Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

SCI Name:  Sitta frontalis
Protonym:  Sitta frontalis Zool.Ill. 1 pl.2
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Sittidae / Sitta
Taxonomy Code:  vefnut1
Type Locality:  Ceylon.
Author:  Swainson
Publish Year:  1820
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SITTA
(Sittidae; Ϯ Eurasian Nuthatch S. europaea) Late Med. L. sitta (Turner 1544) nuthatch  < Gr. σιττη sittē  bird like a woodpecker mentioned by Aristotle, Callimachus, and Hesychius; "55. SITTA.  Rostrum subcultrato-conicum, rectum, porrectum: integerrimum, mandibula superiore obtusiuscula.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758); "Sitta Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 115. Type, by monotypy, Sitta europaea Linnaeus." (Greenway in Peters 1967, XII, 125). Linnaeus's Sitta comprised a single species.
Var. Sitla, Sida.
Synon. Arctositta, Callisitta, Cyanositta,  Dendrophila, Homositta, Leptositta, Melositta, Mesositta, Micrositta, Oenositta, Orthorynchus, Poecilositta, Poliositta, Rupisitta, Sittella.

frontale / frontalis
L. frontalis  fronted, frontal  < frontalia or frontale  frontlet  < frons, frontis  forehead, brow (ref. distinctive, contrastingly coloured forehead patch, usually black or red).
● ex “Faucon Huppé” of Levaillant 1798, pl. 28 (syn. Crinifer piscator).
● Front Range, Rocky Mts., Colorado, USA (syn. Otus flammeolus).
● ex “Perruche Ara à Bandeau Rouge” of Levaillant 1801 (Pyrrhura).

SUBSPECIES

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (frontalis)
SCI Name: Sitta frontalis frontalis
frontale / frontalis
L. frontalis  fronted, frontal  < frontalia or frontale  frontlet  < frons, frontis  forehead, brow (ref. distinctive, contrastingly coloured forehead patch, usually black or red).
● ex “Faucon Huppé” of Levaillant 1798, pl. 28 (syn. Crinifer piscator).
● Front Range, Rocky Mts., Colorado, USA (syn. Otus flammeolus).
● ex “Perruche Ara à Bandeau Rouge” of Levaillant 1801 (Pyrrhura).

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (saturatior)
SCI Name: Sitta frontalis saturatior
saturatior / saturatium / saturatius
L. saturatior, saturatioris  more richly coloured, intensely coloured  < saturare  to satisfy  < satur, satura  rich, copious  < satis  enough.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (corallipes)
SCI Name: Sitta frontalis corallipes
corallipes
L. corallinus  coral-red; pes, pedis  foot  < Gr. πους pous, ποδος podos  foot.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (palawana)
SCI Name: Sitta frontalis palawana
palawana / palawanense / palawanensis / palawanorum / palawanus
Palawan, Philippines.

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (velata)
SCI Name: Sitta frontalis velata
velata / velatum / velatus
L. velatus  veiled  < velare  to cover  < velum  covering.
● "SAUROTHERA, Vieillot.  ...  S. velata. Vieil. Gal. pl. 38." (Swainson 1837): lapsus for vetula (syn. Coccyzus vieilloti).
● ex “Contramaestre verde pecho de oro” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 155 (subsp. Geothlypis aequinoctialis).
● ex “Merle des Moluques” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 257 (syn. Pitta moluccensis).