Least Nighthawk

SCI Name:  Chordeiles pusillus
Protonym:  Chordeiles ? pusillus Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt2 p.182
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Caprimulgidae / Chordeiles
Taxonomy Code:  leanig1
Type Locality:  'Supposed to be from Bahia''; the type is a Bahia trade skin.
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1861
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

CHORDEILES
(Caprimulgidae; Ϯ Common Nighthawk C. minor) Gr. χορδη khordē  chord; δειλη deilē  evening (cf. “Apparently a badly coined name from Gr. khōreo, to travel, and deilē, in the unusual sense of “evening” ” (Macleod 1954); “Gr. choros, most likely “a circular dance” hence “a moving about”; Gr. deile, “evening” ” (Choate 1985)); "2. CAPRIMULGUS (CHORDEILES) VIRGINIANUS. (Sw.)  The Pisk.  ...  Sub-genus, Chordeiles*, Sw.  ...  Peesquaw.  CREE INDIANS.  ...  The very peculiar noise it makes is most frequently heard in the evening, and often seems to be emitted close to the listener, although the bird which produces it is at the time so high in the air as to be nearly imperceptible. The sound resembles that produced by the vibration of a tense, thick cord in a violent gust of wind.   ...   * Chorda crepusculi (Th. χορδη et δειλη): in allusion to the peculiar sound it makes.   ...   44. Sub-genus, CHORDEILES.  (Generis Caprimulgi.)  Rostrum Caprimulgi.  Rictus lævis.  Alæ caudam æquantes; remiges omnes intergerrimæ.  Cauda forficata.  Digitus externus interno brevior.  Unguis medius serratus.  Type.—Chordeiles Virginianus (Caprimulgus Americanus, WILS.)" (Swainson 1832); "Chordeiles Swainson, in Swainson and Richardson's Fauna Bor.-Am., 2, 1831 (1832), p. 496. Type, by original designation, Caprimulgus virginianus Gmelin = Caprimulgus minor J. R. Forster." (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 185).
Var. Chordelies, Chordiles, Chordediles, Chordedilus, Chordeilus.
Synon. Microrhynchus, Nannochordeiles, Podager, Proithera, Ramphaoratus.

pusillum / pusillus
L. pusillus  tiny, very small  < dim. pusus  little boy  < puer  boy.
● ex “Chevechette” of Levaillant 1799, pl. 46 (syn. Glaucidium passerinum).
● ex “Petit Guêpier du Sénégal” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 318 (Merops).
● ex “Barbion” of Levaillant 1806 (Pogoniulus).
● ex "Lesser Black Promerops" of Latham 1822 (syn. Scoptelus aterrimus).
● ex “Sucrion” of Levaillant 1812, pl. 298 (Cinnyris artefact).

SUBSPECIES

Least Nighthawk (septentrionalis)
SCI Name: Chordeiles pusillus septentrionalis
septentrionale / septentrionales / septentrionalis / septentrionalium
L. septemtrionalis  northern  < septemtrio  north.
● Erroneous TL "Northern parts of America" (= Tonga Tabu); ex “Northern Shrike” of Latham 1781 (syn. Clytorhynchus vitiensis).

Least Nighthawk (esmeraldae)
SCI Name: Chordeiles pusillus esmeraldae
esmeraldae
● Esmeralda, Territorio Amazonas, Venezuela (subsp. Chordeiles pusillus).
● Esmeraldas, western Ecuador (subsp. Lepidocolaptes souleyetii, syn. Tityra semifasciata nigriceps).

Least Nighthawk (xerophilus)
SCI Name: Chordeiles pusillus xerophilus
xerophila / xerophilus
Gr. ξηρος xēros  austere, dry land; φιλος  philos loving  < φιλεω phileō  to love  < φιλος philos  lover.

Least Nighthawk (novaesi)
SCI Name: Chordeiles pusillus novaesi
novaesi
Dr Fernando da Costa Novaes (1927-2004) Brazilian lawyer, ornithologist (subsp. Chordeiles pusillus, Philydor, syn. Zonotrichia capensis matutina).

Least Nighthawk (pusillus)
SCI Name: Chordeiles pusillus pusillus
pusillum / pusillus
L. pusillus  tiny, very small  < dim. pusus  little boy  < puer  boy.
● ex “Chevechette” of Levaillant 1799, pl. 46 (syn. Glaucidium passerinum).
● ex “Petit Guêpier du Sénégal” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 318 (Merops).
● ex “Barbion” of Levaillant 1806 (Pogoniulus).
● ex "Lesser Black Promerops" of Latham 1822 (syn. Scoptelus aterrimus).
● ex “Sucrion” of Levaillant 1812, pl. 298 (Cinnyris artefact).

Least Nighthawk (saturatus)
SCI Name: Chordeiles pusillus saturatus
saturatum / saturatus
L. saturatus  richly coloured, darker coloured, intensely coloured  < satur, satura  rich, copious  < satis  enough.
● “In my description of this Cuckoo [Cuculus micropterus] ...I considered certain dark ash-coloured specimens to be merely the old birds of the species ...Mr Hodgson, however, thinks differently, having lately forwarded similar examples by the designation C. saturatus” (Blyth 1843) (Cuculus).