Long-bearded Melidectes / Melidectes princeps
WBN 
Long-bearded Melidectes
SCI Name:
Protonym: Melidectes princeps Am.Mus.Novit. no.1524 p.13
Taxonomy: Passeriformes / Meliphagidae / Melidectes
Taxonomy Code: lobmel1
Type Locality: Mt. Wilhelm, Bismarck Range, eastern New Guinea.
Author: Mayr & Gilliard
Publish Year: 1951
IUCN Status: Vulnerable
DEFINITIONS
MELIDECTES
(Meliphagidae; Ϯ Ornate Honeyeater M. torquatus) Gr. μελι meli, μελιτος melitos honey; δηκτης dēktēs biter < δηκω dēkō to bite; "11. MELIDECTES TORQUATUS, gen. et sp. n. (Pl. LV.) Melidectes gen. nov.† ex familia Meliphagidarum: rostro elongato, caput æquante, tenuiusculo, parum arcuato; naribus linearibus, in sulco longitudinali positis: spatio altero postoculari lato et altero postrictali angusto omnino nudis; cauda longa, paulum rotundata; tarsis modicis: alis acutis, modice elongatis. ... MELIDECTES TORQUATUS, sp. n. ... This is a conspicuous new Meliphagine form, not very far from Ptilotis, but distinguishable by the bareness of the sides of the face and bare stripe behind the rictus. These are separated by a scanty line of feathers extending beneath the eye. ... † Mελι, mel, et δηκτης, mordicator." (P. Sclater 1874); "Melidectes Sclater, 1873 [= 1874], Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 694. Type, by monotypy, Melidectes torquatus Sclater." (Salomonsen in Peters 1967, XII, 415).
Synon. Melionyx, Melirrhophetes.
princeps
L. princeps, principis prince, chief, leader < primus foremost < super. prior, prius first; capere to take.
● Jules Laurent Lucien, later called Charles Lucien Jules Laurent 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano and Prince Bonaparte (1803-1857) French ornithologist, taxonomist, collector (Actenoides).
● Bismarck Range, Papua New Guinea (German prinz prince; named after Otto Eduard Leopold Prinz von Bismarck-Schönhausen (1815-1898); the four highest peaks were named after him and his children, Marie, Herbert and Wilhelm) (Melidectes).
● "I therefore propose to name the Massachusetts bird Passerculus princeps, the large barren ground sparrow" (Maynard 1872); ex “Centronyx bairdii” of Maynard 1868 (subsp. Passerculus sandwichensis).
● Príncipe I., Gulf of Guinea (Portuguese príncipe prince; named after Príncipe João of Portugal (1455-1495)) (Ploceus, subsp. Psittacus erithacus).
UPPERCASE: current genus
Uppercase first letter: generic synonym
● and ● See: generic homonyms
lowercase: species and subspecies
●: early names, variants, mispellings
‡: extinct
†: type species
Gr.: ancient Greek
L.: Latin
<: derived from
syn: synonym of
/: separates historical and modern geographic names
ex: based on
TL: type locality
OD: original diagnosis (genus) or original description (species)
