Tractrac Chat

SCI Name:  Emarginata tractrac
Protonym:  Motacilla tractrac Encycl.London 16 p.89
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Emarginata
Taxonomy Code:  tracha1
Type Locality:  Auteniquois country, ex Levaillant [probably Orange River, vide Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., 2, p. 456].
Author:  Wilkes
Publish Year:  1817
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

EMARGINATA
(Muscicapidae; † Sickle-winged Chat E. sinuata) L. emarginatus  emarginated  < emarginare  to provide with a margin; "Sickle-winged Chat  ...  Tip of P9 greatly attenuated, in some specimens forming sickle 1 mm wide and 10 mm long" (Keith et al. 1992); "SAXICOLIDÆ.  Genus I. EMARGINATA.  Emarginata, gen. nov. . . . .Type. E. sinuata." (Shelley 1896); "Emarginata Shelley, Bds. Afr. i, p.89, 1896.  Type by original designation, Luscinia sinuata Sund." (W. Sclater, 1839, Syst. Av. Aethiop., II, p. 459).  Sharpe 1903, remarked that Emarginata was an adjective, and could not be employed in a generic sense.  Such conservatism led to a proliferation of replacement names during the nineteenth century by authors like Illiger, Cabanis, and Sharpe.
Synon. Karrucincla, Phoenicuroides, Poliocichla, Psammocincla.

emarginata
L. emarginatus  emarginated  < emarginare  to provide with a margin  < margo, marginis  border, edge.

tractrac
French onomatopoeia “Tractrac” given to the Tractrac Chat by Levaillant 1806, pl. 184, fig. 1 (Emarginata).

SUBSPECIES

Tractrac Chat (hoeschi)
SCI Name: Emarginata tractrac hoeschi
hoeschi / hoeschianus
Walter Hoesch (1896-1961) German farmer, naturalist, collector, resident in Namibia 1930-1961 (subsp. Ammomanopsis grayi, Anthus, syn. Calendulauda sabota waibeli, syn. Cercomela familiaris angolensis, subsp. Emarginata tractrac, subsp. Eremopterix leucotis, syn. Peliperdix coqui).

Tractrac Chat (albicans)
SCI Name: Emarginata tractrac albicans
albicans
L. albicans, albicantis  whitish, whitening  < albicare  to whiten  <  albus white.
● ex “Lanarius” of Aldrovandus 1599-1603, “Lanarius albicans” of Brisson 1760, and “White Lanner” of Latham 1781 (syn. Circus cyaneus).

Tractrac Chat (barlowi)
SCI Name: Emarginata tractrac barlowi
barlowi
● Charles Sydney Barlow (1905-1979) South African entrepreneur, philanthropist, field ornithologist (subsp. Calendulauda erythrochlamys, subsp. Chersomanes albofasciata, subsp. Emarginata tractrac, syn. Eupodotis vigorsii namaqua, subsp. Spizocorys conirostris).
● Chester Barlow (1874-1902) US ornithologist, first editor of journal The Condor (subsp. Poecile rufescens).

Tractrac Chat (nebulosa)
SCI Name: Emarginata tractrac nebulosa
nebulosa / nebulosum / nebulosus
L. nebulosus  misty, cloudy, dark  < nebula  cloud, mist.
● ex “Nebuleux” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 149 (Sylvia artefact).

Tractrac Chat (tractrac)
SCI Name: Emarginata tractrac tractrac
tractrac
French onomatopoeia “Tractrac” given to the Tractrac Chat by Levaillant 1806, pl. 184, fig. 1 (Emarginata).