Spot-breasted Fantail

SCI Name:  Rhipidura albogularis
Protonym:  Muscicapa (Muscylva) albogularis Voy.Ind.Orient.[Belanger] p. 264
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Rhipiduridae / Rhipidura
Taxonomy Code:  spbfan1
Type Locality:  'le continent de l''lnde, les environs de Pondichery'' = Pondicherry, Madras.
Author:  Lesson
Publish Year:  1832
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

RHIPIDURA
(Rhipiduridae; Ϯ New Zealand Fantail R. fuliginosa) Gr. ῥιπις rhipis, ῥιπιδος rhipidos  fan; ουρα oura  tail; “Fan-tailed Fly-catcher  ... flies always with its tail spread in shape of a fan.” (Latham 1783); "Genus. RHIPIDURA*.  Rostrum breve, depressum, basi latum, apice compressum, culmine arcuato; mandibula superiore apice emarginata; naribus basalibus, ovalibus, setis plumulisque fere obtectis; rictu vibrissis confertis mandibulas longitudine fere superantibus instructo.  Alæ mediocres, subacuminatæ; remige prima brevissima, secunda duplo longiore, tertia et quarta, quæ est longissima, gradatim longioribus.  Cauda elongata, patula, apice rotundata.  Pedes mediocres, graciles, acrotarsiis paratarsiisque integris.  This group may be at once recognised as offering strong marks of distinction from the true Muscicapa in the fan-like structure of the tail.   ...   *'Pιπις flabellum, and ουρα cauda.   ...   1. FLABELLIFERA. ...  Muscicapa flabellifera. Gmel. i. 943. no. 67.  Fan-tailed Flycatcher. Lath. Gen. Hist. vi. p. 184. no. 44. pl. 99.  ...  Fantail.—There is something singular in the habits of this bird. It frequents the small trees and bushes, from whence it suddenly darts at its prey, spreading out its tail like a fan, and to appearance turning over like a tumbler Pigeon, and then immediately returning to the same twig or bough from whence it sprang.   ...   2. MOTACILLOIDES.  ...  It bears a great resemblance to the description of Dr. Latham's Motacilla atricapilla, or the Black-topped Flycatcher of his "General History," but differs in the colour of the bill, back and throat.   ...   3. RUFIFRONS.  ...  Muscicapa rufifrons. Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. p. 1. no. 5.  Rufous-fronted Flycatcher.  Id. Gen. Hist. vi. p. 213. no. 95." (Vigors & Horsfield 1827); "Rhipidura Vigors and Horsfield, 1827, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 15, p. 246. Type, by subsequent designation (G. R. Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 32), Muscicapa flabellifera Gmelin [= Muscicapa fuliginosa Sparrman]." (Mayr in Peters 1986, XI, 530).
Var. Ripidura, Rhipadura, Rhissidura.
Synon. Cyanonympha, Howeavis, Leucocirca, Muscylva, Neomyias, Rhipidicidura, Ripidicala, Rupicula, Sauloprocta, Setosura.

rhipidura / rhipidurus
Gr. ῥιπις rhipis, ῥιπιδος rhipidos  fan; -ουρος -ouros  -tailed  < ουρα oura  tail.

albogulare / albogularis
L. albus  white; Mod. L. gularis  throated, of the throat  < L. gula  throat.

SUBSPECIES

Spot-breasted Fantail (albogularis)
SCI Name: Rhipidura albogularis albogularis
albogulare / albogularis
L. albus  white; Mod. L. gularis  throated, of the throat  < L. gula  throat.

Spot-breasted Fantail (vernayi)
SCI Name: Rhipidura albogularis vernayi
vernayi / verneyi
Arthur Stannard Vernay (1877-1960) English/US antiquarian, collector, sponsor, Trustee of AMNH (subsp. Alauda gulgula, subsp. Cecropis daurica, subsp. Cyornis poliogenys, subsp. Dendrocitta vagabunda, Gymnobucco, subsp. Leiothrix argentauris, subsp. Lonchura kelaarti, subsp. Rhipidura albogularis, subsp. Tephrodornis virgatus).