Lucifer (1 Viewer)

I am not sure if this key entry is completely correct:

(syn. Calothorax Ϯ Lucifer Hummingbird C. lucifer) L. lucifer light-bearing < lux, lucis light; -fera bearing < ferre to bear (cf. specific name Cynanthus lucifer Swainson, 1827); "*Lucifer cyanopogon (Orn. - LESS. 1829.) BOIE. - Mexico" (Reichenbach 1854).

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OK here we can find L'Oiseau-Mouche Barbe-Bleue (Ornismya cyabopogon) and the plate here. Later in 1832 Lesson here mentioned Les Lucifers. But this is not a valid name. And in 1843 here

Race: Les Lucifer Calothorax, Gray - (pl. 62 à 64.) L'ois. mouche de Costa.....

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So I am not sure if Reichnbach here just misinterpreted the name.

Why not just after the devil?

In all likelihood, Swainson's species name inspired Lesson's 'race' vernacular, and Lesson's 'race' vernacular inspired Reichenbach genus-group name.
(Reichenbach in 1854 [here] attributed the name to Lesson, treating it as if it had been introduced as a scientific name, not just as a vernacular. And Lesson in 1832 cited Swainson's Cynanthus lucifer as a synonym of his own Ornismya cyanopogon, his first "Lucifer", at the end of this species' account [here].)

Incidentally: Reichenbach 1854 [here] is the first inclusion of a nominal species in the genus I could find (making Lesson's cyanopogon the type of the genus by subsequent monotypy, so far as I can assess); but there Reichenbach appears to attribute the combination to Boie... Would anyone be aware of a publication where Boie would have used it prior to 1854 ?

l_raty said:

Would anyone be aware of a publication where Boie would have used it prior to 1854 ?

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Remember ....

l_raty said:

Finding your way through Reichenbach's works is a bit of a nightmare. (Whatever your brain's size, I think. )

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