Lesser Redpoll

SCI Name:  Acanthis cabaret
Protonym:  Fringilla cabaret Natursyst.Suppl. Suppl. p. 165
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Fringillidae / Acanthis
Taxonomy Code:  lesred1
Type Locality:  Europe.
Author:  Statius Muller
Publish Year:  1776
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

ACANTHIS
(Fringillidae; Ϯ Redpoll A. flammea) L. acanthis  small bird, probably a finch  < Gr. ακανθις akanthis  small unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle and other authors, probably the Common Linnet. In ornithology usually identified with some sort of finch (cf. myth. Acanthis, daughter of Autonous, was metamorphosed into a type of finch. Her brother, Acanthus, was changed into an unidentified bird); "XIX. Gattung, Zeisig, Acanthis.  Schnabel kegelförmig, von benden Seiten zusammengedrückt und scharf zugespitzt.  Die Vögel dieser Gattung (die in Deutschland einheimischen wenigstens) nähren sich bloß von Sämerenen, und füttern ihre Jungen aus dem Kropfe." (Borkhausen 1797 (where no fewer than twenty-nine species and varieties are listed)); "Acanthis Borkhausen, 1797, Deutsche Fauna, 1, p. 248. Type, by subsequent designation (Stejneger, 1884, Auk, 1, p. 145), Fringilla linaria Linnaeus = Fringilla flammea Linnaeus." (Howell & Paynter in Peters 1968, XIV, 250). Recent genetic work has shown that the various Holarctic Redpolls formerly treated as distinct species (e.g. flammea, cabaret, hornemanni) are too closely related to be so considered, representing but arbitrary divisions of a continuum of morphological characters. Doubtless, in the fullness of time, further research will reveal that such divisions are evidence of on-going speciation and that they should be separated again.
Var. Acanthys.
Synon. Aegiothus, Cannabis, Linacanthis, Rubricapilla.
● (Fringillidae; syn. Linaria Ϯ Twite L. flavirostris) "Arktischer Fink (F. flavirostris, Linn.)  ...  Mit einem dünnern, an den Seiten etwas zusammengedrückten, und scharf und lang zugespitzten Schnabel. Die Nahrung besteht aus bloßen öhligen Sämereyen.  (Acanthis)" (Bechstein 1802); "Acanthis J. M. Bechstein, Ornith. Taschenbuch Deutschland, Erster Theil, 1802, 125. Type by monotypy: Fringilla flavirostris Linn." (Richmond Index). 
● ("syn. Spinus") see Acanthilis 

cabaret
French name Cabaret for a kind of finch; ex “Cabaret” of Brisson 1760, and d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 485, fig. 2; the origin of this name is unknown. Alternatives mentioned by Cabard & Chauvet 2003, include the name Picaveret given to some sort of finch by Belon 1555, and a corruption of the name bacaret for the teasel or similar plant  < Gr. βακκαρις bakkaris  hazelwort (subsp. Acanthis flammea).