Small Lifou White-eye

SCI Name:  Zosterops minutus
Protonym:  Zosterops minuta Ann.Mag.Nat.Hist.(5), 1 p.375 sP
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Zosteropidae / Zosterops
Taxonomy Code:  slweye1
Type Locality:  Lif u.
Author:  Layard, EL
Publish Year:  1878
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.

minutum / minutus
L. minutus  little  < minuere  to make smaller (see also minuta).
● ex “Becque Fleur” of Levaillant 1801-1804, pl. 124 (Anthoscopus).
● ex “Lesser Ibis” (= ☼) of Edwards 1764 (syn. Eudocimus ruber).
● ex “Petit Râle de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 847, and “Little Rail” of Latham 1785 (syn. Hapalocrex flaviventer).
● ex “Little Brown Bittern” of Edwards 1760, and “Blongios” of Brisson 1760 (Ixobrychus).
● "62. MERGUS.  ...  minutus.  5. M. capite griseo lævi. Fn. svec. 115.  Te wezel-coot. Alb. av. l. p. 84. t. 88.  Habitat in Europa.  In alis macula atra, antice & postice alba." (Linnaeus 1758) (syn. Mergellus albellus ♀).
● ex “Petit Gobe-mouche tacheté de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 831, fig. 2 (syn. Myrmotherula brachyura).