Little Cuckoo

SCI Name:  Coccycua minuta
Protonym:  Coccyzus minutus Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 8 p.275
Taxonomy:  Cuculiformes / Cuculidae / Coccycua
Taxonomy Code:  litcuc2
Type Locality:  No locality = Cayenne, ex Latham and Brisson.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1817
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

COCCYCUA
(Cuculidae; Ϯ Little Cuckoo C. minuta) Portmanteau of genera Coccyzus Vieillot, 1816, cuckoo, and Coua Schinz, 1821, coua; "XXVIII.^e Genre. COCCYCOUA; Coccycua.  Bec très-court, peu élevé, très-comprimé, à mandibules égales, la supérieure voûtée; narines marginales, ouvertes, basales; ailes très-courtes, concaves, arrondies; les cinquième, sixième et septiéme rémiges les plus longues; tarses courts, grêles, scutellés; queue étagée, longue, cunéiforme.   COUCOUA CAPUCIN; Coccycua monachus: Cuculus monachus, Gal. du Mus.   ...  Habite Cayenne." (Lesson 1830); "Coccycua Lesson, Traité d'Orn., livr. 2, 1830, p. 142. Type, by monotypy, Cuculus monachus "Gal. du Mus." i.e. Lesson = Coccyzus minutus Vieillot." (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 48).
Var. Coccycus.
Synon. Coccyzusa, Micrococcyx.

COCCYZUS
(Cuculidae; Ϯ Yellow-billed Cuckoo C. americanus) Gr. κοκκυζω kokkuzō  to cry cuckoo  < κοκκυ kokku  cuckoo! the bird’s cry; “Coccyzus, said to be a misprint for Coccygus (Boie, Isis, 1826) as if the genitive of κόκκυζ, κόκκυγος. But it is probably a false latinizing of κοκκύζων = crying “Cuckoo””(BOU 1915); "40. COULICOU, Coccyzus.  Cuculus, Linn. Gm. Lath.  Bec alongé, épais à la base, long, entier, convexe en dessus, arqué, comprimé par les côtés.— Tarses plus longs que le doigt le plus long.— Ailes courtes, arrondies.   Esp. Coucou de la Caroline, Buff." (Vieillot 1816); "Coccyzus Vieillot, Analyse, 1816, p. 28. Type, by monotypy, "Coucou de la Caroline" Buffon = Cuculus americanus Linné." (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 41).
Var. Coccycus, Coccygon, Coccygus, Coccyzius, Coccizus, Cocizus, Coccysus.   
Synon. Coccystes, Coccyzon, Cureus, Erythrophrys, Hyetomantis, Hyetornis, Nesococcyx, Ptiloleptis, Saurothera, Vetula.
• (Cuculidae; syn. Coua † Snail-eating Coua C. delalandei) Perhaps from L. coclea  snail; Gr. ζαω  zaō  to live (see Cochlothraustes); "XXVI.^e  Genre.  COUA ou COULICOU; Coccyzus, Vieill.   ...   1. COUA DELALANDE; Coccyzus Delalandi, Temm., pl. 440.   ...   2. COUA DE GEOFFROY; Coccyzus Geoffroyi, Temm., pl. 7.   ...   3. COUA TAITSOU; Coccyzus cæruleus, Vieill., Gal., pl. 41.   ...   4. COUA HUPPÉ; Coccyzus cristatus, Cuv., Enl. 589." (Lesson 1831); "Coccyzus "Vieill." Lesson, 1831, Traité d'Ornithologie, p. 138 (not of Vieillot, 1816).  Type, by subsequent designation (Cabanis and Heine, 1862, Museum Heineanum, IV (1), p. 74), Coccyzus delalandi, i.e. Coccycus delalandei Temminck, 1827." (JAJ 2021).

minuta
L. minutus  small, little  < minuere to make smaller (see also minutus).
● ex "Petit Coucou de Cayenne" of Brisson 1760 (Coccycua).
● ex “Petite Tourtourelle brun d’Amérique” of Brisson 1760 (Columbina).
● ex “Little Rail” of Latham 1785 (syn. Hapalocrex flaviventer).
● "61. ANAS.  ...  minuta.  31. A. grisea, auribus albis, remigibus primoribus nigricantibus.  Anas canadensis minor fuscus. Edw. av. 157. t. 157.  Habitat in Canada.  Parva admodum, tota grisea. Punctum album ad aures utrinque. An prioris femina?" (Linnaeus 1758) (syn. Histrionicus histrionicus ♀).
● ex “Gobe-moucheron” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Petty Fly-catcher” of Latham 1783 (syn. Myrmotherula brachyura).
● ex “Pico grueso pardo y canela” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 122 (syn. Sporophila hypoxantha).
● ex “Loxia grisea, uropygio subtusque ferruginea, remigibus 4, 5, 6, basi utrinque albis, cauda integra” of Rolander MS (Sporophila).
● ex “Larus piscator” of Gessner 1555, Aldrovandus 1599, Willughby 1676, and Ray 1713 (syn. Sternula albifrons).

SUBSPECIES

Little Cuckoo (panamensis)
SCI Name: Coccycua minuta panamensis
panama / panamense / panamensis
Panama (said to be the name of a fishing village meaning "plenty of fish").

Little Cuckoo (barinensis)
SCI Name: Coccycua minuta barinensis
barinensis
Barinas State, Venezuela.

Little Cuckoo (gracilis)
SCI Name: Coccycua minuta 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).

Little Cuckoo (minuta)
SCI Name: Coccycua minuta minuta
minuta
L. minutus  small, little  < minuere to make smaller (see also minutus).
● ex "Petit Coucou de Cayenne" of Brisson 1760 (Coccycua).
● ex “Petite Tourtourelle brun d’Amérique” of Brisson 1760 (Columbina).
● ex “Little Rail” of Latham 1785 (syn. Hapalocrex flaviventer).
● "61. ANAS.  ...  minuta.  31. A. grisea, auribus albis, remigibus primoribus nigricantibus.  Anas canadensis minor fuscus. Edw. av. 157. t. 157.  Habitat in Canada.  Parva admodum, tota grisea. Punctum album ad aures utrinque. An prioris femina?" (Linnaeus 1758) (syn. Histrionicus histrionicus ♀).
● ex “Gobe-moucheron” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Petty Fly-catcher” of Latham 1783 (syn. Myrmotherula brachyura).
● ex “Pico grueso pardo y canela” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 122 (syn. Sporophila hypoxantha).
● ex “Loxia grisea, uropygio subtusque ferruginea, remigibus 4, 5, 6, basi utrinque albis, cauda integra” of Rolander MS (Sporophila).
● ex “Larus piscator” of Gessner 1555, Aldrovandus 1599, Willughby 1676, and Ray 1713 (syn. Sternula albifrons).

Little Cuckoo (chaparensis)
SCI Name: Coccycua minuta chaparensis
chaparensis
Río Chaparé, Bolivia.