Northern Variable Pitohui

SCI Name:  Pitohui kirhocephalus
Protonym:  Lanius kirhocephalus Voy.Coq. 1 livr.2 pl.11
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Oriolidae / Pitohui
Taxonomy Code:  varpit2
Type Locality:  Dorey [= Manokwari] , Vogelkop.
Author:  Lesson & Garnot
Publish Year:  1827
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PITOHUI
(Oriolidae; Ϯ Northern Variable Pitohui P. kirhocephalus) Papuan name Pitohui  rubbish bird (i.e. inedible), for the pitohuis. The skin and feathers of the Variable Pitohui contain powerful batrachotoxins, probably developed from the beetles that form part of its diet (see Ifrita); "VII.^e Sous-genre.  PITOHUI; Pitohui.   Bec long, triangulaire, à arête vive, crochue; à narines arrondies; à bords élargis, un peu dilatés; tarses moyens. Queue médiocre, arrondie.   1.º Lanius kirrhocephalus, Less., Zool. de la Coq., pl. 11.  De la Nouvelle-Guinée.   2.º Lanius niger , Horsf.; Lanius melas, Garn.; Less., Man., t. I.^er, p. 128.   3.º Lanius. Pie-Grièche noire et blanche. Du Cap. (Mus. de Paris.)" (Lesson 1830); "Pitohui Lesson, 1830, Traité Orn., p. 375. Type, by subsequent designation (Sharpe, 1877, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 3, p. 283), Lanius kirhocephalus Lesson and Garnot." (Mayr in Peters 1967, XII, 45).
Var. Pitoius.
Synon. Rectes.

kirhocephalus
Gr. κιρρος kirrhos  tawny, orange-tawny; -κεφαλος -kephalos  -headed  <  κεφαλη kephalē  head.

SUBSPECIES

Northern Variable Pitohui (decipiens)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus decipiens
decipiens
L. decipiens, decipientis  deceiving, cheating  < decipere  to cheat  < de  from; capere  to seize.

Northern Variable Pitohui (kirhocephalus)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus kirhocephalus
kirhocephalus
Gr. κιρρος kirrhos  tawny, orange-tawny; -κεφαλος -kephalos  -headed  <  κεφαλη kephalē  head.

Northern Variable Pitohui (dohertyi)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus dohertyi
dohertyi
William Doherty (1857-1901) US traveller, explorer, entomologist, ornithologist, collector in India, Burma, Malaysia, the East Indies, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Kenya (syn. Dicrurus hottentottus guillemardi, Edolisoma, Erythropitta, Geokichla, subsp. Gerygone chrysogaster, Heleia, subsp. Loriculus philippensis, syn. Malurus cyanocephalus, syn. Mirafra africana athi, syn. Nigrita canicapillus diabolicus, subsp. Pitohui kirhocephalus, Ptilinopus, syn. Riparia paludicola ducis, syn. Tchagra australis emini, Telophorus).

Northern Variable Pitohui (rubiensis)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus rubiensis
rubiensis
Rubi I., Geelvink Bay, Dutch New Guinea / Cenderawasih Bay, Papua, Indonesia.

Northern Variable Pitohui (brunneivertex)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus brunneivertex
brunneivertex
Mod. L. brunneus  brown  < Med. L. brunius  brown; L. vertex, verticis  crown of the head.

Northern Variable Pitohui (jobiensis)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus jobiensis
jobiensis
Jobi I. (= Japen), Geelvink Bay, New Guinea.
● Erroneous TL. Jobi I. (= mainland of New Guinea, east of Geelvink Bay) (Ailuroedus).

Northern Variable Pitohui (meyeri)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus meyeri
meyeri / meyerianus / meyerii
● Dr Aron Baruch Meyer (known as Adolf Bernhard Meyer) (1840-1911) German physician, collector in the East Indies and New Guinea 1870-1873, Director of Royal Mus. Dresden 1874-1906, zoologist, anthropologist (Accipiter, Chalcites (ex Chrysococcyx splendidus Mayer, 1874), syn. Cinnyris jugularis plateni, Edolisoma, Epimachus, syn. Leptocoma sericea porphyrolaema (ex Hermotimia porphyrolaema scapulata Meyer & Wiglesworth, 1896), subsp. Myzomela nigrita, Pachycephala (ex Pachycephala affinis Meyer, 1884), Philemon (ex Tropidorhynchus inornatus Meyer, 1875), subsp. Pitohui kirhocephalus, subsp. Pucrasia macrolopha, syn. Rhipidura atra, subsp. Tanysiptera galatea, subsp. Timeliopsis fulvigula, syn. Todiramphus chloris, Trichoglossus, subsp. Xanthotis flaviventer (ex Ptilotis pyrrhotis Meyer, 1875)).
● Dr Bernhard Meyer (1767–1836) German botanist, ornithologist, collector (syn. Limosa lapponica, Poicephalus).
● Fr. P. Rudolf Otto Maria Meyer (1877-1937) German missionary to the Bismarck Archipelago 1902-1937 (syn. Acrocephalus stentoreus sumbae, subsp. Hypotaenidia philippensis, subsp. Ptilinopus solomonensis).

Northern Variable Pitohui (senex)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus senex
senex
L. senex, senis  old person (i.e. grey-haired, white-haired, querulous).

Northern Variable Pitohui (brunneicaudus)
SCI Name: Pitohui kirhocephalus brunneicaudus
brunneicauda / brunneicaudalis / brunneicaudis / brunneicaudus
Mod. L. brunneus  brown  < Med. L. brunius  brown; L. cauda  tail.
● “Count Salvadori has changed the name of rufifrons, as the rufous forehead of the type specimen was found to be due to a blood-stain” (Gadow 1884) (syn. Zosterops chloris).