Gray-headed Nigrita

SCI Name:  Nigrita canicapillus
Protonym:  Aethiops canicapillus Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt9 no.99 p.30
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Estrildidae / Nigrita
Taxonomy Code:  gyhneg1
Type Locality:  Fernando Po.
Author:  Strickland
Publish Year:  1841
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

NIGRITA
(Estrildidae; Ϯ Grey-headed Nigrita N. canicapillus) Mod. L. nigritus  black  < L. nigritia  black colour, blackness  < niger  black; "NIGRITA FUSCONOTUS.  ...  Mr. Fraser stated it as his opinion that the bird above described belonged to the Fringillidæ.  It certainly appertains to the genus characterized by Mr. Strickland in the 'Proceedings' for April 1841, p. 30, under the title Æthiops. This genus was founded upon a bird (Æthiops canicapillus) also from Fernando Po, specimens of which Mr. Fraser had obtained and exhibited to the Meeting.  Finding the generic name Æthiops had been previously used for a genus of Monkeys, Mr. Fraser had been requested by Mr. Strickland to substitute for it the new generic title Nigrita. The species described by the gentleman last mentioned will therefore stand as Nigrita canicapillus, Strickl." (Strickland in Fraser 1843); "Nigrita Strickland, in Fraser, 1843, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1842, p. 145. New name for Aethiops Strickland, 1841 (Oct.), preoccupied by Aethiops Martin, 1841 (before Oct.). Type, by monotypy, Aethiops canicapillus Strickland." (Traylor in Peters 1968, XIV, 308-309) (see Aethiops).
Synon. Aethiops, Atopornis, Percnopis.

nigrita
Mod. L. nigritus  black  < L. nigritia  black colour, blackness  < niger  black.

canicapilla / canicapillum / canicapillus
L. canus  grey; -capillus  -capped, -headed  < capillus  hair of the head.

SUBSPECIES

Gray-headed Nigrita (emiliae)
SCI Name: Nigrita canicapillus emiliae
emiliae
● Emily Eliza Sharpe née Burrows (1843-1928) wife of British ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe (Chlorocharis, subsp. Nigrita canicapillus,  subsp. Tanysiptera galatea).
● Henriette Mathilde Maria Elisabeth Emilie Snethlage (1868-1929) German ornithologist, collector in Brazil 1905-1929, Director of the Goeldi Mus. 1914-1922 (subsp. Dysithamnus mentalis, subsp. Microrhopias quixensis).
● "Iodopleura Emiliæ. (Parzudaky.)"; lapsus for isabellae (des Murs 1849, Iconographie Ornithologique, pl. 68) (Iodopleura).
● Marie Antoinette Émilie Galichon née Tuffet (1802-1873) second wife of French art collector and historian Émile-Louis Étienne Galichon (d. 1873) (subsp. Phaethornis guy).
● Émilie Lapèyre-Bellair (or Lapère) (fl. 1845) wife of Capt. Jean Théophile Lapèyre-Bellair (1814-1852) French Army, collector in the Marquesas (syn. Ptilinopus dupetithouarsii).
● Émilie de Dalmas (b. 1886) daughter of French ornithologist Raymond Comte de Dalmas (Martin Schneider in litt.) (syn. Tangara lavinia).

Gray-headed Nigrita (canicapillus)
SCI Name: Nigrita canicapillus canicapillus
canicapilla / canicapillum / canicapillus
L. canus  grey; -capillus  -capped, -headed  < capillus  hair of the head.

Gray-headed Nigrita (angolensis)
SCI Name: Nigrita canicapillus angolensis
angolae / angolense / angolensis / angolica / angolicus
Angola (Portuguese Angola  <  Ngola a title of the kings of Ndongo).
● ex “Rollier d’Angola” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Coracias caudatus).
● ex “Angola Vulture” of Latham 1781 (Gypohierax).
● ex “Apiaster angolensis” of Brisson, “Petit Guêpier vert et bleu à queue étagée” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Angola Bee-eater” of Latham 1782 (?syn. Merops pusillus).
● ex “Linotte d’Angola” of Brisson 1760, and “Angola Finch” of Latham 1783 (syn. Ochrospiza atrogularis).
● ex “Fringilla ventre caeruleo. Blue-belly’d Finch” of Edwards 1750 (Uraeginthus).
● Erroneous TL. Angola (= Brazil); ex “Black Gros-beak” of Edwards 1764 (Sporophila).

Gray-headed Nigrita (schistaceus)
SCI Name: Nigrita canicapillus schistaceus
schistaceum / schistaceus
Late L. schistaceus  slate-grey  < schistus  slate  < L. lapis schistos  fissile stone  < Gr. σχιστος skhistos  cloven  < σχιζω skhizō  to split.

Gray-headed Nigrita (diabolicus)
SCI Name: Nigrita canicapillus diabolicus
diabolica / diabolicus
L. diabolicus  diabolical, devilish  < Gr. διαβολικος diabolikos  diabolical  < διαβολος diabolos  devil.
● The indigenes of Sulawesi believe the call of the Satanic Eared Nightjar, described from the foot of the Kalabat volcano, to be the sound of the bird taking out someone’s eyes! (Eurostopodus).
● ex “Petrel Diable” or “Diablotin” of Labat 1722 (syn. Pterodroma hasitata).

Gray-headed Nigrita (candidus)
SCI Name: Nigrita canicapillus candidus
candidum / candidus
L. candidus  brilliant white, glittering white  < candere  to shine (cf. albus  dead white, matt white).
● ex “White Eagle” of du Pratz 1774, and Pennant 1787, and “Louisiane White Eagle” of Latham 1781 (syn. Aquila chrysaetos).