Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

SCI Name:  Merops persicus
Protonym:  Merops persica ReiseVersch.Provin.Russ.Reichs 2 p.708
Taxonomy:  Coraciiformes / Meropidae / Merops
Taxonomy Code:  bcbeat1
Type Locality:  Shores of the Caspian Sea.
Author:  Pallas
Publish Year:  1773
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MEROPS
(Meropidae; Ϯ European Bee-eater M. apiaster) L. merops, meropis  bee-eater  < Gr. μεροψ merops  bee-eater; "57. MEROPS.  Rostrum curvatum, compressum, carinatum.  Lingua apice laciniata.  Digiti infimo articulo coadunati: postico distincto." (Linnaeus 1758); "Merops Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 117. Type, by tautonymy, Merops apiaster Linné (Merops, prebinomial specific name in synonymy)." (Peters 1945, V, 233). Linnaeus's Merops comprised four species (M. Apiaster, M. viridis, M. cinereus, M. cafer).
Synon. Aerops, Apiaster, Archimerops, Blepharomerops, Bombylonax, Coccolarynx, Cosmaerops, Dicreadium, Dicrocercus, Melittias, Melittophagus, Melittophas, Melittotheres, Meropiscus, Micromerops, Patricus, Phlothrus, Spheconax, Sphecophobus, Tachymerops, Tephraerops, Urica.

persicus
L. Persicus  Persian  < Persia  Persia / Iran.
● Not a toponym, but an allusion to the gaudy plumage of the Yellow-rumped Cacique; ex “Jupujuba” of Marcgrave 1648, and “Cassique jaune” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Cacicus cela).
● Erroneous TL. Persia (= Perthshire, Scotland) (syn. Lagopus lagopus scotica).
● Southern (i.e. Persian) shores of the Caspian Sea (Merops).
● At sea between Guadar (= Qatar) and Muscat (i.e. in the Persian Gulf) (Puffinus).
● ex “Persian Woodpecker” of Willughby 1676, and Latham 1782, “Picus luteus cyanopus persicus” of Ray 1713, and “Picus luteus persicus” of Brisson 1760 (unident.).
● ex “Persian Thrush” of Latham 1787 (unident.).

SUBSPECIES

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (chrysocercus)
SCI Name: Merops persicus chrysocercus
chrysocercus
Gr. χρυσος khrusos gold; κερκος kerkos tail.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (persicus)
SCI Name: Merops persicus persicus
persicus
L. Persicus  Persian  < Persia  Persia / Iran.
● Not a toponym, but an allusion to the gaudy plumage of the Yellow-rumped Cacique; ex “Jupujuba” of Marcgrave 1648, and “Cassique jaune” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Cacicus cela).
● Erroneous TL. Persia (= Perthshire, Scotland) (syn. Lagopus lagopus scotica).
● Southern (i.e. Persian) shores of the Caspian Sea (Merops).
● At sea between Guadar (= Qatar) and Muscat (i.e. in the Persian Gulf) (Puffinus).
● ex “Persian Woodpecker” of Willughby 1676, and Latham 1782, “Picus luteus cyanopus persicus” of Ray 1713, and “Picus luteus persicus” of Brisson 1760 (unident.).
● ex “Persian Thrush” of Latham 1787 (unident.).