Oaxaca Sparrow

SCI Name:  Aimophila notosticta
Protonym:  Peucaea notosticta Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt2 p.322
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Passerellidae / Aimophila
Taxonomy Code:  oaxspa1
Type Locality:  central Mexico ; probably Puebla, fide Salvin and Godman, 1886, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, 1, p. 393.
Author:  Sclater & Salvin
Publish Year:  1868
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

AIMOPHILA
(Passerellidae; † Rusty Sparrow A. rufescens) Gr. αιμος aimos  copse, thicket; φιλος philos  lover; alluding to the scrubby habitats favoured by these American sparrows; "Aimophila, Sw.   Bill more lengthened, unequally conic, compressed: the base of the culmen elevated and dividing the frontal feathers.  Upper mandible slightly notched at the tip, and thicker at the base than the under one: commissure sinuated: culmen slightly arched from the base.  Wings short, rounded; the two first quills graduated.  Tail moderate, rounded; the feathers rather narrow.  Feet strong.  The lateral toes nearly equal.  Claws slender, slightly curved.   America only.    G. rufescens. Part 5. No. 102.   superciliosa. Ib. No. 101." (Swainson 1837 (July)); "101.  AIMOPHILA superciliosa.  Above, sparrow brown, striped with black; beneath, cinereous grey  ...  Inhabits Mexico.   ...   102.  AIMOPHILA rufescens.  Above, rufous brown, unspotted; beneath, greyish white  ...  Inhabits Mexico." (Swainson 1837 (Dec.)); "Aimophila Swainson, Nat. Hist. & Classif. Bds., 2, p. 287, July, 1837 (generic characters only); ²  idem, Anim. in Menag., p. 314, Dec. 31, 1837—type, by subs. desig. (Gray, List Gen. Bds., p. 46, 1840), Aimophila rufescens Swainson = Pipilo rufescens Swainson.   ...    ² The two species cited by Swainson were at the time undescribed, and were not characterized until six months later.  Gray designated A. rufescens, one of the two species described by Swainson in "Anim. in Menageries" in connection with the generic name Aimophila, as genotype." (Hellmayr, 1938, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. XI, p. 516).
Synon. Haemophila.

aimophila / aimophilus
Gr. αιμος aimos  copse, thicket; φιλος philos  loving  < φιλεω phileō  to love  < φιλος philos  lover.

notosticta
Gr. νωτον nōton  back; στικτος stiktos  spotted  < στιζω stizō  to tattoo.