Brown-headed Paradise-Kingfisher

SCI Name:  Tanysiptera danae
Protonym:  Tanysiptera Danae Ann.Mag.Nat.Hist.(5), 6 p.231
Taxonomy:  Coraciiformes / Alcedinidae / Tanysiptera
Taxonomy Code:  bhpkin1
Type Locality:  Milne Bay, New Guinea.
Author:  Sharpe
Publish Year:  1880
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

TANYSIPTERA
(Alcedinidae; Ϯ Moluccan Paradise Kingfisher T. nais) Gr. τανυσιπτερος tanusipteros  long-feathered  < τανυ- tanu- long-  < τεινω teinō  to stretch;
-πτερος -pteros  -feathered  < πτερον pteron  feather; “That singular and beautiful species of the Linnean Alcedo, the Ternate Kingsfisher*, shows the equal approximation of that genus to Galbula, and a deviation from its own type. Its tail deserts the shortened character of that of the true Kingsfisher, and assumes the lengthened and graduated conformation of the same member in the Paradise Jacamar, and the other long-tailed Galbulæ.  ...  *This beautiful species exhibits so strong a deviation from the Halcyonidæ in general, that it requires a separate station in the family: and I take this opportunity of characterizing the group as follows, under the generic title of  TANYSIPTERA.  Rostrum subbreve, subcrassum, rectum, acutum, naribus ovalibus. Cauda gradata, rectricibus duabus longissimis.   DEA. ...  Alcedo Dea. Linn. Syst. i. p. 181. 13.  Ispida Ternatana. Briss. vol. iv. p. 525. t. 40. f.2.  Martin-Pêcheur de Ternate. Buff. Pl. Enl. 116.  The specimens of this species which are brought to Europe are generally deprived of their wings and legs. I am therefore prevented from referring to those members in my generic description.” (Vigors 1825); "Tanysiptera Vigors, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 14, 1825, p. 433, note. Type, by monotypy, Alcedo dea Linné, 1766, not Alcedo dea Linné, 1758 = Tanysiptera nais G. R. Gray." (Peters 1945, V, 216).  
Var. Tanysyptera.
Synon. Edquista, Uralcyon.

danae
Gr. myth. Danae, daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos, who cast her adrift (Tanysiptera).