Makira Dwarf-Kingfisher

SCI Name:  Ceyx gentianus
Protonym:  Ceyx gentiana Ibis p.438 pl.11
Taxonomy:  Coraciiformes / Alcedinidae / Ceyx
Taxonomy Code:  vardwk15
Type Locality:  Makira Harbor, San Crist6val, Solomon Islands.
Author:  Tristram
Publish Year:  1879
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

CEYX
(Alcedinidae; Ϯ Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher C. erithaca) L. ceyx, ceycis  seabird variously identified  < Gr. κηυξ kēux, κηυκος kēukos  seabird mentioned by Dionysius and Lucian, and considered identical to the halcyon. In Gr. myth. Ceyx, blasphemous husband to Alcyone, was drowned at sea and metamorphosed into a kingfisher along with his desolated wife when she found his body washed up on the shore; "62. CÉYX.  Ceyx.  { Le bec très-long; la langue courte; le tarse très-court; chaque pied ne présentant que trois doigts." (de Lacépède 1799); "Ceyx Lacépède, Tabl. Ois., 1799, p. 10. Type, by monotypy, Alcedo tridactyla Pallas = Alcedo erithaca Linné (species added, Daudin, in Buffon, Hist. Nat. (éd Didot), 14, 1802, p. 287.)" (Peters, 1945, V, p. 178).
Var. Ceix, Ceux, Ceycis.
Synon. Alcyon, Argyroceyx, Ceycalcyon, Ceycopsis, Cyanoceyx, Micralcyone, Therosa.

gentiana / gentianus
L. gentiana  gentian  < Gentius (fl. 170BC) king of Illyria, who offended the Romans and was conquered by them.
● “The three shades of brilliant blue, the ultramarine spangles on the head ... I have named it gentiana, as combining the colours of three species of that plant” (Tristram 1879) (Ceyx).