Moustached Grass-Warbler

SCI Name:  Melocichla mentalis
Protonym:  Drymoica mentalis Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt11 no.121 p.16
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Macrosphenidae / Melocichla
Taxonomy Code:  mogwar1
Type Locality:  Accra, Gold Coast.
Author:  Fraser
Publish Year:  1843
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELOCICHLA
(Macrosphenidae; Ϯ Moustached Grass-warbler M. mentalis) Gr. μελος melos  song; κιχλη kikhlē  thrush; "a. Melocichla.    173. mentalis, Fras.  ...  Sehr aberrant und mindestens subgenerisch abzusondern.   ...   p. 58.  Melocichla mentalis, (Jard.)  Die Untersuchung eines schönen von Aguapim stammenden Exemplares dieser eigenthümlichen Form überzeugte mich von der Nothwendigkeit, dieselbe generisch zu isoliren. "Rostrum valde compressum, conspicue emarginatum, culmine valde arcuato; alae brevissimae, caudae basin vix attingentes; cauda mediocris, rotundata, rectricibus latis, mollissimis; tarsi elongati; pedes parvi, unguibus debilibus, acrotarsiis scutellatis." — Also keineswegs eine Drymoeca."  (Hartlaub 1857); "Melocichla Hartlaub, 1857, Syst. Ornith. Westafrica's, pp. 58, 271. Type, by monotypy, Drymoica mentalis Fraser." (Traylor in Peters 1986, XI, 34).

mentale / mentalis
Mod. L. mentalis  pertaining to the chin  < French mental of the chin  < L. mentum  chin (cf. Late L. mentalis  of the mind  < L. mens, mentis  mind).
● ex “Langrayen de Viti” of Hombron & Jacquinot 1843 (Artamus).

SUBSPECIES

Moustached Grass-Warbler (mentalis)
SCI Name: Melocichla mentalis mentalis
mentale / mentalis
Mod. L. mentalis  pertaining to the chin  < French mental of the chin  < L. mentum  chin (cf. Late L. mentalis  of the mind  < L. mens, mentis  mind).
● ex “Langrayen de Viti” of Hombron & Jacquinot 1843 (Artamus).

Moustached Grass-Warbler (amauroura)
SCI Name: Melocichla mentalis amauroura
amauroura / amaurourus / amaurura
Gr. αμαυρος amauros  dark; -ουρος -ouros  -tailed  < ουρα oura  tail.

Moustached Grass-Warbler (orientalis)
SCI Name: Melocichla mentalis orientalis
orientale / orientalis
L. orientalis  eastern, oriental  < oriens, orientis  east.
● Asia; ex “Anser moschoviticus” of Albin 1731-1738, and “Anser chinensis” of Linnaeus 1747 (syn. Anser cygnoides).
● India; ex Ardea antigone Linnaeus, 1758, “Grus orientalis” of Brisson 1760, and “Indian Crane” of Latham 1785 (syn. Antigone antigone).
● East Indies (= Seram and New Guinea); ex “Casoar des Indes orientales” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 313 (syn. Casuarius casuarius).
● India; ex “Eastern Parrot” of Latham 1781 (?syn. Eclectus roratus).
● East Indies (= Amboina); ex “Coucou noir des Indes” (= ♂) and “Coucou tacheté des Indes” (=♀) of Brisson 1760 (subsp. Eudynamys scolopaceus).
● East Indies (=Java); ex “Rollier des Indes” of Brisson 1760 (Eurystomus).
● East Indies; ex “Merula indica” of Brisson 1760, “Merle des Indes Orientales” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 273, fig. 2, and “Ash-rumped Thrush” of Latham 1783 (syn. Lalage nigra).
● India; ex “Indian Bee-eater” and “Coromandel Bee-eater” of Latham 1782-1787 (Merops).
● Asia; ex “Onocrotalus” or “Pelecanus” of previous authors (syn. Pelecanus onocrotalus).
● "91. TETRAO.  ...  orientalis.  12. T. pedibus antice pilosis: abdomine gulaque atra, collari ferrugineo, cauda cuneiformi.  Tetrao orientalis. Hasselq. it. 278. n. 43.  Perdix damascena. Will. orn. 128.  Francolin. Tournef. it. I. p. 158. t. 158.  Habitat in Oriente." (Linnaeus 1758) (Pterocles).
● China; ex “Tourterelle brune de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782, and “Chinese Turtle” of Latham 1783 (Streptopelia).
● China; ex “China Owl” of Latham 1801 (syn. Strix seloputo).

Moustached Grass-Warbler (incana)
SCI Name: Melocichla mentalis incana
INCANA
(Cisticolidae; Ϯ Socotra Warbler I. incana) Specific name Cisticola incana P. Sclater & Hartlaub, 1881; "Cisticola incana Scl. & Hartl., P. Z. S. 1881, p. 166, pl. 15.  TYPE in British Mus., "♂ coll. by Prof. Balfour, 23 March 1880, on Sokotra Is."; imm. ♂, wing 50, tail 44: examined and judged to be, not a Cisticola, but more like a Franklinia, probably best classified as the Type of:- Incana incana genus nov., defined thus:-  Form.  Near Franklinia, viz. bill long, very straight, slender and much compressed apically; feet rather large; wings short, obtuse, weak (the foregoing copied from the orig. descr. in P. Z. S. 1881, to which add); texture of plumage loose and soft, particularly dense and puffy on lower back and rump; but tail Cisticoline, less steeply graduated than Franklinia, and rectrices not so narrow (twelve in no., as in both sp.).   Coloration (Only Summer and juvenile dresses known) Plain brownish grey above and white below; more like Franklinia than any species of Cisticola, except tail which is of Cisticoline spotted fan pattern above and below, with white tips and outermost edgings, that of the male Summer dress also with conspicuous white mirrors.  Habits (according to description). Much more like Franklinia than Cisticola." (Lynes 1930).

Moustached Grass-Warbler (luangwae)
SCI Name: Melocichla mentalis luangwae
luangwae
Luangwa Valley, Northern Rhodesia (= Zambia).