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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

HBWAlive Key; mission accomplished or mission impossible? (5 Viewers)

Thanks Björn and James.
darbiski:
In the OD Mathews refers to his Handlist.
OD: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/22250#page/437/mode/1up .
Handlist: 795 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/226229#page/199/mode/1up .
In the Handlist he says unicolor is in North west Australia in Derby. The English pronounce Derby to my ear more like Darby. I cannot logically explain how Mathews gets to darbiski??? I think brenda needs to be added to this list. Key: brenda
Perhaps an eponym; no dedication or explanation given (Mathews 1912) (v. Zanda) (syn. Stomiopera unicolor).
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/104096#page/68/mode/1up . Brenda Wilson or Brenda Cooper???
 
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sungu.
Key: "Probably autochthonym based (see kuru); "CADRE SPÉCIFIQUE des oiseaux de la famille des LANIADÉES ... 39. Picnonotus, Kuhl., tricolor, fimbriatus, kuru, humeralis, virescens, cinereus, sungu, striga, simplex, velatus, oranga, rubricoccix, lineatus, leucomela, humeralis, occipitalis." (Lesson 1839, Rev. Zool., II, 198)."
The native name of Javan Cuckooshrike was Kepodang-sungu.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/181974#page/464/mode/1up .
autochthonym is more cool than native name.
 
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"Ptilotis unicolor brenda" MATHEWS 1912

mb1848 said:
...Brenda Wilson or Brenda Cooper??? Type Specimens of AMNH No. 9 page 104 says that unicolor brenda was collected by JP Rogers in 1911 on Coopers Camp so Brenda Rogers or Brenda Cooper.
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Good try Mark, but I think (simply following what's given here, and here) that the wife of John Porter Rogers* (1873–1941), was Kathleen Gertrude Rogers née Gillespie (1880–1915) ... thereby not a likely candidate for "brenda". ;)

Instead I would look for a Brenda (name/place/person) somehow connected to Melville Island. Or, of course, to the Rogers couple, possibly another relative ... alt. in the extended Family/group/crowd of Mathews himself.

Which Wilson were/are you thinking of?

Björn

______________________________________
* Mr Rogers was born in Tallarook, Victoria, (as of here) ...
Apparently he also, on top of all "his" birds, had a Dairy Farm!
And participated in WW1. Busy guy. He died 10 July 1941,
at Albury (death notice, here).
 
Which Wilson were/are you thinking of?
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One of the birds of Melville Island is named wilsoni and another cooperi probably named for the camp but maybe a person named Cooper. Or for a barrel maker.
 
Zelica in Key:

"(syn. Phylloscopus ?Ϯ Willow Warbler P. trochilus) Undoubtedly a made-up name (perhaps influenced by the classics); "Zelica Trochilus. Zelica Yellow." (J. Brookes 1828, Cat. Anat. Zool. Mus. Joshua Brookes, pt. II, 84) "
Lalla Rookh is an Oriental romance by Thomas Moore, published in 1817.
Zelica comes from a character in the work 4 poems interlinked with prose. Moore also mentions trochilus.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lalla_Rookh/The_Veiled_Prophet_of_Khorassan .
 
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Zelica ... in Dutch and French

I also gave it a quick try...

• the Generic name Zelica J. BROOKES 1828 (here)

Compare with the Butterfly Rosema zelica*, based on "Van de Phal. [Phalaena] Bombyx ZELICA" (here, all in Dutch and French, ... which leaves me out of the Game ;)), alsco depicted on Plate 16 (XVI), fig. 2, 2C and 2D, here):
... de ondervleugels wederzyds als mede het Lyf en de Pooten, vuilgeel. / ... ; les deux surfaces des inférieurs avec le corps & les pattes sont d’un jeaune sale.
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Possible to apply on a Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus ... ?

For what it's worth ...

Björn

PS. Either way: Beware. Zelica is a tricky one to search for (lots of suspicious links "out there"!), apparently there's a Porn star by the same name!

_________________________________________________________________
*Also the reason for the earlier, today invalid, Generic name Zelica HÛBNER 1825 (in Insecta, Lepidoptera),
a Senior synonym of today's valid Rosema WALKER 1855, type species (by monotypy) "Phalaena zelica" STOLL 1790 ...,
all according to ICZN/Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 47(3): 233-234 (1990), here.
 
Thank you James. The Key:
Zelica
(syn. Phylloscopus Ϯ Willow Warbler P. trochilus) Zelica, an ill-fated maiden who becomes the bride of the demon Mokanna, but is mistakenly killed by her lover Azim; her tragedy forms part of the story of "Lalla Rookh", the series of oriental tales by Thomas Moore 1817; "Zelica Trochilus. Zelica Yellow." (J. Brookes 1828) (Mark Brown in litt.).
Björn: Thank you for the link to Brookes' work, I just could not find it. For this exercise of finding meanings of bird name I think it is good someone else used zelica as a creature's name.
 
