Reunion Gray White-eye

SCI Name:  Zosterops borbonicus
Protonym:  Motacilla borbonica IndischeZool. p.41
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Zosteropidae / Zosterops
Taxonomy Code:  maswhe2
Type Locality:  Bourbon and [error] Madagascar.
Author:  Forster
Publish Year:  1781
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ZOSTEROPS
(Zosteropidae; Ϯ Madagascar White-eye Z. maderaspatanus) Gr. ζωστηρ zōstēr, ζωστηρος zōstēros  belt, girdle; ωψ ōps, ωπος ōpos  eye; "Genus. ZOSTEROPS*.   Rostrum mediocre, gracile, arcuatum; mandibula superiore vix emarginata; naribus basalibus, linearibus, longitudinalibus, membrana supra tectis, rictu inermi.  Alæ mediocres; remigibus prima et quinta fere æqualibus, secunda tertia et quarta paulo longioribus, fere æqualibus, primariis secundarias paululum longitudine superantibus.  Pedes subfortes, subelongati; acrotarsiis scutellatis.  Cauda æqualis.  Caput gracile, concinnum; plumulis periopthalmicis subsericeis albis cingulum subprominentem efformantibus.   ...   The true Sylvia, if we select the slenderly-formed Warblers of Europe, such as the Motacillæ hippolais, trochilus, &c. Linn., as the types of the genus, are set apart from almost all the other species by the formation of their wing, in which the first quill-feather is extremely short, in some instances, indeed, almost spurious.  Of the foreign groups of the family we have already observed that the New Holland genera Malurus and Acanthiza come nearest the European type by the same construction of the wing.  The present group essentially differs from it.  The first quill-feather is long, almost equal to the second, which together with the third and fourth,—all of them nearly of a length,—are the longest.  The nares also are linear and longitudinal, thus differing from the oval form of the European type.  In other respects the characters of these two groups have a general accordance.  Besides the disposition of the wing-feathers, we may also mention the scutellation of the tarsi, the even tail, and the unarmed rictus, as additional marks of distinction from the before-mentioned New Holland Sylviadæ.  From the genus Hylophilus of M. Temminck, which has lately been separated with much judgement from the Sylvia of Dr. Latham, and which also has the first quill-feather elongated and nearly even with the rest, our present group may readily be distinguished by a much more gracile and arcuated bill, in which the nares also are of a different construction.  The Motacilla Maderaspatana of Linnæus, (Sylvia Madagascariensis, Lath.), belongs to our group, which seems to have a very wide dispersion.    1. DORSALIS  ...  Sylvia annulosa, var. β.  Swains. Zool. Illust. pl. 16.  ...  Orbitæ plumulis albis vestitæ.   ...   *Zωστηρ cingulum, and ωψ oculus." (Vigors & Horsfield 1826); "Zosterops Vigors and Horsfield, 1826, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 15, p. 234. Type, by subsequent designation (Lesson, 1828 Man. Orn., 1, p. 286), Motacilla maderaspatana Linnaeus." (Mayr in Peters, 1967, XII, p. 290). The majority of white-eyes have a ring of white feathers around each eye.
Var. Fosterops, Fosterzops, Zostenops.
Synon. Cyclopterops, Luteozosterops, Malacirops, Nesozosterops, Oreosterops, Parinia, Sanfordia, Speirops, Tephras, Woodfordia, Zosteropisylvia.

zosterops
Gr. ζωστηρ zōstēr, ζωςτηρος zōstēros  belt, girdle; ωψ ōps,  ωπος ōpos  eye.

borbonensis / borbonica / borbonicus
Île Bourbon, named in 1649 for the Bourbons, a European royal house of French origin (= Île de la Réunion = Réunion, named in 1793 to commemorate the fall of the Bourbons and the union of revolutionaries from Marseille and from Paris).
● ex “Merula borbonica” of Brisson 1760 (Hypsipetes).
● ex “Merula borbonica” of Brisson 1760, “Merle de l’isle de Bourbon” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Bourbon Thrush” of Latham 1783 (syn. Hypsipetes borbonicus).
● ex “Hirondelle de l’Île de Bourbon” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 544, fig. 2 (Phedina).
● Erroneous TL Île de Bourbon (= tropical America); ex “Ficedula borbonica” of Brisson 1760, “Petit Simon” of de Buffon 1770-1783, “Figuier de l’île de Bourbon” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 705, fig. 2, and “Bourbon Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Polioptila plumbea).
● ex “Muscicapa borbonica cristata” of Brisson 1760, “Gobe-mouche huppé de l’île de Bourbon” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 573, fig. 1, and “Bourbon Fly-catcher” of Latham 1783 (syn. Terpsiphone bourbonnensis).
● ex “Grimpereau” or “Figuier de l’Île de Bourbon” of Brisson 1760, “Soui-manga de l’Île de Bourbon” of de Buffon 1770-1785, and “Yellow-rumped Creeper” of Latham 1781 (Zosterops).