Royal Albatross

SCI Name:  Diomedea epomophora
Protonym:  Diomedaea epomophora Ann.Sci.Nat. 6 p.95
Taxonomy:  Procellariiformes / Diomedeidae / Diomedea
Taxonomy Code:  royalb1
Type Locality:  No type locality given in original description, = Campbell Island.
Author:  Lesson
Publish Year:  1825
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

DIOMEDEA
(Diomedeidae; Ϯ Wandering Albatross D. exulans) Gr. myth. Diomedes, warrior king of Aetolia, abandoned his kingdom because of the sexual excesses of his wife during his absence at the siege of Troy, and founded the city of Argyripa in Italy. At his death, from old age, his companions were so distraught that they were turned into white seabirds; the Wandering Albatross spends most of its long life coursing the southern oceans; "65. DIOMEDEA.  Rostrum rectum: maxilla superiore apice adunca; inferiore truncata.  Nares ovatæ, patulæ, prominulæ, laterales." (Linnaeus 1758); "Diomedea Linné, Syst. Nat., ed.10, 1, 1758, p. 132. Type, by subsequent designation, Diomedea exulans Linné (Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 78.)" (Peters, 1931, I, p. 41). Linnaeus's Diomedea comprised two species (D. exulans, D. demersa). 
Var. Diomedaea, Diomaedea, Diomedia.
Synon. Albatrossa, Albatrus, Rhothonia.

diomedea
Gr. myth. Diomedes, warrior king of Aetolia. At his death, from old age, his companions were so distraught that they were turned into white seabirds. The Aves Diomedias Diomedean birds, of Latin authors were unknown seabirds, but may have been gannets or gulls; "We agree with Hartert (Vög. Pal. Fauna, Nachtr., 1, p. 77, 1923) that Procellaria diomedea Scopoli (Ann. I. Hist. Nat., p. 74, 1769), named from a single specimen of unknown origin in the collection of Count Thurn-Valsassina at Passau, is indeterminable." (Hellmayr & Conover 1948, XIII, 63) (Calonectris).

epomophora
Gr. επωμις epōmis, επωμιδος epōmidos  shoulder; -φορος -phoros  -carrying  < φερω pherō  to carry
● “épaules ...blanc de neige” (Lesson 1843) (syn. Abeillia abeillei).
● “Albatros à epaulettes ...deux larges taches blanches en losange sur le coude de chaque aile” (Lesson 1825) (Marchant & Higgins 1990, and Brooke 2004, are both incorrect when alluding to the Royal Albatross’s hump-backed appearance in flight) (Diomedea).

SUBSPECIES

Royal Albatross (Southern)
SCI Name: Diomedea epomophora epomophora
epomophora
Gr. επωμις epōmis, επωμιδος epōmidos  shoulder; -φορος -phoros  -carrying  < φερω pherō  to carry
● “épaules ...blanc de neige” (Lesson 1843) (syn. Abeillia abeillei).
● “Albatros à epaulettes ...deux larges taches blanches en losange sur le coude de chaque aile” (Lesson 1825) (Marchant & Higgins 1990, and Brooke 2004, are both incorrect when alluding to the Royal Albatross’s hump-backed appearance in flight) (Diomedea).

Royal Albatross (Northern)
SCI Name: Diomedea epomophora sanfordi
sanfordi
Dr Leonard Cutler Sanford (1868-1950) US zoologist, Trustee of AMNH, organised Whitney-Sanford South Pacific expeditions, sponsor of AMNH Mt Hagen Expedition (subsp. Archboldia papuensis, subsp. Asio flammeus, syn. Cinnyrorhyncha longirostra, subsp. Crateroscelis robusta, Cyornis, Diomedea, subsp. Erythrura trichroa, Haliaeetus, subsp. Lagopus muta, subsp. Micrathene whitneyi, subsp. Mino kreffti, subsp. Myzomela cardinalis, subsp. Pachycephala orioloides, syn. Perisoreus canadensis nigricapillus, subsp. Rhabdotorrhinus exarhatus, syn. Rhamphomantis megarhynchus).