Little Flycatcher

SCI Name:  Muscicapa epulata
Protonym:  Butalis epulatus Proc.Acad.Nat.Sci.Philadelphia 7 p.326
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Muscicapa
Taxonomy Code:  ligfly2
Type Locality:  Camma River, Western Africa = Sette Cama, Gabon.
Author:  Cassin
Publish Year:  1855
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MUSCICAPA
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Spotted Flycatcher M. striata) L. musca  fly  < Gr. μυια muia, μυιας muias  fly; capere  to catch; "Genus Muscicapæ ...  Le genre du Gobe-mouche  ...  MUSCICAPA" (Brisson 1760); based on "Curruca" or "Ficedula" of Gessner 1555, "Grisola" of Aldrovandus 1599-1603, Willughby 1676, and Ray 1713, "Stoparola" of Willughby 1676, "Curruca subfusca" of Frisch 1733-1743, and "Sylvia pestilentialis" of Klein 1750; "Muscicapa Brisson, 1760, Ornith., 1, p. 32; 2, p. 357, pl. 5, fig. 3. Type, by tautonymy, Muscicapa = Motacilla striata Pallas." (Watson in Peters, 1986, XI, 313). The Spotted Flycatcher is the archetypal flycatcher, perching stolidly, then darting out to seize passing insects before returning to its perch.
Var. Muscicopa, Musicapa, Mussicapa, Muscapa.
Synon. Alseonax, Arizelomyia, Butalis, Hemichelidon, Myiotheras, Stoparola.

muscicapa
L. musca  fly  < Gr. μυια muia, μυιας muias  fly; capere  to catch.

epulata / epulatus
L. epulatus  feasted, satiated  < epulari  to feast  < epulum  banquet, feast; "A small but robust species ... Its general form is much as though it had been accustomed to good cheer on the banks of the river Moonda, or wherever else it may have found sufficient entertainment" (Cassin 1855) (Muscicapa).