Greater Ground-Robin

SCI Name:  Amalocichla sclateriana
Protonym:  Amalocichla sclateriana AnnualRep.Brit.NewGuinea(1890-1891) App.cc p.95
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Petroicidae / Amalocichla
Taxonomy Code:  grgrob1
Type Locality:  Mount Owen Stanley, southeastern New Guinea [reference not verified].
Author:  De Vis
Publish Year:  1892
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

AMALOCICHLA
(Petroicidae; Ϯ Greater Ground-robin A. sclateriana) Gr. αμαλος amalos  soft; κιχλη kikhlē  thrush; "AMALOCICHLA, n. g.  Bill geocichline, but with the nostril small and placed in the anterior end of the nasal groove, and with the under mandible straight as far as the tip, which is slightly deflected; mandibular notch shallow. Rectal bristles moderate. Wing short, rounded, concave; first primary about half its length shorter than the second; second to fifth, which is the longest, graduated. Tail of twelve feathers, rounded, shorter than wing. Tarsus elongate, slender, ocreate. Plumage soft and loose.   AMALOCICHLA SCLATERIANA, n. s.  ...  Notwithstanding the geocichline affinities of this bird apparent in the bill and under-wing pattern, the form of the wing seems to relate it to the Timeliidæ proper. Its nearest ally appears to be Ptilopyga" (DeVis 1892); "A ground living bird recalling vaguely a Thrush, but with probably little real relationship, and which seems merely a large alpine development of some small bird until it now recalls the Bush Robins rather than Thrushes.  ...  These are the structural features of SCLATER'S FALSE-THRUSH (Amalocichla sclateriana) described from Mount Owen Stanley, south-east New Guinea  ...  The feathering is full and soft, even the primaries being inclined to be soft, while the secondaries are also long and soft; the back feathers are long and disintegrated, forming a large puff over the rump, the tail feathers also softish.  ...  The two False Thrushes have recently been included with the true Thrushes, but there is great doubt as to that affinity, and are here placed with the other "Timalian" birds, as there is nothing known about their exact relationship save that it is not with the true Thrushes" (Iredale 1958); "Amalocichla De Vis, 1892, Ann. Rept. British New Guinea, 1890-91: 95.  Type, by monotypy, Amalocichla sclateriana De Vis." (Beehler and Pratt, 2016, Birds New Guinea, p. 456).
Var. Amatocichla.
Synon. Pseudopitta.

sclateriana / sclaterii
Dr Philip Lutley Sclater (1829-1913) English ornithologist (Amalocichla, subsp. Coracina papuensis, Goura, syn. Pternistis afer).

SUBSPECIES

Greater Ground-Robin (occidentalis)
SCI Name: Amalocichla sclateriana occidentalis
occidentale / occidentalis
L. occidentalis  western  < occidens, occidentis  west  < occidere  to set. This toponym was frequently given to taxa discovered in locations west of previously known populations.
● Cocal, Western Andes, Colombia (Dysithamnus).
● Jamaica; ex “Onocrotalus” or “Pelecanus fuscus” of Sloane 1725, “Pelican of America” of Edwards 1747, and “Pelecanus” of Browne 1756 (Pelecanus).
● TL. Day Dawn, Western Australia; "Westralian Wedgebill" (Mathews 1912) (Psophodes).

Greater Ground-Robin (sclateriana)
SCI Name: Amalocichla sclateriana sclateriana
sclateriana / sclaterii
Dr Philip Lutley Sclater (1829-1913) English ornithologist (Amalocichla, subsp. Coracina papuensis, Goura, syn. Pternistis afer).