Crested Serpent-Eagle

SCI Name:  Spilornis cheela
Protonym:  Falco Cheela IndexOrn. 1 p.4
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Spilornis
Taxonomy Code:  crseag1
Type Locality:  India; restricted to Lucknow by W. L. Sclater, 1919, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, 40, p. 38.
Author:  Latham
Publish Year:  1790
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SPILORNIS
(Accipitridae; Ϯ Crested Serpent Eagle S. cheela) Gr. σπιλος spilos  spot; ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "The first [Haematornis holospilus] is spotted all over the body, the second [H. bacha] only on the abdomen; while the third [H. undulatus = Spilornis cheela] is marked by spots on the wing-coverts, and by ocelli bearing an undulated appearance on the abdomen, the breast also being crossed by undulating fasciæ" (Vigors 1832); "SPILORNIS, n.  Hæmatornis^b, Vigors.  Falco, Shaw.   S. Bacha, (Shaw,) n.  Levaill. Ois. d'Afr., pl. 15.  ...  ^bPreviously used by Mr. Swainson." (G. Gray 1840); "Spilornis G. R. Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 3. Type, by original designation, Falco bacha Shaw; based on "Le Bacha" of Levaillant, ? 1797, Hist. Nast. Oiseaux Afrique, 1, p. 44, pl. 15 = Falco bassus J. R. Forster = Spilornis cheela subsp.  ...  Falco Bassus J. R. Forster, 1798, in Levaillant, Naturgeschichte Afr. Vögel, p. 55, pl. 15 — mountains of Great Namaqualand (corrected to Java by Sundevall, 1857, K. Svenska Vetenskaps-Acad. Handlingar, n.s., 2, no. 3, p. 25), is unidentifiable (cf. Gurney, 1878, Ibis, p. 100, and Stresemann, 1959, Journ. Ornith., 100, p. 355)." (Amadon in Peters 1979, 1, ed. 2, 311, 314).   
Synon. Bacha, Haematornis, Hypaetos, Ophaetus.

cheela / cheele
Hindi onomatopoeia Chīl or Cheel for the ubiquitous Black Kite Milvus migrans govinda.
● (syn. Milvus migrans govinda).
● ex “Cheela Falcon” of Latham 1787; "Similarly the common Indian name for a Kite, Chil, has been wrongly given to the Crested Serpent-Eagle" (Blanford 1895) (Spilornis).

SUBSPECIES

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Crested)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela [cheela Group]
SPILORNIS
(Accipitridae; Ϯ Crested Serpent Eagle S. cheela) Gr. σπιλος spilos  spot; ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "The first [Haematornis holospilus] is spotted all over the body, the second [H. bacha] only on the abdomen; while the third [H. undulatus = Spilornis cheela] is marked by spots on the wing-coverts, and by ocelli bearing an undulated appearance on the abdomen, the breast also being crossed by undulating fasciæ" (Vigors 1832); "SPILORNIS, n.  Hæmatornis^b, Vigors.  Falco, Shaw.   S. Bacha, (Shaw,) n.  Levaill. Ois. d'Afr., pl. 15.  ...  ^bPreviously used by Mr. Swainson." (G. Gray 1840); "Spilornis G. R. Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 3. Type, by original designation, Falco bacha Shaw; based on "Le Bacha" of Levaillant, ? 1797, Hist. Nast. Oiseaux Afrique, 1, p. 44, pl. 15 = Falco bassus J. R. Forster = Spilornis cheela subsp.  ...  Falco Bassus J. R. Forster, 1798, in Levaillant, Naturgeschichte Afr. Vögel, p. 55, pl. 15 — mountains of Great Namaqualand (corrected to Java by Sundevall, 1857, K. Svenska Vetenskaps-Acad. Handlingar, n.s., 2, no. 3, p. 25), is unidentifiable (cf. Gurney, 1878, Ibis, p. 100, and Stresemann, 1959, Journ. Ornith., 100, p. 355)." (Amadon in Peters 1979, 1, ed. 2, 311, 314).   
Synon. Bacha, Haematornis, Hypaetos, Ophaetus.

