Red-tailed Tropicbird

SCI Name:  Phaethon rubricauda
Protonym:  Phaeton rubricauda TablePlanchesEnlum. p.57
Taxonomy:  Phaethontiformes / Phaethontidae / Phaethon
Taxonomy Code:  rettro
Type Locality:  Mauritius.
Author:  Boddaert
Publish Year:  1783
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PHAETHON
(Phaethontidae; Ϯ Red-billed Tropicbird P. aethereus) Gr. φαεθων phaethōn  sun  < φαω phaō  to shine (Gr. myth. Phaëthon, the disobedient son of Phoebus or Sol, the Sun, and the Oceanid Clymene); “Linnaeus bestowed upon it the generic term  ...  in allusion to its attempts to follow the path of the sun” (Newton & Gadow 1896) (see Phaetusa); "67. PHAËTHON.  Rostrum cultratum, rectum, acuminatum. Fauce pone rostrum hiante.  Nares oblongæ, postice membrana semitectæ.  Digiti postici antrorsum versi.  ...  Habitat in Pelago inter tropicos." (Linnaeus 1758); "Phaëthon Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 134. Type, by subsequent designation, Phaëthon æthereus Linné (Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 80.)" (Peters 1931, I, 77). Linnaeus's Phaethon comprised two species (P. æthereus, P. demersus).  
Var. Phacton, Phaeton.
Synon. Leptophaethon, Lepturus, Phoenicurus, Scaeophaethon, Tropicophilus.

phaethon
Gr. φαεθων phaethōn  sun  < φαω phaō  to shine.

rubricauda
L. ruber, rubra  red; cauda  tail.
● ex “Oiseau-mouche à gorge rouge du Brésil” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 276, fig. 4, and “Rubis émeraude” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Clytolaema).
● ex “Paille-en-queue de l’isle de France” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 979 (Phaethon).

SUBSPECIES

Red-tailed Tropicbird (melanorhynchos)
SCI Name: Phaethon rubricauda melanorhynchos
melanorhyncha / melanorhynchos / melanorhynchus
Late Med. L. melanorhynchos  black-billed  < Gr. μελας melas, μελανος  melanos  black; ῥυγχος rhunkhos  bill.
● ex “Black-billed Tropic Bird” of Latham 1785 (subsp. Phaethon rubricauda).

Red-tailed Tropicbird (roseotinctus)
SCI Name: Phaethon rubricauda roseotinctus
roseotincta / roseotinctus
L. roseus  rosy  < rosa  rose; tinctus  dyed, coloured  < tingere  to dye.

Red-tailed Tropicbird (rubricauda)
SCI Name: Phaethon rubricauda rubricauda
rubricauda
L. ruber, rubra  red; cauda  tail.
● ex “Oiseau-mouche à gorge rouge du Brésil” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 276, fig. 4, and “Rubis émeraude” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Clytolaema).
● ex “Paille-en-queue de l’isle de France” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 979 (Phaethon).

Red-tailed Tropicbird (westralis)
SCI Name: Phaethon rubricauda westralis
westra / westralasiana / westralensis / westraliensis / westralis
Western Australia.