Spangled Kookaburra

SCI Name:  Dacelo tyro
Protonym:  Dacelo tyro Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt26 no.357 p.171
Taxonomy:  Coraciiformes / Alcedinidae / Dacelo
Taxonomy Code:  spakoo1
Type Locality:  Aru Islands.
Author:  Gray, GR
Publish Year:  1858
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

DACELO
(Alcedinidae; † Laughing Kookaburra D. novaeguineae) Anagram of genus Alcedo Linnaeus, 1758, kingfisher; the Laughing Kookaburra, which, despite its specific epithet, is confined to Australia, is the largest kingfisher in the world; “Nonsense names   ...   To the same class we may refer anagrams of other generic names, as Dacelo  and Cedola of Alcedo   ...   Such verbal trifling as this is in very bad taste, and is especially calculated to bring the science into contempt. It finds no precedent in the Augustan age of Latin, but can be compared only to the puerile quibblings of the middle ages   ...   And it is peculiarly annoying to the etymologist, who after seeking in vain through the vast storehouse of human language for the parentage of such words, discovers at last that he has been pursuing an ignis fatuus.” (Strickland Code 1842); "DACELO.  ALCEDO, Latham, Gmelin.  ...  The birds of this genus inhabit woods at a distance from any water. Their food is unknown.    DACELO GIGANTEA  ...  GIGANTIC DACELO.  ...  Inhabits New Holland, where it is a very common bird. It is known by the appellation of Gigantic, or Great brown Kingsfisher." (Leach 1815); "Dacelo Leach, Zool. Misc., 2, 1815, p. 125. Type, by monotypy, Alcedo gigantea Latham = Alcedo novaeguineae Hermann." (Peters, 1945, V, p. 189).
Var. Dacello, Dacylo.
Synon. Agreutes, Capricia, Choucalcyon, Monachalcyon, Nycticeyx, Paralcyon, Sauromarptis.

tyro
Gr. myth. Tyro, a beautiful nymph who fell in love with the river Enipeus and was beguiled by Poseidon (Dacelo).

SUBSPECIES

Spangled Kookaburra (archboldi)
SCI Name: Dacelo tyro archboldi
archboldi
Richard Archbold (1907-1976) US zoologist at AMNH, philanthropist, sponsor of expeditions to New Guinea and the Pacific (syn. Accipiter nanus, Aegotheles, subsp. Dacelo tyro, Eurostopodus, Newtonia, Petroica).

Spangled Kookaburra (tyro)
SCI Name: Dacelo tyro tyro
tyro
Gr. myth. Tyro, a beautiful nymph who fell in love with the river Enipeus and was beguiled by Poseidon (Dacelo).