Crossley's Vanga

SCI Name:  Mystacornis crossleyi
Protonym:  Bernieria Crossleyi Rev.Mag.Zool.(2), 22 p.50
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Vangidae / Mystacornis
Taxonomy Code:  crobab1
Type Locality:  Madagascar ; inf erentially restricted to Lake Alaotra, apud Salomonsen, 1934, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 10, 14, p. 73.
Author:  Grandidier, A
Publish Year:  1870
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MYSTACORNIS
(Vangidae; Ϯ Crossley's Vanga M. crossleyi) Gr. μυσταξ mustax, μυστακος mustakos  moustache  < μασταξ mastax, μαστακος mastakos  jaws, mouth  < μασαομαι masaomai  to chew; ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "MYSTACORNIS (nov. gen. Sylviidarum).  Rostrum gracile, elongatum, compressum, dertro recto, gonyde versus apicem paullo ascendente, setis rictalibus nullis; naribus oblongis linearibus.  Alæ moderatæ, rotundatæ, remige primo brevi, secundo et tertio gradatim longioribus, quarto, quinto et sexto æqualibus et longissimis.  Cauda fere quadrata, rectricibus 10, mediis paullulo longioribus.  Pedes graciles, tarso longo, haud scutellato; digitis lateralibus subæqualibus, exteriore ad basin medio conjuncto; unguibus debilibus.    This genus comes very near to Tatare and Macrosphenus, but has the bill more compressed, and may at once be distinguished by the absence of all rictal bristles.  The name Mystacornis was suggested to me by Mr. G. R. Gray; and I have adopted it, as it well expresses the configuration of the head of the typical species.   15. MYSTACORNIS CROSSLEYI.  (Plate XXIX.)  Bernieria crossleyi, Grand. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1870, p. 50.  ...  linea lata per oculum eunte nigra: macula parva supraoculari et linea a basi mandibulæ orta et ultra regionem paroticam producta pure albis   ...   Native name Surat ala." (Sharpe 1870). Although Crossley's Vanga was once treated as a babbler Timaliidae, then mooted to be a member of Bernieridae, a recent phylogeny indicates that its proper place is within the Vangidae.

crossleyi
Alfred Crossley (1829-1888) British taxidermist, collector in the Cameroons, Rhodesia and Madagascar 1870-1873 (Atelornis, Geokichla, Mystacornis).