Philippine Serpent-Eagle

SCI Name:  Spilornis holospilus
Protonym:  Buteo holospilus Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt1 no.8 p.96
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Spilornis
Taxonomy Code:  phseag1
Type Locality:  near Manila.
Author:  Vigors
Publish Year:  1831
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SPILORNIS
(Accipitridae; Ϯ Crested Serpent Eagle S. cheela) Gr. σπιλος spilos  spot; ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "The first [Haematornis holospilus] is spotted all over the body, the second [H. bacha] only on the abdomen; while the third [H. undulatus = Spilornis cheela] is marked by spots on the wing-coverts, and by ocelli bearing an undulated appearance on the abdomen, the breast also being crossed by undulating fasciæ" (Vigors 1832); "SPILORNIS, n.  Hæmatornis^b, Vigors.  Falco, Shaw.   S. Bacha, (Shaw,) n.  Levaill. Ois. d'Afr., pl. 15.  ...  ^bPreviously used by Mr. Swainson." (G. Gray 1840); "Spilornis G. R. Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 3. Type, by original designation, Falco bacha Shaw; based on "Le Bacha" of Levaillant, ? 1797, Hist. Nast. Oiseaux Afrique, 1, p. 44, pl. 15 = Falco bassus J. R. Forster = Spilornis cheela subsp.  ...  Falco Bassus J. R. Forster, 1798, in Levaillant, Naturgeschichte Afr. Vögel, p. 55, pl. 15 — mountains of Great Namaqualand (corrected to Java by Sundevall, 1857, K. Svenska Vetenskaps-Acad. Handlingar, n.s., 2, no. 3, p. 25), is unidentifiable (cf. Gurney, 1878, Ibis, p. 100, and Stresemann, 1959, Journ. Ornith., 100, p. 355)." (Amadon in Peters 1979, 1, ed. 2, 311, 314).   
Synon. Bacha, Haematornis, Hypaetos, Ophaetus.

holospilus
Gr. ὁλος holos  complete, entire; σπιλος spilos  spot, stain.