Purple Honeycreeper

SCI Name:  Cyanerpes caeruleus
Protonym:  Certhia caerulea Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.118
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Thraupidae / Cyanerpes
Taxonomy Code:  purhon1
Type Locality:  upper fig. (= male) Surinam.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

CYANERPES
(Thraupidae; † Red-legged Honeycreeper C. cyaneus) Gr. κυανος kuanos  dark-blue; ἑρπης  herpēs  creeper  <   ἑρπω herpō  to crawl; the Red-legged Honeycreeper was for long included in the “Coerebidae,” a hotch-potch group of  “honeycreepers" now known to be unrelated; "This very homogeneous group of Cœrebidæ has by some authors been called Cœreba, by some Caereba, by others Arbelorhina, but unfortunately none of these names is properly applicable to the genus.  As Mr. Ridgway has already shown [1887] the name Cœreba Vieillot [1807] can not be used for this group, since the only recognized species mentioned in the original diagnosis is Certhia flaveola Linn., which must therefore necessarily be the type; the term Cœreba thus supplanting the more recent Certhiola Sundevall.  Caereba of Vigors [1825] is merely an emendation, accidental or otherwise, of Vieillot's Cœreba, and therefore identical in application.  Arbelorhina was proposed by Cabanis [1847] simply to replace Cæreba,—"Den regelwidrigen Namen Caereba haben wir in Arbelorhina umgeändert."  That the same author subsequently sought [1850] to restrict Arbelorhina to the group at present under consideration can, of course, not in the least alter the case, and Arbelorhina must be considered a strict synonym of  Cœreba.  As this disposition leaves the Blue Creepers without a generic name6, it is proposed that they be called  Cyanerpes,7 gen. nov.  ... Type, Certhia cyanea Linnæus.  CHARS. GEN. — Genus generi 'Chlorophanes' dicto similis, sed rostro multo graciliore et magis incurvato dignoscendum.   ...   6 Guitus Rafinesque, Analyse, 1815, 68, is a nomen nudum.   7 κυανος = cyaneus, + ἑρπης." (Oberholser 1899); "Cyanerpes Oberholser, 1899, Auk 16: 32.  Type, by original designation, Certhia cyanea Linnaeus." (AOU Checklist, 7th ed., 1998, p. 590).  

caeruleus
L. caeruleus  azure-blue, cerulean (see also caerulea).
● ex “Blue Maccaw” of Albin 1731-1738, and Latham 1781, “Psittacus maximus caeruleus varius, cauda producta” of Brown 1756, and “Ara jamaicensis cyaneo-crocea” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Ara ararauna).
● ex “Oiseau-Mouche à goisier bleu” of Audebert & Vieillot 1801 (syn. Chlorestes notatus).
● "59. CERTHIA.  ...  cærulea.  3. C. cærulea, remigibus rectricibusque nigris.  Certhia cærulea. Edw. av. 21. t. 21.  Habitat Surinami.  Rostrum huic longius quam in congeneribus." (Linnaeus 1758) (Cyanerpes).
● "100. PARUS.  ...  cæruleus.  4. P. remigibus caerulescentibus: primoribus margine exteriore albis, fronte alba, vertice cæruleo. Fn. svec. 240.  Parus cæruleus. Bell. av. 96. a. Gesn. av. 641. Aldr. orn. l. 17. c. 17. Will. orn. 175. Frisch. av. 3. t. 14. f. 1.  Habitat in Europa." (Linnaeus 1758) (Cyanistes).
● ex “Urraca celeste” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 55 (Cyanocorax).
● ex “Todier de Juida” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 783, “Todier bleu à ventre orangé” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Blue Tody” of Latham 1781 (syn. Ispidina picta).
● ex “Merula coerulea” of Brisson (syn. Monticola solitarius).
● ex “Merle bleu de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782 (Myophonus).
● ex “Small blue Jay” of Ray 1713, “Xanthornus caeruleus” of Brisson 1760, and “Blue Oriole” of Latham 1782 (?syn. Urocissa erythrorhyncha).
● ex “Xochitenacatl” of Nieremberg 1635, “Tucana caerulea” of Brisson 1760, and “Blue Toucan” of Latham 1781 (unident.).

