Lilac-breasted Roller

SCI Name:  Coracias caudatus
Protonym:  Coracias caudata Syst.Nat.ed.12 ed.12 p.160
Taxonomy:  Coraciiformes / Coraciidae / Coracias
Taxonomy Code:  librol2
Type Locality:  Angola.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1766
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

CORACIAS
(Coraciidae; † European Roller C. garrulus) Gr. κορακιας korakias  type of crow or daw, perhaps a chough  < κοραξ korax, κορακος korakos  raven  < κρωζω krōzō  to croak; the European Roller has a distinctive rolling or tumbling display flight, from which it received its substantive English name;  “A genus nearly related to the Crow. Thence Linnaeus calls it Coracias: A word of Aristotle’s applied only to what we call the Cornish chough” (Pennant 1773); the rollers were formerly included in the Corvidae next to the jays Garrulus and choughs; "49. CORACIAS.  Rostrum cultratum apice incurvato, basi pennis denudatum.  Lingua cartilaginea, bifida." (Linnaeus 1758); "Coracias Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 107.  Type, by subsequent designation, Coracias garrulus Linné. (Gray, Cat. Gen. Subgen. Bds., 1855, p. 13 ¹)   ...   ¹ In list Gen. Bds., 1840 and ed. 2, 1841, Gray designates Coracias abyssinica Gm. as type of the genus, a designation that is invalid since this was not one of the orignally included species." (Peters, 1945, V, p. 241).  This is the tenth diagnosed genus in avian taxonomy.  Linnaeus's Coracias comprised six species (C. Garrulus, C. caffra, C. Oriolus, C. Galbula, C. aurea, C. Xanthornus).   
Var. Coracius, Coriacias, Caracias.   
Synon. Ampelis, Coraciura, Eucoracias, Galgulus, Titia, Trimenornis.

coracias
Gr. κορακιας korakias  type of crow or daw  < κοραξ korax, κορακος korakos  raven  < κρωζω krōzō  to croak (syn. Coracias garrulus).

caudata / caudatus
L. caudatus  tailed, having a (long/short) tail  < cauda  tail.
● ex “Parus caudatus” of Gessner 1555, Aldrovandus 1599, and Willughby 1676, “Long-tail’d Titmouse” of Ray 1713, and “Parus vertice albo, cauda corpore longiore” of Linnaeus 1746 (Aegithalos).
● ex “Merle vert à longue queue de Sénégal” of Brisson 1760 (Lamprotornis).
● ex “Gobe-mouche à longue queue de Madagascar” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 248, fig. 1 (syn. Terpsiphone mutata).
● ex “Courly à col blanc de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 976, and “Grand Courlis de Cayenne” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Theristicus).

SUBSPECIES

Lilac-breasted Roller (Blue-breasted)
SCI Name: Coracias caudatus lorti
lorti
Ethelbert Edward Lort Phillips (1857-1944) English businessman, explorer, big-game hunter in East Africa 1885-1895 (subsp. Coracias caudatus, subsp. Scleroptila gutturalis).

Lilac-breasted Roller (Lilac-breasted)
SCI Name: Coracias caudatus caudatus
caudata / caudatus
L. caudatus  tailed, having a (long/short) tail  < cauda  tail.
● ex “Parus caudatus” of Gessner 1555, Aldrovandus 1599, and Willughby 1676, “Long-tail’d Titmouse” of Ray 1713, and “Parus vertice albo, cauda corpore longiore” of Linnaeus 1746 (Aegithalos).
● ex “Merle vert à longue queue de Sénégal” of Brisson 1760 (Lamprotornis).
● ex “Gobe-mouche à longue queue de Madagascar” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 248, fig. 1 (syn. Terpsiphone mutata).
● ex “Courly à col blanc de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 976, and “Grand Courlis de Cayenne” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Theristicus).