Timor Sparrow

SCI Name:  Lonchura fuscata
Protonym:  Loxia fuscata Ois.Chant. p.95 pl.LXII
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Estrildidae / Lonchura
Taxonomy Code:  timspa4
Type Locality:  Timor.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1807
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

LONCHURA
(Estrildidae; Ϯ Scaly-breasted Munia L. punctulata) Gr. λογχη lonkhē  spear-head, lance; ουρα oura  tail; "Genus LONCHURA. Rostrum forte, breve, latum, altitudine ad basin longitudinem æquans; mandibulis integris, superiori in frontem angulariter extendente cumque eo circuli arcum formante.  Alæ mediocres, subacuminatæ; remigibus, 1ma brevissima subspuria, 2da 3tia 4taque fere æqualibus longissimis.  Cauda gradata, lanceolata; rectricibus mediis cæteras paullo longitudine superantibus.  Pedes mediocres, subgraciles.   The peculiar spear-head form of the tail, and the ridge of the upper mandible and the forehead, forming a segment of the same circle, together with the habits of the following species, afford sufficient characteristics to justify their separation from the genus Fringilla of M. Temminck. The Gros-bec longicone of the Pl. Col. 96. (Emb. quadricolor, Lath.) belongs to the same group.   109. Lonchura nisoria. Fringilla nisoria, Temm. Gros-bec épervin. Pl. Col. 500. Fig. 2.  ...  110. LONCHURA CHEET.  ...  111. Lonchura leuconota. Fringilla leuconota, Temm. Gros-bec leuconote, Pl. Col. 500, fig. 1." (Sykes 1832); "Lonchura Sykes, 1832, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 94. Type, by original designation, Fringilla nisoria Temminck = Loxia punctulata Linnaeus. Not preoccupied by Lonchurus Bloch, 1793 (Pisces)." (Paynter in Peters 1968, XIV, 372 (erroneous typification)); "LONCHURA Sykes, 1832 F - Fringilla nisoria Sykes, 1832; type by subsequent designation (Sharpe, 1890, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 13, p. 326). = Loxia punctulata Linnaeus, 1758" (Dickinson & Christidis (eds.) 2014, 297).
Synon. Dermophrys, Diacmura, Donacola, Maia, Mayrimunia, Munia, Oryzivora, Oryzornis, Oxycerca, Padda, Trichogrammoptila, Uroloncha, Weebongia.

fuscata
L. fuscatus dark < fuscare to darken < fuscus dark, black.
● ex “Figuier brun du Sénégal” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 584, fig. 1, and “Dusky Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Schoenicola brevirostris).