Green-backed Tit

SCI Name:  Parus monticolus
Protonym:  Parus monticolus Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt1 no.2 p.22
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Paridae / Parus
Taxonomy Code:  grbtit1
Type Locality:  Himalayas ; restricted to Simla by Baker, 1923, Hand-list Birds Indian Empire, p. 7; emended to Simla-Almora district by Ticehurst and Whistler, 1924, Ibis, p. 471.
Author:  Vigors
Publish Year:  1831
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PARUS
(Paridae; Ϯ Great Tit P. major) Late L. parus  tit, titmouse; a rare word, found only in Carmen de Philomela, by an unknown author (c. 500AD); "100. PARUS.  Rostrum integerrimum.  Lingua truncata, setis terminata." (Linnaeus 1758); "Parus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 189. Type, by subsequent designation (Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, ed. 1, p. 23), Parus major Linnaeus." (Snow in Peters 1967, XII, 70).  Linnaeus's Parus comprised twelve species (P. cristatus, P. major, P. americanus, P. cæruleus, P. ater, P. palustris, P. caudatus, P. biarmicus, P. Pipra, P. erythrocephalus, P. Aureola, P. Cela).
Var. Para, Patus, Parvus.
Synon. Parulus.

parus
Late L. parus  tit, titmouse (cf. par, parum  equal, companion).
● ex “Oranor” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 155 (syn. Pericrocotus cinnamomeus).

monticolum / monticolus
L. monticola  mountain-dweller, mountaineer  < mons, montis  mountain; -cola  dweller  < colere  to inhabit.

SUBSPECIES

Green-backed Tit (monticolus)
SCI Name: Parus monticolus monticolus
monticolum / monticolus
L. monticola  mountain-dweller, mountaineer  < mons, montis  mountain; -cola  dweller  < colere  to inhabit.

Green-backed Tit (yunnanensis)
SCI Name: Parus monticolus yunnanensis
yunnanense / yunnanensis
Yunnan Province, China.

Green-backed Tit (legendrei)
SCI Name: Parus monticolus legendrei
legendrei
Marcel Legendre (1890-1983) French ornithologist, editor of journal L’Oiseau (subsp. Parus monticolus).

Green-backed Tit (insperatus)
SCI Name: Parus monticolus insperatus
insperata / insperatum / insperatus
L. insperatus  unexpected, unhoped for, unforeseen  < in-  not; speratus  expected  < sperare  to expect.
• "Capito auratus insperatus subsp. nov.  ...  I have a male from Todos Santos and a female from mouth of the San Antonio, Rio Espirito Santo, Bolivia, localities from which one might expect to find birds referable to the typical race, but the unspotted throat of the female indicates a closer relationship to a. intermedius or a. aurantiicinctus.  On the other hand, the total absence of an orange or cadmium-yellow wash on the middle of the breast and abdomen segregates it from both of those races.  Also the color of the crown and occiput is entirely distinct from that of any of the three known races of auratus, being sulphine-yellow without admixture of ochraceous-orange, and a much less amount of bronze gloss." (Cherrie 1916) (subsp. Capito auratus).
• "Ponape (or Puynipet), Seniavin group, Eastern Carolines.  Mr. Kubary, the well-known Godeffroyian traveller, has spent more than one year in exploring this island; but unfortunately all his collections were lost by the wreck of the ship.  The birds saved from this accident are referable to about nineteen species, of which no less than five are undescribed   ...   3. VOLVOCIVORA  INSPERATA, sp. nov.  Male like that of V. monacha, H. and F., but without black on the chin and throat, the whole under surface slate-grey; no distinct white margins on the inner webs of the primaries, and the outer tail-feathers broadly pointed with slate-grey.  Female totally different from that of V. monacha." (Finsch 1875) (Edolisoma).
• "Among the birds recently brought back by Doctor Joseph F. Rock, from exploring the high mountains of Yunnan and Szechwan under the auspices of the National Geographic Society, is an apparently unnamed specie of Fulvetta, a genus of small timaline birds inhabiting the high mountains of India and China.  It may be known from the following description:  Fulvetta insperata, sp. nov.  ...  Dr. Rock's men took both F. r. sordidior and the present bird at the same locality, otherwise I should have considered them only forms of the same species." (Riley 1930) (syn. Fulvetta ruficapilla sordidior).
• "Kimball's collection included two undescribed forms (of which one is here characterized) and a number of records which supplement the published information on the birds of the Brownsville region.   ...   Geothlypis trichas insperata, subsp. nov.  ...  Similar to Geothlypis trichas trichas (Linnaeus) but bill larger, forehead more whitish, and general coloration paler." (Van Tyne 1933) (subsp. Geothlypis trichas).
• "GERYGONE  INSPERATA, n. s.   Head, cheeks, ear-coverts, scapulars, back and upper tail-coverts brown with a pale fulvous wash; a narrow palpebral ring white.  The lower surface and under tail-coverts white, rather sordid on the throat, and more distinctly stained with brown on the sides of the upper breast.  ...  One example in spirits, July, 1891, at between 6,000 and 7,000 feet." (DeVis 1892) (subsp. Gerygone ruficollis).
• "Since the publication of a paper by the writer entitled "Descriptions of Seventeen New Neotropical Birds" (Ann. Carnegie Mus., VIII, 1912, 198-214), the Carnegie Museum has received considerable new material from tropical America, while in addition four important families— Formicariidae, Furnariidae, Dendrocolaptidae, and Trochilidae— have been critically worked over, in all yielding a surprisingly large number of novelties.   ...   Microstilbon genus novum.  ...  Microstilbon insperatus sp. nov." (Todd 1913) (syn. Microstilbon burmeisteri).
• "Now I will drop Tamsuy and the past and speak of this vicinity and of my late acquisitions.  From the southern mountains I received, in December 1865, a new species of Titmouse of the Parus major, L., type, and closely allied to Parus monticolus, Vigors, of the Himalayas.  It is a very lovely species.   PARUS  INSPERATUS, sp. nov.  Similis P. monticolo, sed minor; uropygio cinereo nec dorso concolore; axillaribus, tibiis crissoque albis, nigro variis; collo sub gutta alba nuchali postice flavo.  ...  Habitat in montibus Formosæ meridionalibus."(Swinhoe 1866) (subsp. Parus monticolus).
• "ZELEDONIA  CORONATA   ...   The only specimen seen from the Volcan de Irazú is very different in coloration from any other specimen examined, but I am satisfied that the coloration is abnormal, indicating a condition of partial albinism.  It bears in Mr. Cherrie's handwriting on the label the name Zeledonia insperata Cherrie and, should other specimens from Irazú prove to be like it in coloration, that name would of course be available for it as representing a distinct form, which I consider altogether unlikely, since the Volcan de Irazú is intermediate in position between the volcanoes of Poás and Chiriqui, the birds of which are, so far as I am able to see, precisely alike in coloration." (Ridgway 1907) (syn. Zeledonia coronata).