "white below".

The description would translate more or less as:
"Length 4 5/6 inches: tail 1 1/3: wingspan 5 1/2: bill 14 lines, all black and slightly curved. The throat to the tail is light brown, with a bit of golden reflection on the body side ; but a stripe along the chest is white like the belly. Over the head golden brown, and its sides brown. The occiput up to the tail and coverts, bluish-green in conjunction, and golden-green in opposition. The tail is almost in the same case ; but the sides and tips darken, having also a very remarkable white spot on the tip of the outer feather, and a little one on that of the next one. 15 flight-feathers, with a step from the 9th to the 10th. Tail with 10 feathers, graduated, the outer one 2 lines longer."

A female-type Heliomaster furcifer seems to be reasonable match, I think.

HBW Alive Key updated ... now including:

azara / azarae / azarai / azarii
Brig.-Gen. Félix Manuel de Azara (1746-1821) Spanish Army, engineer, cartographer, boundary commissioner commanding the Paraguay-Brazil frontier 1781-1801, naturalist, ... [...] syn. Heliomaster furcifer (ex "Pico flores blanco de baxo" of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 297) (Laurent Raty in litt.), ... [...]

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However; even if not one of "my birds" ... For Félix de Azara's No. 297 I would say "Picaflor blanco debaxo, of de Azara", not "Pico flores blanco de baxo", which (as far as I can tell) was the version used by Bonnaterre/Vieillot, in 1823. Or what did I miss?

Compare to the "Picaflores" in the Index of Félix de Azara's book and note that he himself used the Spanish name "Picaflor ..." (on p.495, scan 513/587).

For what it is worth!

Björn

PS. Alt. simply like Laurent wrote it in his post #8.

HBW Alive Key re-updated ... and rephrased:

azara / azarae / azarai / azarii
Brig.-Gen. Félix Manuel de Azara (1746-1821) Spanish Army, engineer, cartographer, boundary commissioner commanding the Paraguay-Brazil frontier 1781-1801, naturalist ... [...] syn. Heliomaster furcifer (ex "Picaflor blanco debaxo" of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 297) (Laurent Raty in litt.), ... [...]

Click to expand...

Serenity rules!

/B

PS. Well spotted, Martin :t:

furcifer

Small question as the key of today states:

L. furcifer fork carrier < furca two-pronged fork < ferre to tend; -fera -bearing < ferre to carry.

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Why is ferre in there with two different meanings?

The entry for fero, ferre in Lewis & Short consists of two closely-printed pages, that in Simpson just half a page. They both give a plethora of meaning; to carry, to hasten, to fly, to obtain, to lead, to tend, to get, to suffer, to exhibit, to celebrate, to vote, to demand, to note, to conceal, etc. Furcifer consists of two nuances of the same verb.