Black Baza

SCI Name:  Aviceda leuphotes
Protonym:  Falco leuphotes Dict.Sci.Nat. 16 p.217
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Aviceda
Taxonomy Code:  blabaz1
Type Locality:  Pondicherry.
Author:  Dumont
Publish Year:  1820
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

AVICEDA
(Accipitridae; Ϯ African Cuckoo Falcon A. cuculoides) L. avis  bird; -cida  killer  > caedere  to kill; "one we have received from Western Africa, and to which we have given the name Aviceda.  This subgenus, for as such we consider it, appears to follow that of Lophotes: both have the bills bidentate; both have remarkably long wings, and short tarsi; but the bill of Aviceda is much more powerful, while the feet are stout, and the claws strong and well curved. In the structure of its feet it differs from all the falcons we have yet examined. The tarsus is not longer than the hind toe and claw, and, from being feathered for more than half its length, it appears even shorter: the sole of the foot is remarkably broad, and is entirely destitute of those prominent callous pads which belong to Falco, Harpagus, and most of the hawks. Unlike all these genera, the inner toe is decidedly longer than the outer; so that the bird, in fact, may be said to have the feet and wings of Cyminidis, with the bill of Harpagus and Lophotes: it is a falcon in the disguise of a kite, — as such, at least, we view it; and by placing it next Lophotes, its station in the circle actually confirms this analogy." (Swainson 1836); "AVICEDA, Swain.  ...  A. cuculoïdes.  West. Afr. i. pl. 1." (Swainson 1837); "Aviceda Swainson, Classif. Bds., 1, 1836, p. 300 (diagnosis; no included species). Type, by subsequent designation, Aviceda cuculoides Swainson, op. cit., 2, 1837, p. 214." (Peters, 1931, 1, p. 195).
Var. Avecida, Avicida (“For Aviceda, Sw., write Avicida ... after the analogy of regicida, &c.” (Strickland 1841)).
Synon. Baza, Hyptiopus, Lepidogenys, Lophastur, Lophotes, Nesobaza.

leuphotes
Gr. λοφωτος lophōtos  crested  < λοφος lophos  crest, tuft.

SUBSPECIES

Black Baza (wolfei)
SCI Name: Aviceda leuphotes wolfei
wolfei
Col. Lloyd Raymond Wolfe (1891-1989) US Army in the Philippines and Korea (subsp. Alauda gulgula, subsp. Aviceda leuphotes).

Black Baza (syama)
SCI Name: Aviceda leuphotes syama
syama
Hindi syama  black-blue, dark-coloured (subsp. Aviceda leuphotes).

Black Baza (leuphotes)
SCI Name: Aviceda leuphotes leuphotes
leuphotes
Gr. λοφωτος lophōtos  crested  < λοφος lophos  crest, tuft.

Black Baza (andamanica)
SCI Name: Aviceda leuphotes andamanica
andamana / andamanensis / andamanica / andamanicus / andamanus
Andaman Is., Indian Ocean.