Madagascar Sacred Ibis

SCI Name:  Threskiornis bernieri
Protonym:  Ibis bernieri Consp.Gen.Av. 2 p.151
Taxonomy:  Pelecaniformes / Threskiornithidae / Threskiornis
Taxonomy Code:  sacibi3
Type Locality:  Madagascar.
Author:  Bonaparte
Publish Year:  1855
IUCN Status:  Endangered

DEFINITIONS

THRESKIORNIS
(Threskiornithidae; Ϯ Sacred Ibis T. aethiopicus) Gr. θρησκεια thrēskeia  religious worship  < θρησκευω thrēskeuō  to worship; ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "Ibis, I. æthiopica, Lath. should form the type of a distinct division, to which I give the name of THRESKIORNIS (1842).  T. æthiopica (Lath.), G. R. Gray" (G. Gray 1842). The Sacred Ibis was venerated by the ancient Egyptians, who, by reason of its crescent-shaped bill and bright white plumage, considered it to represent Thoth the moon god. Cabard & Chauvet 2003, relate that Thoth was also the patron of scribes, and that the long bill of the ibis represented the pens or quills with which they wrote.
Var. Thresciornis, Threschiornis, Thereschiornis, Thereshiornis, Threscornis.
Synon. Apterornis, Borbonibis, Carphibis, Ibis, Ornithaptera, Setibis.

bernieri
● Alphonse Charles Joseph Bernier (1802-1858) French Navy, surgeon-naturalist, collector in Madagascar (Anas, syn. Gallinago macrodactyla, Oriolia, Threskiornis).
● Bernier Island, Western Australia (syn. Haematopus fuliginosus, subsp. Malurus lamberti).

SUBSPECIES

Madagascar Sacred Ibis (bernieri)
SCI Name: Threskiornis bernieri bernieri
bernieri
● Alphonse Charles Joseph Bernier (1802-1858) French Navy, surgeon-naturalist, collector in Madagascar (Anas, syn. Gallinago macrodactyla, Oriolia, Threskiornis).
● Bernier Island, Western Australia (syn. Haematopus fuliginosus, subsp. Malurus lamberti).

Madagascar Sacred Ibis (abbotti)
SCI Name: Threskiornis bernieri abbotti
abbotti
● Dr William Louis Abbott (1860-1936) US surgeon, explorer, ethnologist, naturalist who collected widely around the world 1883-1923 (syn. Brachypodius atriceps baweanus, syn. Butorides striata javanica, subsp. Cacatua sulphurea, ‡subsp. Calyptophilus frugivorus, Celebesica, syn. Chlorophoneus multicolor, subsp. Cinnyris souimanga, syn. Coccyzus minor, subsp. Cyanecula svecica, ‡subsp. Dryolimnas cuvieri, syn. Hirundo tahitica javanica, subsp. Hypothymis azurea, syn. Kittacincla malabarica tricolor, syn. Lybius leucocephalus albicauda, subsp. Megapodius nicobariensis, subsp. Nesoctites micromegas, subsp. Nyctibius jamaicensis, Papasula, syn. Phodilus badius, subsp. Pitta sordida, subsp. Psittacula alexandri, Psittinus, subsp. Spilornis cheela, syn. Streptopelia picturata rostrata, subsp. Threskiornis bernieri, syn. Treron vernans).
● Lt.-Col. John Richard Abbott (1811-1888) British Army, Assistant-Commissioner of the Arakan, Burma 1837-1845 (Malacocincla).
● Dr Charles Greeley Abbott (1872-1973) US astrophysicist, solar researcher, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1928-1944, Secretary Emeritus 1944-1973 (syn. Tychaedon coryphoeus).