Mountain Wagtail

SCI Name:  Motacilla clara
Protonym:  Motacilla clara Ibis p.341
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Motacillidae / Motacilla
Taxonomy Code:  mouwag1
Type Locality:  Simen, Ethiopia.
Author:  Sharpe
Publish Year:  1908
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MOTACILLA
(Motacillidae; Ϯ White Wagtail M. alba) Late Med. L. (1555) motacilla  pied wagtail  < L. motacilla  wagtail  < Gr. μυττηξ muttēx  type of bird mentioned by Hesychius. The mistaken use of -cilla ­for “tail” in ornithology goes back to mediaeval writers who misread motacilla, Varro’s name for the wagtail ("quod semper movet caudam") and a diminutive from motare to move about or shake (i.e. a little shaker or wagger), as “shaketail”; "99. MOTACILLA.  Rostrum subulatum, rectum: Mandibulis subæqualibus.  Nares obovatæ.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758);"Motacilla Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 184. Type, by tautonymy, "Motacilla" = M. alba Linnaeus." (Vaurie in Peters 1960, IX, 130). Linnaeus's Motacilla comprised thirty-four species (M. Luscinia, M. Calidris, M. modularis, M. Schœnobænus, M. campestris, M. Curruca, M. Hippolais, M. Salicaria, M. Sylvia, M. Philomela, M. Ficedula, M. alba, M. flava, M. Tiphia, M. Ruticilla, M. hispanica, M. Oenanthe, M. Rubetra, M. Atricapilla, M. Emeria, M. Phœnicurus, M. Erithacus, M. Titys, M. svecica, M. Sialis, M. Velia, M. Spiza, M. Rubecula, M. Troglodytes, M. Regulus, M. Trochilus, M. Acredula, M. Pendulinus, M. minuta). The White Wagtail has a wide range in the Palaearctic, although several subspecies are sometimes treated specifically (e.g. yarrellii, subpersonata, personata, lugens).
Var. Matacilla, Metacilla, Motacilea, Motacitta, Mottacilla, Montacilla, Notacilla, Notorcilla.
Synon. Aguimpia, Atolmodytes, Boarula, Budytes, Calobates, Pallenura, Pecula, Psomophilus, Seisura.

motacilla
L. motacilla  wagtail  < Gr. μυττηξ muttēx  type of bird mentioned by Hesychius (subsp. Myiothlypis fulvicauda, Parkesia).

clara
L. clarus  distinct, clear.
● Clara Stein (fl. 1944) taxidermist, wife of German zoologist Dr Georg H. W. Stein (subsp. Eulacestoma nigropectus, syn. Gennaeodryas placens).

SUBSPECIES

Mountain Wagtail (chapini)
SCI Name: Motacilla clara chapini
chapini
Dr James Paul Chapin (1889-1964) US ornithologist, artist, collector in the Belgian Congo, Curator AMNH (syn. Anthus similis bannermani, Apalis, syn. Bradornis fuliginosus, subsp. Cinnyris stuhlmanni, syn. Corvinella corvina affinis, syn. Dendrospiza citrinelloides frontalis, subsp. Dryoscopus cubla, Kupeornis, subsp. Mirafra africana, subsp. Motacilla clara, subsp. Sheppardia bocagei, ‡Sylvietta, syn. Tricholaema hirsuta flavipunctata).

Mountain Wagtail (torrentium)
SCI Name: Motacilla clara torrentium
torrentium
L. torrentium  of the torrents  < torrens, torrentis  torrent, seething, rushing water  < torrere  to burn.

Mountain Wagtail (clara)
SCI Name: Motacilla clara clara
clara
L. clarus  distinct, clear.
● Clara Stein (fl. 1944) taxidermist, wife of German zoologist Dr Georg H. W. Stein (subsp. Eulacestoma nigropectus, syn. Gennaeodryas placens).