Great-billed Heron

SCI Name:  Ardea sumatrana
Protonym:  Ardea Sumatrana Trans.Linn.Soc.London(1), 13 p.325
Taxonomy:  Pelecaniformes / Ardeidae / Ardea
Taxonomy Code:  grbher2
Type Locality:  Sumatra.
Author:  Raffles
Publish Year:  1822
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.

sumatrae / sumatrana / sumatranum / sumatranus / sumatrensis
Sumatra, Dutch East Indies / Indonesia  < Sanskrit Samudra  sea (a name subsequently mangled by European travellers).
● ex “Malacca Partridge” of Latham 1823 (syn. Caloperdix oculeus).
● Perhaps the “Polo Condor Gull” of Latham 1801 (Sterna).
● Erroneous TL. Sumatra (= Celebes / Sulawesi) (Tanygnathus).

SUBSPECIES

Great-billed Heron (sumatrana)
SCI Name: Ardea sumatrana sumatrana
sumatrae / sumatrana / sumatranum / sumatranus / sumatrensis
Sumatra, Dutch East Indies / Indonesia  < Sanskrit Samudra  sea (a name subsequently mangled by European travellers).
● ex “Malacca Partridge” of Latham 1823 (syn. Caloperdix oculeus).
● Perhaps the “Polo Condor Gull” of Latham 1801 (Sterna).
● Erroneous TL. Sumatra (= Celebes / Sulawesi) (Tanygnathus).

Great-billed Heron (mathewsae)
SCI Name: Ardea sumatrana mathewsae
mathewsae
Marion Cecil Mathews née White (1865-1938) wife of ornithologist Gregory M. Mathews (subsp. Ardea sumatrana, syn. Gerygone modesta).