Mountain Thornbill

SCI Name:  Acanthiza katherina
Protonym:  Acanthiza katherina Ann.QueenslandMus. no.6 p.43
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Acanthizidae / Acanthiza
Taxonomy Code:  moutho1
Type Locality:  Bellenden Ker Range, northern Queensland.
Author:  De Vis
Publish Year:  1905
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ACANTHIZA
(Acanthizidae; Ϯ Brown Thornbill A. pusilla) Gr. ακανθεων akantheōn  thorn-brake  < ακανθα akantha  thorn  < ακη akē  point; ζαω zaō  to inhabit, to live  < ζω zō  to live; "Genus ACANTHIZA *.  Rostrum gracile, breve, rectum, basi subdepressum, apice compressum, culmine apicem versus leviter arcuato; mandibula superiori subemarginata; naribus linearibus, longitudinalibus, supra membrana tectis, setis plumulisque partim opertis; rictu setis parce instructo.  Alæ subbreves, rotundatæ; remige prima brevi, secunda et tertia gradatim longioribus, quarta longissima, secunda et decima æqualibus.  Pedes graciles, acrotarsiis paratarsiisque integris.  Cauda mediocris, apice subrotundata.   This group is closely connected with that of Malurus. The construction of the wings and legs is the same, and their habits, as far as we can learn, are similar. But the soft, lengthened, and graduated tail, which gives a striking character to the typical species of Malurus, is wanting in the present group, in which the tail is short and rounded.   ...   As in all similar cases of groups thus approximating to each other, we fix our attention on the typical species chiefly of each, which in the present instance may be considered to be Malurus Lamberti and Acanthiza pusilla.   ...   Like the Reguli they appear to be the inhabitants of bushes and low scrubs.   1. NANA.   ...   2. REGULOIDES.   ...   3. FRONTALIS.   ...   4. PYRRHOPYGIA.   ...   5. PUSILLA.   ...   6. BUCHANANI.   ...   *Aκανθεων dumetum, and ζαω vivo." (Vigors & Horsfield 1827).  
Var. Ancathiza, Acanthisa.
Synon. Geobasileus, Milligania, Subacanthiza.

katherina
Katherine Elizabeth DeVis née Coulson (fl. 1905) second wife of English naturalist the Revd. Charles DeVis (Acanthiza).