Goliath Heron

SCI Name:  Ardea goliath
Protonym:  Ardea goliath AtlasReis.nord.Afr.Vog.[Ruppell](1826) -1826 p.39 pl.26
Taxonomy:  Pelecaniformes / Ardeidae / Ardea
Taxonomy Code:  golher1
Type Locality:  White Nile, Bahhar Abiad.
Author:  Cretzschmar
Publish Year:  1829
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ARDEA
(Ardeidae; Ϯ Grey Heron A. cinerea) L. ardea  heron. In Roman myth. the town of Ardea, capital of the Rutuli, was razed to the ground, and from the ashes rose a pale, lean bird, shaking the cinders from its wings and uttering mournful cries; "76. ARDEA.  Rostrum rectum, acutum, longum, subcompressum, sulco e naribus, versus apicem exaratum.  Pedes tetradactyli." (Linnaeus 1758); "Ardea Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 141. Type, by subsequent designation (G. R. Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 60), Ardea cinerea Linnaeus." (Payne in Peters, 1979, I, ed. 2, p. 195). Linnaeus's Ardea comprised nineteen species (A. pavonina, A. Virgo, A. canadensis, A. Grus, A. americana, A. Antigone, A. Ciconia, A. nigra, A. Nycticorax, A. cinerea, A. Herodias, A. violacea, A. cærulea, A. striata, A. virescens, A. stellaris, A. alba, A. Ibis, A. æquinoctialis).
Var. Ardaea, Ardeae, Ardua.   
Synon. Afrardea, Ardeomega, Audubonia, Casmerodius, Erodius, Herodias, Megerodius, Mesophoyx, Myola, Phoyx, Pyrrherodia, Tonophoyx, Typhon.

goliath
Goliath of Gath, Biblical giant champion of the Philistines who was slain by the boy David (Ardea, Centropus, Ducula, subsp. Probosciger aterrimus).