Himalayan Cutia

SCI Name:  Cutia nipalensis
Protonym:  [Cutia] Nipalensis J.Asiat.Soc.Bengal 5(1836) p.774
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Leiothrichidae / Cutia
Taxonomy Code:  cutia1
Type Locality:  Nepal.
Author:  Hodgson
Publish Year:  1837
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

CUTIA
(Leiothrichidae; Ϯ Himalayan Cutia C. nipalensis) Nepalese name Khutya for the Himalayan Cutia; "With these preliminary remarks I shall now attempt to characterise our bird, as the type of a new genus or sub-genus, either of the Lamprotorninæ or of the Crateropodinæ, as the learned shall please.  Cútia nobis.  Khutya (quasi Pedatus) of the Nipalese.  ...  Type Cútia Nipalensis, nobis.  Nos. 254, 255, of the new specimens and drawings in the possession of the Zoological Society. In order to illustrate the affinities of our bird, I proceed to compare it with Pastor roseus and with Lamprotornis spilopterus.  ...  As for our Cútia, amidst all its anomalies (so to speak) of external structure, there is certainly something Sturnine in its aspect; and, by the formation of its feet and wings, as well as by its variegated plumage, it bears some resemblance to Sturnella; a genus "leading directly to the true starlings."" (Hodgson 1837); "Cutia Hodgson, 1837, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 5 (1836), p. 772.  Type, by original designation and monotypy, Cutia nipalensis Hodgson." (Deignan in Peters, 1964, X, p. 384).
Synon. Heterornis.

nipalense / nipalensis
Nepal or, formerly, Nipal or Nepaul. According to legend Nepal means "the place protected by the Hindu sage Ne."

SUBSPECIES

Himalayan Cutia (nipalensis)
SCI Name: Cutia nipalensis nipalensis
nipalense / nipalensis
Nepal or, formerly, Nipal or Nepaul. According to legend Nepal means "the place protected by the Hindu sage Ne."

Himalayan Cutia (melanchima)
SCI Name: Cutia nipalensis melanchima
melanchima / melanchimus
Gr. μελαγχιμος melankhimos  black, dark, dark spots  < μελας melas, μελανος melanos  black.

Himalayan Cutia (cervinicrissa)
SCI Name: Cutia nipalensis cervinicrissa
cervinicrissa
L. cervinus  stag-coloured  < cervus  stag; Mod. L. crissum  vent  < L. crissare  to copulate.