Pin-tailed Manakin

SCI Name:  Ilicura militaris
Protonym:  Pipra militaris Nat.Misc. 20 pl.849,text
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Pipridae / Ilicura
Taxonomy Code:  pitman1
Type Locality:  South America; vicinity of Rio de Janeiro proposed by Hellmayr, 1929, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 13, pt. 6, p. 60.
Author:  Shaw
Publish Year:  1809
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ILICURA
(Pipridae; Ϯ Pin-tailed Manakin I. militaris) Gr. ἱληκω hilēkō  to be gracious (cf. Botanical genus Ilex Linnaeus, 1754, holly (with ref. to the sharp spines on the leaves)  < L. ilex, ilicis  holm oak; Gr. ἑλιξ helix, ἑλικος helikos lock of hair, curl, tendril; “Presumed derivation ηλιξ [equal]” (P. Sclater 1888)); ουρα oura  tail.  We will never know Reichenbach's 1850 thoughts behind the generic tag, although his plate LXIII, labelled Motac. Parinae: Piprinae, shows the distinctive double-pinned tail-feathers of this manakin; "Ilicura Reichenbach, 1850, Avium Syst. Nat., pl. 63. Type, by subsequent designation (G. R. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds, p. 55), Pipra militaris Shaw and Nodder." (Snow in Peters 1979, VIII, 266).
Var. Heilicura, Helicura, Hicura, Hilicura, Jlicura.

militaris
L. militaris  military, martial, soldier-  < miles, militis  soldier.
● ex “Great Green Maccaw” of Edwards 1764; "Military Macaw  ... the whole bird having much the appearance of the German military uniform, from which circumstance it not inappropriately derives its distinctive name" (Perry 1811) (Ara).
● ex Coracina militaris Latham 1801, and “Grand Cotinga” of Levaillant 1801 (syn. Haematoderus militaris).
● ex “Rubicilla fusca major” of Edwards 1751, and “Turdus ater, pectore coccineo” of Linnaeus 1754 (Leistes).
● ex “Etourneau des terres Magellaniques” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 113 (syn. Leistes loyca).