Sabine's Spinetail

SCI Name:  Rhaphidura sabini
Protonym:  Chaetura Sabini Anim.Kingd.[Griffith] 7 p.70
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Apodidae / Rhaphidura
Taxonomy Code:  sabspi1
Type Locality:  Africa, = Sierra Leone.
Author:  Gray, JE
Publish Year:  1829
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

RHAPHIDURA
(Apodidae; Ϯ Silver-rumped Spine-tail Swift R. leucopygialis) Gr. ῥαφις rhaphis, ῥαφιδος rhaphidos  needle  < ῥαπτω rhaptō  to sew; ουρα oura  tail; "Genus RHAPHIDURA, Oates.   406. RHAPHIDURA LEUCOPYGIALIS.  THE SMALL BLACK SPINE-TAIL.   Acanthylis leucopygialis, Bl. J. A. S. B. xviii. p. 809.  Cypselus coracinus, Müll., Schleg. Handl. Dierk. i. pp. 221, 479, Vogels, pl. ii. fig. 14.   ...  The whole plumage glossy bluish black, except the rump and upper tail-coverts, which are greyish white with the shafts black; the tail-coverts reach to the tip of the tail, leaving merely the spines exposed.   ...   R. sylvatica occurs in India; it is of small size, and has the abdomen and under tail-coverts pure white." (Oates 1883); "Rhaphidura, Oates, B. Burm. ii. p. 6 (1883) . . . .Type. C. leucopygialis." (Hartert 1892, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., XVI,  470); "Rhaphidura Oates, Bds. Burma, 2, 1883, p. 6. Type, by monotypy, Acanthylis leucopygialis Blyth." (Peters 1940, IV, 235).
Var. Rhapidura, Raphidura.
Synon. Alterapus.

sabinei / sabini
● Joseph Sabine (1770-1837) English naturalist, barrister, Inspector of Assessed Taxes 1808-1835 (subsp. Bonasa umbellus, syn. Gallinago gallinago (Michael Grayson in litt.), Rhaphidura, syn. Rissa tridactyla).
● Gen. Sir Edward Sabine (1783-1883) British Army, astronomer, physicist, Arctic explorer 1818-1820, President of the Royal Society 1861-1871 (Dryoscopus, syn. Neafrapus cassini, Xema).