Gender agreement. (1 Viewer)

[jmorlan]

I noticed that the most recent IOC checklist v13.2 changed the genus of the Chat Flycatcher to Agricola from Melaenornis.. This brings IOC into agreement with Clements/eBird. But I wonder about gender agreement between Agricola (female) and infuscatus (male)? Did somebody decide that nfuscatus is not an adjective?

Thanks.

 

[gusasp]

I noticed that the most recent IOC checklist v13.2 changed the genus the Chat Flycatcher to Agricola from Melaenornis.. This brings IOC into agreement with Clements/eBird. But
I wonder about gender agreement between Agricola (female) and infuscatus (male)? Did somebody decide that nfuscatus is not an adjective?

Thanks.

Is Agricola feminine though? Without any further insights, just compare Saxicola, Monticola, Pinicola and Bambusicola, all masculine.

 

[mb1848]

Agricola has two type species in the OD infuscata and baroica.
http://www.zoonomen.net/cit/RI/Genera/A/a00317a.jpg .
http://www.zoonomen.net/cit/RI/Genera/A/a00317a.jpg .
Saxicola "baroica" .

 

[D Halas]

Is Agricola feminine though? Without any further insights, just compare Saxicola, Monticola, Pinicola and Bambusicola, all masculine.

Yes, agricola is a masculine noun:

agricola - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

 

[l_raty]

Nouns ending in -cola in Latin can be feminine or masculine, depending on the actual biological gender of the "dweller" they denote.
Agricola -- literally "dweller of the fields" -- is a farmer, and farmers were men, thus the noun is masculine.

 

[jmorlan]

Thanks all!

 

[Gonçalo Elias]

Nouns ending in -cola in Latin can be feminine or masculine, depending on the actual biological gender of the "dweller" they denote.
Agricola -- literally "dweller of the fields" -- is a farmer, and farmers were men, thus the noun is masculine.

Interesting, but what about Saxicola rubetra? It lives in the rocks (Saxum) and seems to be feminine here...

 

[l_raty]

Interesting, but what about Saxicola rubetra? It lives in the rocks (Saxum) and seems to be feminine here...

rubetra is not an adjective, it's an old name for the bird.

 

[Jim LeNomenclatoriste]

Interesting, but what about Saxicola rubetra? It lives in the rocks (Saxum) and seems to be feminine here...

Rubetra was the name given by Roman people for the ”Traquet" or "Tarier" (Stonechat and Winchat) then used since Linnaeus in binomial nomenclature. Its Greek equivalent is Batis.

 

[James Jobling]

Here are The Key entries:

RUBETRA

● (Muscicapidae; quasi-syn. Saxicola † Whinchat S. rubetra) Specific name Motacilla Rubetra Linnaeus, 1758; "The redstart's song considerably resembles that of the migrant furze-chat or "whinchat" of authors (saxicola-rubetra migratoria), consisting of short and rather plaintive detached staves" (Blyth 1836). The Richmond Card Index considers this name as a subgenus of Saxicola, but the text suggests to me a latinization of "the migrant furze-chat" rather than a nomenclatural statement.
● (Muscicapidae; syn. Saxicola † Common Stonechat S. torquatus rubicola) Late Med. L. rubetra small bird identified with the Stonechat by Gaza 1476 and Turner 1544; "BLACKCAP (Curruca atricapilla, Brisson). A variety of small black-headed birds are designated in different parts of Britain by the term Blackcap. The great titmouse (Parus fringillago), the marsh titmouse (P. palustris), the black-headed or reed bunting (Emberiza schœniclus), the stonechat (Rubetra rubicola), and even the black-headed gull, are all frequently called by this name" (Partington 1834); "Rubetra Partington, 1834, The British Cyclopaedia Nat. Hist, I, p. 506. Type, by monotypy, Rubetra rubicola Partington, 1834 = Motacilla rubicola Linnaeus, 1766." (JAJ 2021).

rubetra

● Late Med. L. rubetra small bird identified with the Stonechat Saxicola by Gaza 1476, and Turner 1544; the “Chat-like Pepoaza” of Hellmayr 1927 (Neoxolmis).
● Albin’s 1731, name “Rubetra” for the Whinchat. Many early authors, including Linnaeus, confused the Whinchat and the Western Stonechat, using rubetra as a translation of Aristotle’s βατις batis a grub-eating bird, with ref. to the chats’ habitat (Gr. βατος batos bramble; L. rubus bramble ); "99. MOTACILLA. ... Rubetra. 18. M. nigricans, superciliis albis, macula alarum alba, gula pectoreque flavescente. Fn. svec. 218. & 230. t. 1. f. 3, 4. Muscicapa s. Oenanthe tertia. Aldr. orn. 735. Raj. av. 76. n. 4. Will. orn. 169. t. 41. f. 5. Curruca major altera. Frisch. av. . t. 22. f. 2. Rubetra. Alb. av. I. p. 50. t. 52. Ficedula s. Atricapilla alia. Jonst. av. . t. 45. f. ult. Ficedula 3. aldrovandi. Edw. av. 30. t. 30. Habitat in Europa." (Linnaeus 1758) (Saxicola) (see Batis).

 

[l_raty]

RUBETRA

● (Muscicapidae; quasi-syn. Saxicola † Whinchat S. rubetra) Specific name Motacilla Rubetra Linnaeus, 1758; "The redstart's song considerably resembles that of the migrant furze-chat or "whinchat" of authors (saxicola-rubetra migratoria), consisting of short and rather plaintive detached staves" (Blyth 1836). The Richmond Card Index considers this name as a subgenus of Saxicola, but the text suggests to me a latinization of "the migrant furze-chat" rather than a nomenclatural statement.
● (Muscicapidae; syn. Saxicola † Common Stonechat S. torquatus rubicola) Late Med. L. rubetra small bird identified with the Stonechat by Gaza 1476 and Turner 1544; "BLACKCAP (Curruca atricapilla, Brisson). A variety of small black-headed birds are designated in different parts of Britain by the term Blackcap. The great titmouse (Parus fringillago), the marsh titmouse (P. palustris), the black-headed or reed bunting (Emberiza schœniclus), the stonechat (Rubetra rubicola), and even the black-headed gull, are all frequently called by this name" (Partington 1834); "Rubetra Partington, 1834, The British Cyclopaedia Nat. Hist, I, p. 506. Type, by monotypy, Rubetra rubicola Partington, 1834 = Motacilla rubicola Linnaeus, 1766." (JAJ 2021).

In my own notes, I have Rubetra Blyth 1833 (Oct) here, which is before the above two sources (Blyth 1836, Partington 1834).

In Oct 1833, Blyth included two species in this genus, "the whinchat" Rubetra migratoria and "the stonechat" Rubetra rubicola. The first one was undoubtedly intended as a substitute for Motacilla rubetra Linnaeus 1758 to avoid a tautonymous name but, in practice, was a nomen nudum here (it was made a substitute name for Motacilla rubetra Linnaeus 1758 explicitly by Blyth in the next issue (Nov 1833) of the same journal here); the second was evidently Motacilla rubicola Linnaeus 1758.

(My own inclination is to accept the name from the Oct issue, in which case the type is Motacilla rubicola Linnaeus 1758 by monotypy. But other interpretations may be possible, given that rubicola is not there attributed to an authority.)