Black-capped Screech-Owl

SCI Name:  Megascops atricapilla
Protonym:  Strix atricapilla Pl.Col. livr.25 pl.145
Taxonomy:  Strigiformes / Strigidae / Megascops
Taxonomy Code:  bkcsco1
Type Locality:  Brazil.
Author:  Temminck
Publish Year:  1822
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MEGASCOPS
(Strigidae; Ϯ Eastern Screech Owl M. asio) Gr. μεγας megas, μεγαλη  megalē  great; genus Scops Brünnich, 1772, owl. "5tes Subgenus. Megascops, Kp., Asiones, Schleg.  Schnabel vorgestreckt. Flügel kurz und stumpf. 1ste Schwinge so lang wie die 10te. 1ste bis 5te Schwinge an der Aussen- und Innenfahne deutlich ausgeschnitten. Fusswurzel befiedert. Zehen meist vollständig nackt.   8. Scops asio, Gr. Less." (Kaup 1851). The Eastern Screech Owl and its New World congeners were formerly placed in the genus Scops (= Otus).   
Synon. Athene, Gymnasio, Pseudociccaba.

atricapilla
L. atricapillus  black-haired (i.e. black-capped, black-headed) < ater  black; capillus  hair of the head (cf. L. atricapilla  unknown small bird, perhaps a tit or the Blackcap).
● ex “Merula atricapilla capitis b. spei” of Brisson 1760 (Donacobius).
● ex “Pato cabeza negra” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 438 (Heteronetta).
● ex “Tangara jaune à tête noire de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 809, fig. 2, “Mordoré” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Black-headed Tanager” of Latham 1783 (syn. Lanio fulvus).
● ? ex “Chinese Sparrow” of Edwards 1743, and “Grosbec de la Chine” of Brisson 1760 (Lonchura).
● ex “Merula viridis atricapilla Moluccensis” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Pitta sordida).
● ex “Atricapilla” or “Ficedula” of Aldrovandus 1599, and Willughby 1676, “Black-Cap” of Ray 1713, and “Motacilla testacea, subtus cinerea, pileo obscuro” of Linnaeus 1746 (Sylvia).
● ex “Black-crowned Bunting” of Latham 1783 (Zonotrichia).
● ex “Cap Nègre” of Levaillant 1804, pl. 140 (unident.).