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Andaman)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela davisoni
davisoni
William Ruxton Davison (1850-1893) British field-ornithologist, collector for A. C. Hume in Tenasserim, Curator of Raffles Mus., Singapore 1887-1893 (subsp. Alcippe poioicephala, subsp. Geokichla sibirica, subsp. Hemixos flavala, syn. Hydrornis caeruleus, subsp. Lalage nigra, Leioptila, syn. Lophura nycthemera, subsp. Napothera epilepidota, subsp. Phylloscopus montis, syn. Phylloscopus intensior muleyitensis, Pseudibis, subsp. Psilopogon asiaticus, Pycnonotus, subsp. Spilornis cheela, subsp. Stachyris nigriceps, subsp. Todiramphus chloris).

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Central Nicobar)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela minimus
minima / minimum / minimus
L. minimus  smallest, least  < super. parvus  small.
● ex “Cabaret” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 485, fig. 2 (syn. Acanthis cabaret).
● ex “Petit Sénégali rouge” of Vieillot 1805 (syn. Lagonosticta senegala).
● ex “Petite Becassine” of Brisson 1760 (Lymnocryptes).
● "60. TROCHILUS.  ...  minimus. 18.  T. rectricibus lateralibus margine exteriore albis, corpore fusco nitente, subtus albido.  Avis mellivora minima. Edw. av. 105. t. 105. s. infima.  Habitat in America.  Avis minima inter omnes notas." (Linnaeus 1758) (Mellisuga).
● ex “Long-legged Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Xenicus longipes).

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Ryukyu)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela perplexus
perplexa / perplexus
L. perplexus  confused, obscure, ambiguous  < plexus  plaited, interwoven.

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Natuna)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela natunensis
natunense / natunensis
Natuna Is., Indonesia.

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Simeulue)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela abbotti
abbotti
● Dr William Louis Abbott (1860-1936) US surgeon, explorer, ethnologist, naturalist who collected widely around the world 1883-1923 (syn. Brachypodius atriceps baweanus, syn. Butorides striata javanica, subsp. Cacatua sulphurea, ‡subsp. Calyptophilus frugivorus, Celebesica, syn. Chlorophoneus multicolor, subsp. Cinnyris souimanga, syn. Coccyzus minor, subsp. Cyanecula svecica, ‡subsp. Dryolimnas cuvieri, syn. Hirundo tahitica javanica, subsp. Hypothymis azurea, syn. Kittacincla malabarica tricolor, syn. Lybius leucocephalus albicauda, subsp. Megapodius nicobariensis, subsp. Nesoctites micromegas, subsp. Nyctibius jamaicensis, Papasula, syn. Phodilus badius, subsp. Pitta sordida, subsp. Psittacula alexandri, Psittinus, subsp. Spilornis cheela, syn. Streptopelia picturata rostrata, subsp. Threskiornis bernieri, syn. Treron vernans).
● Lt.-Col. John Richard Abbott (1811-1888) British Army, Assistant-Commissioner of the Arakan, Burma 1837-1845 (Malacocincla).
● Dr Charles Greeley Abbott (1872-1973) US astrophysicist, solar researcher, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1928-1944, Secretary Emeritus 1944-1973 (syn. Tychaedon coryphoeus). 

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Nias)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela asturinus
asturinus
Mod. L. asturina  goshawk-like  < genus Astur de Lacépède, 1799, goshawk (e.g. grey above, barred beneath) (syn. Hierococcyx fugax, subsp. Spilornis cheela).

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Mentawai)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela sipora
sipora
Sipora I. (= Sipura I.), Mentawi Is., Sumatra.

Crested Serpent-Eagle (Bawean)
SCI Name: Spilornis cheela baweanus
baweana / baweanum / baweanus
Bawean I., Java Sea, Indonesia.