Rufous-tailed Xenops

SCI Name:  Microxenops milleri
Protonym:  Microxenops milleri Bull.Am.Mus.Nat.Hist. 33 p.196
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Furnariidae / Microxenops
Taxonomy Code:  rutxen1
Type Locality:  foot of Mt. Duida, 700 feet, Venezuela.
Author:  Chapman
Publish Year:  1914
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MICROXENOPS
(Furnariidae; Ϯ Rufous-tailed Xenops M. milleri) Gr. μικρος mikros little; genus Xenops Illiger, 1811, xenops; "Microxenops gen. nov.   ...  Type, Microxenops milleri  ...   A small (length skin, 96 mm) furnariine bird with a general resemblance in color to species of the genus Xenops but with no white subauricular stripe and no black in the tail   ...   Doubtless it resembles Xenops in habits, as it does in general appearance, but the marked difference in their structure suggests that the resemblance is superficial rather than indicative of close relationship. In its short, square tail Microxenops suggests Sitta, while the short wedge-shaped bill recalls, at first glance, that of Picumnus rather than that of any known species of Furnariidae or Dendrocolaptidae" (Chapman 1914).

milleri / millerii
● “Miller’s Emerald was first described by M. Bourcier of Paris ...the specific name of Milleri being adopted by him from the late Mr George Loddiges’ MSS. It is not known why Mr Loddiges gave the bird this specific appellation, unless it was from a desire to perpetuate the name of a surgeon in the Royal Navy, who paid considerable attention to the Hummingbirds while stationed on the Pacific side of South America” (Gould 1861). Michael Watkins in litt., believed that the person commemorated was William Miller (1796-1882) an engraver and water-colourist who illustrated many plants from the Loddiges' nursery (subsp. Amazilia versicolor).
● Prof. Loye Holmes Miller (1874-1970) US zoologist, palaeontologist (‡Buteogallus, ‡Chendytes, ‡subsp. Dendragapus gilli, syn. Molothrus bonariensis, ‡Mycteria).
● Aleksandr Yakovlevich Miller (1868-1940) Russian diplomat, Consul in Persian Baluchistan 1900-1901, Consul-Gen. in Mongolia 1913-1916, Consul in Bukhara 1917 (subsp. Dendrocopos syriacus).
● Leo Edward Miller (1887-1952) US collector in tropical America 1910-1917 (Grallaria, subsp. Manacus vitellinus, Microxenops).
● Waldron De Witt Miller (1879-1929) US zoologist (Polytmus).