Taita Thrush

SCI Name:  Turdus helleri
Protonym:  Planesticus helleri Smiths.Misc.Coll. 61 (10) p. 1
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Turdidae / Turdus
Taxonomy Code:  taithr1
Type Locality:  Mount Mbololo, east of Mount Kilimanjaro, southeastern Kenya.
Author:  Mearns
Publish Year:  1913
IUCN Status:  Critically Endangered

DEFINITIONS

TURDUS
(Turdidae; Ϯ Mistle Thrush T. viscivorus) L. turdus  thrush; "95. TURDUS.  Rostrum tereti-cultratum, maxilla superiore apice deflexo.  Nares nudæ, superne membranula semitectæ.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758); "Turdus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 168. Type, by subsequent designation (Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 27), Turdus viscivorus Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters 1964, X, 177). Linnaeus's Turdus comprised sixteen species (T. viscivorus, T. pilaris, T. iliacus, T. musicus, T. Canorus, T. rufus, T. polyglottos, T. Orpheus, T. plumbeus, T. crinitus, T. roseus, T. Merula, T. torquatus, T. solitarius, T. arundinaceus, T. virens).   
Var. Turus, Trudus, Turtus, Curdus.     
Synon. Afrocichla, Arceuthornis, Cichlherminia, Cichloides, Cichloselys, Copsichus, Copsicus, Cossyphopsis, Galeoscoptes, Haplocichla, Hodoiporus, Iliacus, Ixocossyphus, Lamprophonus, Melizocincla, Meridiocichla, Merula, Merulissima, Mimocichla, Mimokitta, Nesocichla, Peliocichla, Petrocincla, Planesticus, Platycichla, Semimerula, Thoracocincla, Turdela, Turdicus.

turdus
L. turdus  thrush.
● ex “Grivetin” of Levaillant 1802, pl. 118 < French Grive thrush (syn. Erythropygia leucophrys).
● "89. Loxia Turdus F.  ...  Habitat in insula australi Novae Zeeelandiae, simillima Turdo, statura, colore, pedibus.  Corpus magnitudine Turdi viscivori, supra fuscum." (Forster 1844) (syn. Turnagra capensis).

helleri
Edmund Heller (1875-1939) US naturalist, collector in Galápagos Is., Central America, Amazonia, tropical Africa, China and Tibet, Assistant Curator of Mammals Field Mus. of Natural History 1926-1928, Director Milwaukee Zoo 1928-1935 (Asthenes, syn. Megascops napensis, subsp. Pogonocichla stellata, subsp. Pternistis hildebrandti, subsp. Troglodytes pacificus, Turdus).