SUBSPECIES

Purple Honeycreeper (caeruleus)
SCI Name: Cyanerpes caeruleus caeruleus
caeruleus
L. caeruleus  azure-blue, cerulean (see also caerulea).
● ex “Blue Maccaw” of Albin 1731-1738, and Latham 1781, “Psittacus maximus caeruleus varius, cauda producta” of Brown 1756, and “Ara jamaicensis cyaneo-crocea” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Ara ararauna).
● ex “Oiseau-Mouche à goisier bleu” of Audebert & Vieillot 1801 (syn. Chlorestes notatus).
● "59. CERTHIA.  ...  cærulea.  3. C. cærulea, remigibus rectricibusque nigris.  Certhia cærulea. Edw. av. 21. t. 21.  Habitat Surinami.  Rostrum huic longius quam in congeneribus." (Linnaeus 1758) (Cyanerpes).
● "100. PARUS.  ...  cæruleus.  4. P. remigibus caerulescentibus: primoribus margine exteriore albis, fronte alba, vertice cæruleo. Fn. svec. 240.  Parus cæruleus. Bell. av. 96. a. Gesn. av. 641. Aldr. orn. l. 17. c. 17. Will. orn. 175. Frisch. av. 3. t. 14. f. 1.  Habitat in Europa." (Linnaeus 1758) (Cyanistes).
● ex “Urraca celeste” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 55 (Cyanocorax).
● ex “Todier de Juida” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 783, “Todier bleu à ventre orangé” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Blue Tody” of Latham 1781 (syn. Ispidina picta).
● ex “Merula coerulea” of Brisson (syn. Monticola solitarius).
● ex “Merle bleu de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782 (Myophonus).
● ex “Small blue Jay” of Ray 1713, “Xanthornus caeruleus” of Brisson 1760, and “Blue Oriole” of Latham 1782 (?syn. Urocissa erythrorhyncha).
● ex “Xochitenacatl” of Nieremberg 1635, “Tucana caerulea” of Brisson 1760, and “Blue Toucan” of Latham 1781 (unident.).

Purple Honeycreeper (chocoanus)
SCI Name: Cyanerpes caeruleus chocoanus
chocoana / chocoanus / chocoensis
Chocó Dept., Colombia (“Chocó region, an important center of endemism, from Cerro Pirre, easternmost Panama, south through western Colombia to extreme north-western Ecuador” (Krabbe & Schulenberg 1997)).

Purple Honeycreeper (microrhynchus)
SCI Name: Cyanerpes caeruleus microrhynchus
microrhynchus
Gr. μικρος mikros  small; ῥυγχος rhunkhos  bill.

Purple Honeycreeper (longirostris)
SCI Name: Cyanerpes caeruleus longirostris
longirostris
L. longus  long; -rostris  -billed  < rostrum  beak. Var. Longirostra.
● ex “Long-billed Thrush” of Latham 1783 (‡Acrocephalus).
● ex “Manchot de la Nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776 (syn. Aptenodytes patagonicus).
● ex “Troupiale” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 532 (syn. Icterus icterus).
● ex “Grimpar Nasican” of Levaillant 1807 (Nasica).
● ex “Râle à long bec de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 849, and “Long-billed Rail” of Latham 1785 (Rallus).

Purple Honeycreeper (hellmayri)
SCI Name: Cyanerpes caeruleus hellmayri
hellmayri
Carl Eduard Hellmayr (1878-1944) Austrian/US ornithologist (subsp. Accipiter fasciatus, subsp. Anthoscopus caroli, Anthus, subsp. Attila rufus, subsp. Campylorhamphus trochilirostris, subsp. Catharus fuscater, subsp. Celeus elegans, syn. Chloroceryle americana cabanisii, Cinnyris, syn. Conopophaga lineata, Cranioleuca, syn. Crypturellus strigulosus, subsp. Cyanerpes caeruleus, subsp. Dendrocincla tyrannina, Drymophila, subsp. Empidonax occidentalis, subsp. Geositta cunicularia, syn. Geositta rufipennis fasciata, subsp. Hemithraupis flavicollis, subsp. Isleria hauxwelli, subsp. Lepidocolaptes angustirostris, subsp. Leptopogon superciliaris, subsp. Leptotila rufaxilla, Mecocerculus, subsp. Myioborus miniatus, subsp. Myiozetetes cayanensis, syn. Nonnula rubecula, subsp. Oenanthe familiaris, syn. Petronia petronia, subsp. Piaya cayana, syn. Pitangus sulphuratus, subsp. Poecile palustris, subsp. Pyriglena leuconota, subsp. Rhynchocyclus brevirostris, subsp. Saltator aurantiirostris, syn. Selenidera gouldii, subsp. Sporophila caerulescens, Synallaxis, subsp. Tanygnathus megalorhynchos, subsp. Terenotriccus erythrurus, syn. Thamnophilus schistaceus dubius, subsp. Tyto alba, subsp. Xenops tenuirostris).