African Dusky Flycatcher

SCI Name:  Muscicapa adusta
Protonym:  Butalis adusta Isis 21 col.318
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Muscicapa
Taxonomy Code:  afdfly1
Type Locality:  labeled ''Le Gobe Mouches Ondule'' Auteniquoi ex Levaillant = Knysna district, Cape Province.
Author:  Boie, F
Publish Year:  1828
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MUSCICAPA
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Spotted Flycatcher M. striata) L. musca  fly  < Gr. μυια muia, μυιας muias  fly; capere  to catch; "Genus Muscicapæ ...  Le genre du Gobe-mouche  ...  MUSCICAPA" (Brisson 1760); based on "Curruca" or "Ficedula" of Gessner 1555, "Grisola" of Aldrovandus 1599-1603, Willughby 1676, and Ray 1713, "Stoparola" of Willughby 1676, "Curruca subfusca" of Frisch 1733-1743, and "Sylvia pestilentialis" of Klein 1750; "Muscicapa Brisson, 1760, Ornith., 1, p. 32; 2, p. 357, pl. 5, fig. 3. Type, by tautonymy, Muscicapa = Motacilla striata Pallas." (Watson in Peters, 1986, XI, 313). The Spotted Flycatcher is the archetypal flycatcher, perching stolidly, then darting out to seize passing insects before returning to its perch.
Var. Muscicopa, Musicapa, Mussicapa, Muscapa.
Synon. Alseonax, Arizelomyia, Butalis, Hemichelidon, Myiotheras, Stoparola.

muscicapa
L. musca  fly  < Gr. μυια muia, μυιας muias  fly; capere  to catch.

adusta
L. adustus  burnt  < adurere  to set fire to.
● ex “Ondulé” or “Gobe Mouche Ondulé” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 156  < French ondulé  undulating, wavy (Muscicapa).

SUBSPECIES

African Dusky Flycatcher (poensis)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta poensis
poense / poensis
Fernando Póo or Fernando Pó, Gulf of Guinea / Bioko, Equatorial Guinea (island sighted by Portuguese navigator Fernaõ do Póo in 1470).

African Dusky Flycatcher (pumila)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta pumila
pumila
L. pumilus  dwarf.
● ex “Ardea pumila” of Lepekhin 1770, and “Dwarf Heron” of Latham 1785 (syn. Ardeola ralloides).
● ex “Caburé” of de Azara 1802-1805 (syn. Phalaenopsis minutissima).

African Dusky Flycatcher (minima)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta minima
minima / minimum / minimus
L. minimus  smallest, least  < super. parvus  small.
● ex “Cabaret” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 485, fig. 2 (syn. Acanthis cabaret).
● ex “Petit Sénégali rouge” of Vieillot 1805 (syn. Lagonosticta senegala).
● ex “Petite Becassine” of Brisson 1760 (Lymnocryptes).
● "60. TROCHILUS.  ...  minimus. 18.  T. rectricibus lateralibus margine exteriore albis, corpore fusco nitente, subtus albido.  Avis mellivora minima. Edw. av. 105. t. 105. s. infima.  Habitat in America.  Avis minima inter omnes notas." (Linnaeus 1758) (Mellisuga).
● ex “Long-legged Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Xenicus longipes).

African Dusky Flycatcher (marsabit)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta marsabit
marsabit
Marsabit District, northern Kenya.

African Dusky Flycatcher (murina)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta murina
murina
Mod. L. murinus  mouse-grey  < L. murinus  of mice, mouse-  < mus, muris  mouse.
● ex “Murine Warbler” of Latham 1783 (unident.).

African Dusky Flycatcher (fuelleborni)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta fuelleborni
fuelleborni / fuellebornii
Dr Friedrich Fülleborn (1866-1933) German naturalist, academic in German East Africa 1896-1900 (syn. Campethera cailliautii nyansae, syn. Caprimulgus vexillarius, Chamaetylas, Cinnyris, subsp. Glareola pratincola, syn. Gyps africanus, Laniarius, Macronyx, syn. Melaniparus leucomelas insignis, subsp. Muscicapa adusta, syn. Ploceus bertrandi).

African Dusky Flycatcher (subadusta)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta subadusta
subadusta / subadustus
L. sub  near to; specific name Butalis adusta Boie, 1828 (subsp. Muscicapa adusta).

African Dusky Flycatcher (mesica)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta mesica
mesica / mesicus
Mod. L. mesicus mesic, of habitat with a moderate amount of precipitation < Gr. μεσος mesos middle.

African Dusky Flycatcher (fuscula)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta fuscula
fuscula
Mod. L. fuscula  brunette, brown  < dim. L. fuscus  dark.
● ex “Ondulé” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 156 (subsp. Muscicapa adusta).

African Dusky Flycatcher (adusta)
SCI Name: Muscicapa adusta adusta
adusta
L. adustus  burnt  < adurere  to set fire to.
● ex “Ondulé” or “Gobe Mouche Ondulé” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 156  < French ondulé  undulating, wavy (Muscicapa).