Green-tailed Trainbearer

SCI Name:  Lesbia nuna
Protonym:  Ornismya nuna Hist.Nat.Colibris,Suppl.Ois.-Mouch. p.169 pl.35
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Lesbia
Taxonomy Code:  grttra1
Type Locality:  Peru.
Author:  Lesson
Publish Year:  1832
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

LESBIA
(Trochilidae; † Green-tailed Trainbearer L. nuna) Gr. Λεσβιας Lesbias  woman of Lesbos; "XIe RACE. — LES SAPHOS. (Lesbia, Less.)   Bec médiocre, presque droit; queue à rectrices très étagées, larges, profondément fourchues.   ESP. 39. — OISEAU-MOUCHE SAPHO. (Ornismya Sapho, Less.)  ...  Trochilus sparganurus, Shaw, general Zoology, t. VIII, p. 1.   ...   ESP. 40. — OISEAU-MOUCHE NOUNA-KOALI. (Ornismya Nuna, Less.)  ...  Cynanthus bifurcatus, Sw., Phil. mag., 1827, n. 6, p. 441, esp. 97.  ...   ESP. 41. — OISEAU-MOUCHE DE KING. (Ornismya Kingii, Less.)  ...  Trochilus forcipatus, Lath.; Edw. gl.; Vieill., Ois. dorés, t. 1." (Lesson 1833); "Lesbia Lesson, Les Trochilidées [1833], Index Gén., p. xvij.  Type, by subsequent designation, Ornismya nuna Lesson. (Salvin, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 16, 1892, p. 146.)" (Peters, 1945, V, p. 114).
Synon. Agaclyta, Cynanthus, Psalidoprymna.
• (Trochilidae; syn. Sappho † Red-tailed Comet S. sparganurus) "34. LESBIA, Less. (Cometes, Gould.) —  130. sparganurus, Shaw. 1811. —  131. phaon, Gould, 1847. —  132. mocoa, Bourc. 1845. —  133. forficata, Edw. B. t. 33, 1763. —  134. glyceria, Gould, 1854." (Bonaparte 1854); "Lesbia Bonaparte, 1854, Rev. Mag. Zool., sér. 2, VI, p. 252.  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 141 (Appendix)), Trochilus sparganurus Shaw, 1812." (JAJ 2020).

lesbia / lesbias / lesbius
Gr. Λεσβιας Lesbias woman of Lesbos.
● ex “Mitilène de Provence” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 656, fig. 2, and “Lesbian Bunting” of Latham 1783.  Sharpe 1888, identifies these birds with Emberiza fucata, but neither the names nor d'Aubenton's plate accord with that bunting.  Hartert, 1910, Vögel paläarktisch. Fauna, I, p. 188, synonymises Emberiza lesbia Gmelin, 1788, with Emberiza rustica Pallas, 1776 (syn. Emberiza rustica).

nuna
Nouna-Koali, a graceful Indian virgin in Jean F. Denis’s novel (1829) “Ismaël Ben Kaïzar ou la découverture du Nouveau Monde” (Lesbia).

SUBSPECIES

Green-tailed Trainbearer (gouldii)
SCI Name: Lesbia nuna gouldii
gouldiana / gouldianus / gouldii
John Gould (1804-1881) English publisher, entrepreneur, naturalist, artist (subsp. Anthus leucophrys, subsp. Colluricincla megarhyncha, syn. Gerygone mouki richmondi, syn. Heteralocha acutirostris, syn. Larus novaehollandiae, subsp. Lesbia nuna, Lophornis, syn. Megapodius reinwardt, syn. Megapomatorhinus erythrogenys ferrugilatus, subsp. Melospiza melodia, syn. Neophema chrysogaster, syn. Onychoprion fuscatus, syn. Pedionomus torquatus, subsp. Phonygammus keraudrenii, subsp. Phylidonyris niger (ex Meliphaga mystacalis Gould, 1841), Selenidera, syn. Sericornis frontalis, subsp. Symposiachrus trivirgatus, subsp. Turdus rubrocanus) (see gouldi).

Green-tailed Trainbearer (gracilis)
SCI Name: Lesbia nuna gracilis
gracilis
L. gracilis or gracilus  slender, elegant, slim, thin.
● “has many characters in common with the Ptilotis chrysotis ... and the Ptilotis similis ... but it differs from both in the greater slenderness of its form, in its diminutive size, and, especially from the former, in the uniform colouring of its throat and abdomen” (Gould 1866) (Microptilotis).
● ex “Gracile Goatsucker” of Latham 1801 (syn. Podargus strigoides).

Green-tailed Trainbearer (pallidiventris)
SCI Name: Lesbia nuna pallidiventris
pallidiventer / pallidiventris
L. pallidus  pale  < pallere  to be pale; venter, ventris  belly.

Green-tailed Trainbearer (eucharis)
SCI Name: Lesbia nuna eucharis
eucharis
Gr. ευχαρις eukharis, ευχαριτος eukharitos  charming, gracious  < ευ eu  fine; χαρις kharis, χαριτος kharitos  grace, loveliness  < χαιρω khairō  to rejoice.

Green-tailed Trainbearer (nuna)
SCI Name: Lesbia nuna nuna
nuna
Nouna-Koali, a graceful Indian virgin in Jean F. Denis’s novel (1829) “Ismaël Ben Kaïzar ou la découverture du Nouveau Monde” (Lesbia).