Buffy Pipit

SCI Name:  Anthus vaalensis
Protonym:  Anthus vaalensis BirdsAfr. 2 p.311
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Motacillidae / Anthus
Taxonomy Code:  bufpip1
Type Locality:  Newcastle, Natal.
Author:  Shelley
Publish Year:  1900
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ANTHUS
(Motacillidae; † Meadow Pipit A. pratensis) L. anthus  small bird that inhabited grasslands mentioned by Pliny, not further identified, but probably the Yellow Wagtail  < Gr. ανθος anthos  small, brightly coloured bird mentioned by Aristotle.  In Gr. myth. Anthus, son of Antinous and Hippodamia, was killed by his father’s horses and metamorphosed into a bird which imitated the neighing of horses but fled at their sight; "47. Pieper. Anthus.  Ich rechne zu dieser neuen Gattung vier Arten.   ...   Das was Frisch in der Naturgeschichte von No. III. von der Greuthlerche erzählt, gehört eigentlich zur Pieplerche (Alauda trivialis), die er Wiesenlerche nennt.  Das aber, was er von der Wiesenlerche No. IV. sagt, paßt nur auf die Brachlerche (Alauda campestris).  Das, was er von felner Pieplerche sagt, hat zwar seine Richtigkeit, allein die Ueberschrift ist falsch, und sollte eigentlich Wiesenlerche (Alauda pratensis) heißen *).  ...  *) Diese Vögel, nämlich die Brach- Piep- und Wiesenlerche haben zu vielen Irrthümern in den naturhistorischen Schriften Anlaß gegeben. Ich habe mich selbst irre führen lassen. Ich habe daher für dieselben, da sie zu auffallend von den Lerchen abweichen, eine besondere Gattung, die ich Anthus nenne, gebildet.   ...   161. Die Brachlerche oder der Brachpieper. Alauda campestris. L. Taf. 15. Fig. 2. b. (Anthus campestris, mihi." (Bechstein 1805); "Anthus Bechstein, Gemein. Naturg. Deutschl. ii, pp. 247, 302, 1805.  Type by subsequent designation of Mathews (Austral Av. Rec. ii, p. 123, 1918), Alauda campestris.  ...  This genus until recently has been quoted from Bechstein's third volume, p. 704, 1807, and the type designated by Gray in 1840 as A. spinoletta.  Under the earlier citation of Anthus, here quoted, the Water-Pipit is not mentioned, so that it cannot under the Rules be designated as the type of the genus.  The three species which are mentioned by Bechstein are A. campestris, A. trivialis, and A. pratensis.  Sharpe, in Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. x, p. 534, 1885, designated A. trivialis, but did not quote the earlier reference to Bechstein.  Mathews subsequently therefore (Austral Av. Rec. ii, p. 123, 1918) designated A. campestris, which is here accepted as the type." (W. Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., II, 340); "Anthus Bechstein, 1805, Gemein. Nat. Deutschl., 2, p. 247, 302, 465.  Type, by subsequent designation, Alauda pratensis Linnaeus (Selby, 1825, Illust. Brit. Orn., p. xxix)." (Vaurie in Peters, 1960, IX, p. 144).
Var. Arthur, Artthus.
Synon. Afranthus, Agrodroma, Anomalanthana, Anomalanthus, Austranthus, Caffranthus, Cichlops, Cinaedium, Corydalla, Dendronanthus, Heterura, Leimoniptera, Meganthus, Megistina, Neocorys, Notiocorys, Oreocorys, Pediocorys, Petranthus, Pipastes, Rhabdochlamys, Seiren, Spipola, Xanthocorys.

vaalensis
Vaal River, South Africa.

SUBSPECIES

Buffy Pipit (neumanni)
SCI Name: Anthus vaalensis neumanni
neumanni / neumanniana / neumannianus
Prof. Oskar Rudolph Neumann (1867-1946) German ornithologist, explorer and collector in East Africa 1892-1899, Associate at Tring Mus. 1908-1931 (syn. Alcedo leucogaster bowdleri, syn. Anthreptes orientalis, syn. Anthus similis hararensis, subsp. Anthus vaalensis, syn. Apalis flavida flavocincta, Arizelocichla, subsp. Bradornis microrhynchus, syn. Campethera nubica, syn. Cecropis semirufa gordoni, subsp. Centropus leucogaster, syn. Certhia brachydactyla, syn. Cisticola hunteri, syn. Euplectes axillaris phoeniceus, subsp. Gallinula tenebrosa, subsp. Galerida cristata, Hemitesia, subsp. Lophoceros pallidirostris, subsp. Melierax metabates, syn. Muscicapa adusta minima, subsp. Muscicapa striata (ex Muscicapa grisola sibirica Neumann, 1900), syn. Numida meleagris, subsp. Oenanthe melanura (ex Cercomela melanura erlangeri Neumann & von Zedlitz, 1913), Onychognathus, syn. Passer griseus swainsonii, subsp. Phonygammus keraudrenii, subsp. Ploceus baglafecht, syn. Prionops retzii graculina, subsp. Psittacara acuticaudatus, subsp. Ptilinopus solomonensis, subsp. Ptilorrhoa caerulescens, syn. Pyrenestes ostrinus, subsp. Terpsiphone rufiventer, subsp. Vidua chalybeata).

Buffy Pipit (chobiensis)
SCI Name: Anthus vaalensis chobiensis
chobiensis
Chobe River, Ngamiland, Bechuanaland / Botswana.

Buffy Pipit (marungensis)
SCI Name: Anthus vaalensis marungensis
marungensis / marunguensis
Marungu Highlands, Belgian Congo / DR Congo.

Buffy Pipit (namibicus)
SCI Name: Anthus vaalensis namibicus
namibensis / namibicus
Namib Desert, South West Africa / Namibia.

Buffy Pipit (exasperatus)
SCI Name: Anthus vaalensis exasperatus
exasperatus
L. exasperatus  irritating, exasperating  < exasperare  to irritate  < asperare  to make rough.
● "O. o. exasperatus.   I have so named it, as examination of series of South Atlantic Ocean specimens in comparison with South Pacific Ocean ones, shows that the latter are larger in all their measurements." (Mathews 1912). I fail to see the significance of this name and Mathews's explanation, unless, more than likely, he meant to use another word (syn. Oceanites oceanicus).

Buffy Pipit (vaalensis)
SCI Name: Anthus vaalensis vaalensis
vaalensis
Vaal River, South Africa.