Equatorial Akalat

SCI Name:  Sheppardia aequatorialis
Protonym:  Callene aequatorialis Bull.Br.Orn.Club 16 p.46
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Sheppardia
Taxonomy Code:  equaka1
Type Locality:  Kericho, Lumbwa.
Author:  Jackson, FJ
Publish Year:  1906
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SHEPPARDIA
(Muscicapidae; † East Coast Akalat S. gunningi) Percy Alexander Sheppard (1875-1958) British farmer, oologist, entomologist, collector, settler in Mozambique 1898-1916, and Rhodesia / Zimbabwe 1916-1958; "I have named the first species [Batis sheppardi] after its discoverer, and for the second a new genus seems necessary to which I have also attached the name of its collector   ...   SHEPPARDIA, gen. nov.  Resembling Bradornis in the narrower bill (6.25 mm. broad at the base), tail shorter than the wing and nearly square (only the outer feather on either side hardly a mm. shorter than the others); differing from that genus in that the fourth to sixth primaries are the longest, the second longer than the eighth; rictal bristles well developed, reaching to within 5 mm. of the tip of the bill.   SHEPPARDIA GUNNINGI, sp. nov.   ...   This bird, which in general coloration resembles the Callene cyornithopsis of Sharpe (Bull. B. O. C. XII, 1901 and Ibis, 1902, p. 95, plate 4), and which I at first took for C. sharpei or C. aequatorialis, differs from these birds in its almost square tail, and in not agreeing with Reichenow's diagnosis of the generic character: "Schnabel seitlich zusammen gedrueckt," whereas this bird has a flatter bill, resembling that of Bradornis, but a little more slender." (Haagner 1909); "Sheppardia Haagner, 1909, Ann. Transvaal Mus., 1, p. 180.  Type, by monotypy, Sheppardia gunningi Haagner." (Ripley in Peters, 1964, X, p. 33).
Synon. Gabelatrix, Prosheppardia, Vibrissosylvia.

aequatoriale / aequatorialis
Late L. aequatorialis  equatorial  < aequator  equator  < L. aequare  to make equal  < aequus  equal. Frequently given to species with a distribution in the equatorial latitudes of Africa (e.g. subsp. Jynx ruficollis, Sheppardia), but more commonly applied to birds from Ecuador (Spanish ecuador  equator) (e.g. Momotus, Thamnistes, Xiphorhynchus).
● Erroneous TL. Guayaquil (= Panama City) (subsp. Dendroica petechia).
● Erroneous TL. Guayaquil (= interior of Ecuador) (subsp. Falco sparverius).
● Erroneous TL. Ecuador (= Bahia, Brazil) (syn. Heliothryx aurita auriculata).
● Erroneous TL. Bogotá (= San Lucas, Ecuador) (subsp. Rallus limicola).

SUBSPECIES

Equatorial Akalat (aequatorialis)
SCI Name: Sheppardia aequatorialis aequatorialis
aequatoriale / aequatorialis
Late L. aequatorialis  equatorial  < aequator  equator  < L. aequare  to make equal  < aequus  equal. Frequently given to species with a distribution in the equatorial latitudes of Africa (e.g. subsp. Jynx ruficollis, Sheppardia), but more commonly applied to birds from Ecuador (Spanish ecuador  equator) (e.g. Momotus, Thamnistes, Xiphorhynchus).
● Erroneous TL. Guayaquil (= Panama City) (subsp. Dendroica petechia).
● Erroneous TL. Guayaquil (= interior of Ecuador) (subsp. Falco sparverius).
● Erroneous TL. Ecuador (= Bahia, Brazil) (syn. Heliothryx aurita auriculata).
● Erroneous TL. Bogotá (= San Lucas, Ecuador) (subsp. Rallus limicola).

Equatorial Akalat (acholiensis)
SCI Name: Sheppardia aequatorialis acholiensis
acholiensis
Acholi Hills, Sudan / Imatong Hills, South Sudan.