Rufous-headed Chachalaca

SCI Name:  Ortalis erythroptera
Protonym:  Ortalida erythroptera Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt2 p.540
Taxonomy:  Galliformes / Cracidae / Ortalis
Taxonomy Code:  ruhcha1
Type Locality:  Babahoyo and Guayaquil, western Ecuador.
Author:  Sclater & Salvin
Publish Year:  1870
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

ORTALIS
(Cracidae; Ϯ Little Chachalaca O. motmot) Gr. ορταλις ortalis, ορταλιδος ortalidos  chicken; "In the year 1786 Blasius Merrem published his 'Avium rariorum et minus cognitarum icones et descriptiones collectæ e germanicis latinaæ factæ;' and under his account of his Penelope jacupema, of which he quotes "Alector brasilianus, Klein, Hist. Av. pag. 112," as a synonym, he proposes in the following words a subdivision of this genus Alector: — "Quod genus, cum multas sane species comprehendat, in plures phalanges dividendum videtur, quarum primam cum Linnæo atque Brissonio Cracem, eam, ad quam nostra pertinet species, Penelopen, tertiam, ad quam Phasianus Motmot et similes ei referendæ sunt aves, Ortalida appello." (Fasc. ii. p. 40.)  How any one can have read this passage and not seen that "Ortalida" was the accusative case governed by "ap, pello" is indeed a marvel; but the fact remains that, to this day, "Ortalida" is constantly used as the name of a genus  ...  It is true that the accurate Gloger, in his 'Gemeinnütz. Hand- u. Hilfsbuch der Naturgeschichte' (Breslau, 1842), p. 373, uses the name "Ortalis" as if no one could have ever thought of any other form for the nominative case.  Whoever first adopted Merrem's name, evidently copied it hastily from the Latin; and his oversight seems never yet to have been seriously noticed. But there is no doubt that Merrem had in mind the classical Greek word ορταλις, which mainly corresponds to the Latin pullus and to our "chicken," a Bœotian word (probably akin to ορνις) which, say Liddell and Scott (1869), passed into general poetic use. Hence it is clear that, whenever the name is used, the genus should be called ORTALIS, as the only nominative form of the feminine noun." (Wharton 1879); "Ortalida (accusative case) = Ortalis (nominative) Merrem, Avium rar. Icon. et Descr., fasc. 2, 1786, p. 40. Type, by original designation Phasianus motmot Linné." (Peters 1934, II, 16).
Var. Ortalida, Oztalida, Ortaldia.
Synon. Peneloides, Penelops, Penelopsis.

erythroptera / erythropteron / erythropterum / erythropterus
Gr. ερυθρος eruthros red; -πτερος -pteros -winged  < πτερον pteron  wing.
● ex “Crimson-winged Parrot” of Latham 1781 (Aprosmictus).
● ex “Podobé du Sénégal” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 354, and “Rufous-winged Thrush” of Latham 1783 (syn. Cercotrichas podobe).
● ex “Petit Guêpier du Sénégal” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 318, “Guêpier rouge et vert du Sénégal” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Red-winged Bee-eater” of Latham 1782 (?syn. Merops hirundineus (per Schmitt & Crémière 2008), syn. Merops pusillus).
● ex "Garnet-winged Pigeon" of Latham 1783 (Pampusana).