Chilean Skua

SCI Name:  Stercorarius chilensis
Protonym:  Stercorarius antarcticus b. chilensis Consp.Gen.Av. 2 p.207
Taxonomy:  Charadriiformes / Stercorariidae / Stercorarius
Taxonomy Code:  chisku1
Type Locality:  Chile.
Author:  Bonaparte
Publish Year:  1857
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

STERCORARIUS
(Stercorariidae; Ϯ Arctic Skua S. parasiticus) L. stercorarius  of dung  < stercus, stercoris  dung; skuas pursue other seabirds until they disgorge their food, the disgorged food once thought to be excrement, hence a former name 'Dung-hunter'; "Stercorarius. Genus 101.  ...  **1. LE STERCORAIRE. ... STERCORARIUS" (Brisson 1760): based on "Arctick Bird" of Edwards 1750; "Stercorarius Brisson, Orn., 1760, 1, p.l 56; 6, p. 149. Type, by tautonymy, Stercorarius Brisson = Larus parasiticus Linné." (Peters 1934, II, 311). 
Var. Stercoraria, Stercararius, Stercoreus.
Synon. Atalolestris, Cataracta, Coprotheres, Labbus, Lestris, Oceanus, Praedatrix.

stercorarius
L. stercorarius  of dung  < stercus, stercoris  dung (syn. Neophron percnopterus).

chilensis
Chile (formerly spelled Chili). Etymology disputed; probably from Mapuche chilli  ends of the earth.
● Erroneous TL. Chile (= Manila, Philippines) (syn. Lalage nigra).
● Erroneous implied TL. Chile (= Bolivia) (Tangara).
● “Hellmayr is the most recent author who proposes to reject Molina’s name on the grounds that it is a composite between the present form and Jacana j. jacana. It must be remembered that a large percentage of the names of the 18^th century authors are composites, and if any degree of stability in nomenclature is to be attained the name must be fixed on one of the species to which the account applies, provided of course that the name is identifiable at all” (Peters 1934) (Vanellus).