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Demelioteucus
Key:
Demelioteucus
(syn. Agelaioides Ϯ Bay-winged Cowbird A. badius) Etymology undiscovered (cf. Gr. δεμελεας demeleas, δεμελεατας demeleatas leeches (i.e. parasites); δημελεητος dēmeleētos pitiable; τευχος teukhos armour); "Familia 18. Icteridae. ... * 102. Demelioteucus badius. (VIEILL.), perm." (Stempelmann & Schulz 1890, Boletin Acad. Nac. Ciencias Córdoba, X (4), 399) (OD per Björn Bergenholtz).
xxxx
Friedmann in 1927 A Revision of the Classification of the Cowbirds, states that M. badius is not parasitic. Then he refers to Ridgway 1902.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/32361#page/233/mode/1up .
Richmond thanks Friedmann for showing him the source of genus Demelioteucus.
https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/15701/USNMP-70_2664_1927.pdf?sequence=1 .
This name has something to do with the fact it is not a parasite
 
Zelica

Good one on Demelioteucus Mark!

But let's return to Zelica ...

There´s also a Silkmoth described by the name "Cat. [Catocala] Lachrymosa, var. Zelica" (G. H.) FRENCH, 1881 (here) (today a synonym of Catocala lacrymosa GUENÉE 1852), and a species of a Pasha (Emperor) butterfly; Charaxes zelica (A. G.) BUTLER 1869 as "Charaxes Zelica" (here, also here), a k a known as the "zelica untailed charaxes".

Did all those guys, Brookes, Cramer, Hübner (all in #147), Doubleday (#148) as well as French, and Butler (this post), all got inspired by the same "oriental tale"!? I somehow doubt it.

And; why would Brookes associate an "ill-fated maiden who becomes the bride of the demon " with the Willow Warbler? I simply don't get it.

To me it looks like it has something to do with wings. Shape, pattern, colour ...

Or?

Björn

PS. "Paphia zelica" SALVIN 1869 (here)
--
 
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Zelica
We must not forget that naturalists in the nineteenth century were generally far better and more broadly read than their modern specialised equivalents. Most had benefited from a classical education, and enjoyed using names from literature and the classics. Their readers would have known exactly to whom they were referring. T. Moore's "Lalla Rookh" (1817) "enjoyed immense popularity, and went into 20 editions by 1840." (Drabble 1985). Examples from French literature include amazilia, and Cora, and names from the classics are legion.
 
Taphrospilus said:
... See also here p. 264 where the name seems already in 1790 in use.
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Yes, Martin, that is "Phalaena zelica" STOLL 1790 (or 1791?), alt. the "Van de Phal. [Phalaena] Bombyx ZELICA" that I mentioned, and quoted (in post #147), one of the main reasons for my doubt, simply as it clearly predates the story of "Lalla Rookh" (by Thomas Moore 1817) ...

Well, well, no reason to be stubborn, it's no concern of mine (there's no bird/s called Zelica/s in Swedish). ;)

I fold ... (on this one)

/B
_
 
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Zelica
It is highly unlikely that Brookes 1828 would have read or been influenced either by Zelica Hübner, 1825, or by its earlier tautonymous type Phalaena zelica Stoll, 1790. The literary reference to Moore's "Lalla Rookh" is the obvious source. As previously pointed out (Jobling 1991, pp. xx-xxi), Linnaeus supported the use of classical and mythical eponyms, and subsequent authors, such as Reichenbach, wholeheartedly endorsed their use to express relationships.
Tragic maidens were often at a premium (e.g. aida, gisella, zelica), the classics were extensively trawled for the names of hummingbirds (e.g. Archilochus, Damophila, Klais, Rhodopis, Sappho), water spirits loom large in the Tanysiptera kingfishers (e.g. galatea, doris, acis), and European folklore was often invoked (e.g. myrtha). However, just as often the name itself did not necessarily have to have any relevance to the bird being described, the authors delighting in names purely for their euphony and orthography.
 
James, I didn't mean that Brookes was influenced neither by Hübner nor Stoll, (it´s even likely he'd never heard of them, and of course, Brookes, as the bibliophile he was, could have read, and been inspired by Moore, nothing tell us the the other way) I just wanted to point out that the scientific name zelica had been used pre-Brookes, and as such it might/could have an alternative explanation (that possibly also could fit the bird) ...

Surely the name zelica was chosen, for a reason, by all those entomologists? (even if not transferable to the bird).

Björn
 
No problem. If I am spared I will get round to Key to Scientific Names in Entomology, after I have finished Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology and Key to Scientific Names in Mammalogy!
 
Key to Scientific Names in Entomology
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Insert image of The Scream by Munch.
I could never prove it but perhaps a young poet T. Moore looking for the name of a character in his poem for an exotic maiden looked towards a butterfly name. They are similar in my experience especially in the transition from pupa to adulthood. Moore lived in the new world for a time.
 
James Jobling said:
No problem. If I am spared I will get round to Key to Scientific Names in Entomology, after I have finished Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology and Key to Scientific Names in Mammalogy!
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James, we're all looking forward to the completion of those three Keys ... meanwhile we´ll celebrate your two-hundredth birthday. ;)
 

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