Cuban Blackbird

SCI Name:  Ptiloxena atroviolacea
Protonym:  Quiscalus atroviolaceus Hist.IslaCuba[Sagra] 3 p.121 pl.19
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Icteridae / Ptiloxena
Taxonomy Code:  cubbla
Type Locality:  Cuba.
Author:  d'Orbigny
Publish Year:  1839
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PTILOXENA
(Icteridae; Ϯ Cuban Blackbird P. atroviolacea) Gr. πτιλον ptilon  feather; ξενος xenos  strange; “Ptiloxena (gen. nov.) atroviolaceus (d'Orb.)  ...  Different authors have referred this bird to the genera Quiscalus, Scolecophagus and Dives. It is evidently more closely related to the last, in which recent authors place it  ...  The most striking difference between the two, however, is in the structure of the contour feathers of the fore parts of the body, especially those of the breast. In atroviolaceus the barbicels, while apparently of the normal number, are fasciculate, and, except at its basal third, adhere to the barb. For the terminal half of the feather, therefore, the barbs have no connection with one another, and this gives to the parts in which these feathers grow a finely streaked, hairy appearance.  ...  In Dives, however, and the continental Quiscali, the structure of the feathers is normal  ...  In view of these structural differences I think atroviolaceus should be placed in a new genus, for which I propose the name Ptiloxena” (Chapman 1892).

atroviolacea / atroviolaceus
Mod. L. atroviolaceus deep-violet, dark-violet < L. ater black; violaceus violet-coloured < viola, violet.