Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler

SCI Name:  Macronus ptilosus
Protonym:  Macronous ptilosus Ill.Orn. 3 pl.150
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Timaliidae / Macronus
Taxonomy Code:  fbtbab1
Type Locality:  a collection said to be brought from the islands of Java and Sumatra'' ; type locality inferentially restricted to ''the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra,'' by Hartert, 1915, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 36, p. 36, and inferentially further restricted to Malacca, by Chasen, 1935, Handlist Malaysian Birds, p. 227.
Author:  Jardine & Selby
Publish Year:  1835
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

MACRONUS
(Timaliidae; Ϯ Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler M. ptilosus) Gr. μακρος makros  long; ονυξ onux, ονυχος onukhos  finger-nail (alluding to the broad white plumes); "[Plate 150] Macronus ptilosus.   [Text] MACRONOUS, PTILOSUS, NOBIS    LONG FEATHERED MACRONOUS.   WHEN we first saw this bird we were inclined to consider it as a species of Timalia, having the peculiar form of the plumage developed to an extraordinary extent. The form of the bill, however, and of the rictus, is entirely different, and points out a fissirostral type.  ...  the most marked character, which we have endeavoured to express in the generic or sub-generic title we have provisionally applied, is in a series of plumes which spring from the centre of the back, and from the sides of the breast; these have the quill broad, and flat at the base, (and of a clear white colour,) where it is furnished with soft and downy webs, but which as they advance upon the shafts, become like fine and delicate hairy filaments, which hang over the rest of the plumage: all the other feathering of the bird is remarkably loose and unconnected, but without any rigidity."(Jardine & Selby 1835); "Macronous¹ Jardine and Selby, 1835, Illustr. Orn., text to pl. 150. Type, by monotypy, Macronous ptilosus Jardine and Selby.   ...   ¹ Spelling used by first revisor (Blyth, 1842, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 11, p. 795). However, the plate is lettered Macronus and the editors would prefer to maintain this more frequently used spelling.—Eds." (Deignan and Mayr & Paynter in Peters 1964, X, 318).
Var. Macronous. 
Synon. Minodoria.

ptilosus
Gr. πτιλωσις ptilōsis plumage, feathers (cf. πτιλωτος ptilōtos stuffed with feathers).

SUBSPECIES

Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler (ptilosus)
SCI Name: Macronus ptilosus ptilosus
ptilosus
Gr. πτιλωσις ptilōsis plumage, feathers (cf. πτιλωτος ptilōtos stuffed with feathers).

Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler (trichorrhos)
SCI Name: Macronus ptilosus trichorrhos
trichorrhos
Gr. θριξ thrix, τριχος trikhos  hair; ορρος orrhos  rump.

Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler (sordidus)
SCI Name: Macronus ptilosus sordidus
sordidum / sordidus
L. sordidus  shabby, dirty  < sordere  to be dirty  < sordes, sordis  dirt.
● ex “Sordid Thrush” of Latham 1801 (syn. Artamus cyanopterus).
● "44. PSITTACUS.  ...  sordidus.  18. P. brachyurus subfuscus, gula cærulea, alis caudaque viridibus, rostro anoque rubris.  Psittacus fuscus. Edw. av. 167. t. 167.  Habitat in Mexico." (Linnaeus 1758) (Pionus).

Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler (reclusus)
SCI Name: Macronus ptilosus reclusus
reclusa / reclusus
L. reclusus  recluse, solitary  < recludere  to shut off.