Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant

SCI Name:  Muscisaxicola alpinus
Protonym:  Taenioptera alpina Contrib.Orn.[Jardine] p.47,48,49 pl.21
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Tyrannidae / Muscisaxicola
Taxonomy Code:  plcgrt1
Type Locality:  high ridge of the Andes; type from Quito, Ecuador, fide Sclater, 1888, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 14, p. 54.
Author:  Jardine
Publish Year:  1849
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MUSCISAXICOLA
(Tyrannidae; Ϯ Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant M. rufivertex) Portmanteau of genera Muscicapa Brisson 1760, flycatcher, and Saxicola auct. (= Oenanthe Vieillot 1816), wheatear; "G. MUSCISAXICOLA. Nob.   Pedibus valde elongatis, gracilibus, unguibus anticis brevibus, postice longiore parum curvato, alis prælongis, acuminatis; cauda mediocris apice recto; rostro tenui, valde compresso, elongato, non basi depresso, quibus omnibus characteribus habituque toto Saxicolis hujus generis species proxime accedunt.   ...   1. M. rufivertex, Nob.   ...   2. M. mentalis, Nob.   ...   3. M. maculirostris, Nob.   ...   4. M. striaticeps, Nob." (d'Orbigny & de La Fresnaye 1837); "Muscisaxicola d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye, 1837, Mag. Zool. [Paris], 7, cl. 2, p. 65. Type, by subsequent designation (G. R. Gray, 1840, List Genera Birds, p. 24), Muscisaxicola rufivertex d'Orbigny and Lafresnaye." (Traylor in Peters 1979, VIII, 168).
Synon. Ptyonura.

alpina / alpinum / alpinus
L. alpinus  alpine, of high mountains, of the Alps  < alpes or alpis  high mountains, Alps.
● "78. TRINGA.  ...  alpina.  7. T. testaceo-fusca, pectore nigricante, rectricibus cinereo-albidis, pedibus fuscescentibus.  Habitat in Lapponia. Adlerheim.  Magnitudo Sturni; Abdomen album." (Linnaeus 1758) (Calidris).
● ex “Fauvette des Alpes” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 668, fig. 2, and “Collared Stare” and “Alpine Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Prunella collaris).
● ex “Choucas des Alpes” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Pyrrhocorax graculus).

SUBSPECIES

Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant (columbianus)
SCI Name: Muscisaxicola alpinus columbianus
columbiana / columbianum / columbianus
● Colombia. To this day the name of Colombia is misspelled in newspapers, scientific works (e.g. NAOC Vancouver 2012 Abstracts, p. 207) and books, and on television (e.g. BBC News Channel (Travel!) 14 May 2017), and generally wrongly pronounced there (e.g. Channel 4 Seven O’Clock News, 10 October 2011) and on radio (e.g. BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine Show 30 November 2016). “America ... north of the Isthmus of Darien, the southern continent being termed Columbia” (Wood 1835) (subsp. Chamaeza campanisona, subsp. Cinclodes excelsior, Crypturellus, Fulica, Ortalis, Phaethornis, subsp. Philydor rufum, subsp. Synallaxis gujanensis).
● Columbia River or Columbia River region (Oregon) (Cygnus (ex “Whistling Swan” of P. Allen 1814), syn. Gymnogyps californianus, Nucifraga, subsp. Pedioecetes phasianellus (ex “Grouse or Prairie Hen” of Lewis 1814), syn. Piranga ludoviciana).
● Greater Colombia (= Venezuela) (Odontophorus, Philydor).
● Columbia County, Florida, USA (‡ Palaeophoyx).
● British Columbia, Canada (subsp. Poecile hudsonicus).
● Erroneous TL. Porto Cabello, Colombia (= Ciudad Bolívar, Río Orinoco, Venezuela) (Sicalis).

Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant (quesadae)
SCI Name: Muscisaxicola alpinus quesadae
quesadae
Capt.-Gen. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (1495-1579) Spanish explorer, conquistador, Chief Justice of Santa Marta, founder of the settlement of Nuevo Granada (= Santa Fé de Bogotá), Colombia (subsp. Muscisaxicola alpinus).

Plain-capped Ground-Tyrant (alpinus)
SCI Name: Muscisaxicola alpinus alpinus
alpina / alpinum / alpinus
L. alpinus  alpine, of high mountains, of the Alps  < alpes or alpis  high mountains, Alps.
● "78. TRINGA.  ...  alpina.  7. T. testaceo-fusca, pectore nigricante, rectricibus cinereo-albidis, pedibus fuscescentibus.  Habitat in Lapponia. Adlerheim.  Magnitudo Sturni; Abdomen album." (Linnaeus 1758) (Calidris).
● ex “Fauvette des Alpes” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 668, fig. 2, and “Collared Stare” and “Alpine Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Prunella collaris).
● ex “Choucas des Alpes” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Pyrrhocorax graculus).