Cassia Crossbill

SCI Name:  Loxia sinesciuris
Protonym:   Condor 111 169-176
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Fringillidae / Loxia
Taxonomy Code:  redcro9
Type Locality:  
Author:  Benkman
Publish Year:  2009
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

LOXIA
(Fringillidae; Ϯ Red Crossbill L. curvirostra) Gr. λοξος loxos  crosswise, slanting; "Loxia is the proper name of the Cross-bill, from λοξος oblique" (Pennant 1773); "LOXIA Brisson (λοξος obliquus, curvus)  ...  Rostrum mediocre, crassum, compressum, forficatum, mandibularum apicibus inflexis, una alteram decussatim praetereunte" (Illiger 1811); "96. LOXIA.  Rostrum conico-gibbum, fronte subcalvum: Mandibula inferior margine laterali inflexa.  Nares in basi rostri.  Lingua integra." (Linnaeus 1758); "Loxia Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 171. Type, by subsequent designation (G. R. Gray, 1840, List Genera Birds, ed. 1, p. 49), Loxia curvirostra Linnaeus." (Paynter in Peters 1968, XIV, 287). Linnaeus's Loxia comprised thirty-two species (L. Curvirostra, L. Coccothraustes, L. Enucleator, L. Pyrrhula, L. Cardinalis, L. Dominicana, L. cristata, L. mexicana, L. eryocephala, L. flavicans, L. oryzivora, L. panicivora, L. punctulata, L. hordeacea, L. sanguinirostris, L. Astrild, L. cyanea, L. Lineola, L. mexicana, L. Chloris, L. butyracea, L. Collaria, L. benghalensis, L. malabarica, L. fusca, L. melanocephala, L. cana, L. nigra, L. cærulea, L. violacea, L. minuta, L. bicolor). In nomenclature Loxia is used in combination for a variety of finch-like birds, usually distinguished by their curved or thick heavy bills.
Var. Loxias (Gr. λοξιας loxias  crooked, an epithet of Apollo, because of his ambiguous oracles). 
Synon. Chiasoramphe, Crucirostra, Curvirostra, Loxorynchus.
● (syn. Coccothraustes Ϯ Hawfinch C. coccothraustes) "CONIROSTRES . . .{ Gros-becs. . .Loxia. . .{ Gros-bec...Loxia  Bec-croisé...Cruci-rostra" (Cuvier 1800).

loxia
Genus Loxia Cuvier, 1800, Hawfinch (not Loxia Linnaeus, 1758); "M. Lesson la décrivit et lui imposa le nom de Psittacule gros bec, par une sorte de ressemblance due à la force des mandibules avec les passereaux du genre gros bec, Loxia L., ou Coccothraustes CUV." (Bourjot St.-Hilaire 1838) (syn. Bolbopsittacus lunulatus).

sinesciuris
L. sine  without; sciurus, sciuri  squirrel; squirrels compete with crossbills for pine-cone seeds in many parts of North America, but are absent from the limited range of this declining form in Cassia County, Idaho (subsp. Loxia curvirostra) (see Rick Wright 2018, and sciurinimica).