Red-billed Oxpecker

SCI Name:  Buphagus erythrorynchus
Protonym:  Tanagra erythrorhyncha Voy.Abyssin.[Salt] App.iv p.lix
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Buphagidae / Buphagus
Taxonomy Code:  reboxp1
Type Locality:  Ethiopia.
Author:  Stanley
Publish Year:  1814
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

BUPHAGUS
(Buphagidae; † Yellow-billed Oxpecker B. africanus) Gr. βους bous  ox; -φαγος -phagos  -eating  < φαγειν phagein  to eat; the oxpeckers feed only on ticks and other skin parasites of grazing mammals, especially African Buffalo, Giraffe and rhinoceroses; "LE PIQUE-BŒUF.  ... BUPHAGUS.  ... Cet Oiseau se pose sur le dos des Bœufs, & à coups de bec réitérés en fait sortir le sang, non pas pour s'en nourrir, mais pour tirer de dessous l'épiderme des vers, qui y vivent jusqu'au moment de leur métamorphose, & desquels il est très-friands: c'est ce qui lui a fair donner le nom de Pique-bœuf" (Brisson 1760); “Beef-eater ...  Buphaga of Linnaeus and Brisson  ...  because it picks holes in the backs of cattle to get at the Larvae of insects deposited there” (Pennant 1773); "Buphagus Brisson, 1760, Orn., 1, p. 32, 2, p. 436.  Type, by monotypy, "Buphagus" Brisson = Buphaga africana Linnaeus." (Amadon in Peters, 1962, XV, p. 121).
Var. Buphaga, Buphaea.
Synon. Buphagoides.
• (Stercorariidae; syn. Catharacta † Great Skua C. skua) Gr. βου- bou-  huge  < βους bous  bull, ox; -φαγος -phagos  -eating  < φαγειν phagein  to eat; "71. BUPHAGUS.  Skua. HOIER. ap. CLUS. exot auctar. 369., WILL. Orn. t. 67.  Catarractes. RAI. Syn. av. 128." (Moehring 1752); "ZEE-HAVIK, in 't Latyn Buphagus.  Skua van HOJER. by CLUSIUS. Exot. auctar. 369. en by WILLUGHBY t. 67.  Cataractes by RAY Syn. Av. p. 128" (Moehring 1758); "I.  Statura maximi, et forma robustissimi.  Pedes et rostrum validi.  Tarsus brevior quam digitus medius cum ungue.  Rectrices mediæ latæ vix ultra cæteras porrectæ. . . .Genus BUPHAGUS.   ...   Genus BUPHAGUS Moehring.  Buphagus, Moehring, Genera Avium, 1752, page 66, no. 71.  Typus Larus catarractes, Linn." (Coues 1863); "Buphagus "(Moehring, 1752)" Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, p. 124—type, by orig. desig., Larus catarractes Linnaeus = Catharacta skua Brünnich." (Hellmayr and Conover, 1948, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. I (3), p. 241).

erythrorhyncha / erythrorhynchos / erythrorhynchum / erythrorhynchus / erythroryncha / erythrorynchos / erythrorynchus
Gr. ερυθρος eruthros red; ῥυγχος rhunkhos bill.
● ex “Crimson-billed Duck” of Latham 1785 (Anas).
● ex “Red-billed Creeper” of Latham 1787 (Dicaeum).
● ex “Saw-billed Pelican” and “Rough-billed Pelican” of Latham 1785 (Pelecanus).
● ex “Red-billed Promerops” of Latham 1787 (syn. Phoeniculus purpureus).
● ex “Red-beaked Toucan” of Edwards 1758, and Latham 1781, and “Tucana cayennensis gutture albo” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Ramphastos tucanus).
● ex “Calao à becque rouge du Sénégal” of Brisson 1760 (Tockus).
● ex “Geay de la Chine à bec rouge” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 622, and “Red-billed Jay” of Latham 1781 (Urocissa).