Philippine Spinetailed Swift

SCI Name:  Mearnsia picina
Protonym:  Chaetura picina Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1878) (1878), Pt4 p.944 pl.59
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Apodidae / Mearnsia
Taxonomy Code:  phinee1
Type Locality:  Zamboanga, Mindanao.
Author:  Tweeddale
Publish Year:  1879
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

MEARNSIA
(Apodidae; Ϯ Philippine Spine-tail Swift M. picina) Lt.-Col. Edgar Alexander Mearns (1858-1916) US Army 1883-1909, surgeon, collector in Mexico 1892-1894, the Philippines 1903-1907, and tropical Africa 1909-1911. "dd. Size smaller (wing less than 170 mm., the wing relatively very long); tenth (outermost) primary distinctly shorter than ninth; distance from tips of longest secondaries to tip of longest primary much more than two-thirds the total length of wing; tail only one-sixth as long as wing, the longest coverts reaching nearly to its tip; no white on under tail-coverts or flanks.  Mearnsia (extralimital).^e   ...   ^eNew genus. Dedicated to Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, U. S. A., not only in recognition of his valuable services to ornithology, but also as a token of the author's high esteem.  (Type, Chætura picina Tweeddale.)" (Ridgway 1911).
Synon. Papuanapus.

picina / picinus
L. picinus  pitch-black  < pix, picis  pitch.