Black-browed Fulvetta

SCI Name:  Alcippe grotei
Protonym:  Alcippe nipalensis grotei Orn.Monatsb. 44 no.1 p.24
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Leiothrichidae / Alcippe
Taxonomy Code:  bkbful1
Type Locality:  
Author:  Delacour
Publish Year:  1936
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ALCIPPE
(Leiotrichidae; † Brown-cheeked Fulvetta A. poioicephala) Gr. myth. Alcippe, daughter of Aries or Mars the god of war, and who was ravished by a son of Poseidon (or, according to some sources, by Poseidon himself). She is perhaps the most famous of half a dozen women of this name in antiquity (including a countrywoman mentioned by Virgil, an attendant of Helen in Homer's epic, a sister-in-law to Cecrops, and a courtesan); "lastly, the T. poiocephala, Jerdon, I refer to an extensive Malayan group, exemplified by Malacopteron, Eyton, which is my Trichastoma, XI, 795, and is hereinafter subdivided, the species in question falling under my division Alcippe, p. 384.  ...   Alcippe, Nobis.  Has the bill much shorter than the head, approaching nearly in form to that of Leiothrix; in other respects resembling the foregoing; but the toes generally are small and proportionate.   1. A. cinerea? (Eyton).   ...   2. A. affinis; Trichastoma affine, Nobis, passim.   ...   3. A. poiocephala; Timalia poiocephala, Jerdon.   ...   4. A. atriceps; Brachypteryx atriceps, Jerdon.   ...   5. A. (?) sepiaria; Brachypteryx sepiaria, Horsfield.   ...   6. A. (?) bicolor; Brachypteryx bicolor, Lesson." (Blyth 1844); "Alcippe Blyth, 1844, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 13, pp. 370, 384. Type, by original designation, Thimalia poioicephala Jerdon." (Deignan in Peters, 1964, X, p. 397); "Alcippe Blyth, 1844, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, XIII, p. 384.  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1846, Genera Birds, I, p. 209), Trichastoma affine Blyth, 1842." (Laurent Raty in litt.; "So far as I can assess, if we want to use Alcippe in the way it is used now, a case should be submitted to the Commission asking that they change the type of the genus-group name to match current usage.  The alternative is to apply the Code, which means to do what Oberholser told us had to be done a century ago - and which was not done.") (see Alcippornis);  "FAMILY  ALCIPPEIDAE  ...  The position of Alcippe relative to Leiothrichidae and Pellorneidae is not unanimously supported and varies among studies  ...  Because the divergence between these three clades occurred early during the Miocene, however, Cai and colleagues suggested that the genus Alcippe, which is isolated in phylogenetic trees, should be placed in a monogeneric family." (Fjeldså, Christidis & Ericson (eds.) 2020).
Synon. Alcippornis, Proparus.

grotei
Hermann Grote (1882-1951) German director of sisal plantation in German East Africa 1908-1913, linguist, ornithologist (Alcippe, subsp. Anthus cinnamomeus, subsp. Crithagra mozambica, subsp. Dessonornis macclounii, subsp. Hypsipetes madagascariensis, syn. Luscinia svecica volgae, syn. Muscicapa adusta pumila, syn. Phyllastrephus fischeri, subsp. Pternistis hildebrandti, subsp. Pytilia melba, syn. Streptopelia vinacea).

SUBSPECIES

Black-browed Fulvetta (grotei)
SCI Name: Alcippe grotei grotei
grotei
Hermann Grote (1882-1951) German director of sisal plantation in German East Africa 1908-1913, linguist, ornithologist (Alcippe, subsp. Anthus cinnamomeus, subsp. Crithagra mozambica, subsp. Dessonornis macclounii, subsp. Hypsipetes madagascariensis, syn. Luscinia svecica volgae, syn. Muscicapa adusta pumila, syn. Phyllastrephus fischeri, subsp. Pternistis hildebrandti, subsp. Pytilia melba, syn. Streptopelia vinacea).

Black-browed Fulvetta (eremita)
SCI Name: Alcippe grotei eremita
eremita
L. eremita  hermit, recluse, solitary  < Gr. ερημιτης erēmitēs  hermit  < ερημια erēmia  desert.
● "58. UPUPA.  ...  Eremita.  3. U. viridis, capite flavo, cervice jubata.  Corvus sylvaticus. Gesn. av. 351. Aldr. orn. l. 19. c. 57.  Eremita montanus helveticus. Alb. av. 5. p. 16. t. 16.  Habitat in Helvetia." (Linnaeus 1758)  (Geronticus).
● ex “Merula solitaria philippensis” of Brisson 1760, “Solitaire des Philippines” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 339, and “Hermit Thrush” of Latham 1783 (?syn. Monticola solitarius philippensis).
● Cabanis, 1853, Mus. Heineanum, I, p. 228, erroneously lists "Corvus Eremita Gm. Syst. Nat. p. 377. No. 19." as a synonym of Fregilus graculus (= Pyrrhocorax graculus). Gmelin's name refers to the "Wood Crow" or "Hermit Crow", the Northern Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita.