Whiskered Auklet

SCI Name:  Aethia pygmaea
Protonym:  Alca pygmaea Syst.Nat. 1 pt2 p.555
Taxonomy:  Charadriiformes / Alcidae / Aethia
Taxonomy Code:  whiauk
Type Locality:  Islands in Bering Sea.
Author:  Gmelin, JF
Publish Year:  1789
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

AETHIA
(Alcidae; Ϯ Crested Auklet A. cristatella) Gr. αιθυια aithuia unidentified diving seabird mentioned by Aristotle, Hesychius, and other authors; in modern times associated with a variety of seabirds, including a shearwater, a cormorant, an auk, and a duck ("Ce nom est employé par quelques naturalistes pour désigne les plongeons, autrement appelés mergi et uriae" (Dumont de Sainte-Croix in Levrault 1816)); "Rostrum ascendens; apicibus utriusque mandibulae, minime sursum flexae, sed ascendentis, altioribus oris angulis—Aethia Tetracula.   ...   Crista revoluta; pennis cristae in basi erectis, inde rostrum versus valde incurvis—Aethia Cristatella.   ...   Alae brevissimae; initium caudae attigentes, nec ultra tendentes—Aethia Cristatella." (Merrem 1788 per Hartert 1916); "Aethia B. MERREM,²   ...   ² I have not seen Merrem's work, which seems to be little known.  Doctor Hartert says the German edition has only vernacular names, hence the name Aethia should, perhaps, have been credited to the Latin edition, "Primae lineae ornithologiae," of which there were two parts, published in 1787-88." (Richmonmd 1927); "Aethia Merrem, 1788, Vers. Grundr. Allg. Ges. Nat. Eintheil. Vögel, 1, Tentamen Nat. Syst. Avium, pp. 7, 13, 20. Type, by monotypy, Alca cristatella Pallas." (AOU Check-list, 6th ed., 1983, p. 246). 
Synon. Alcella, Ciceronia, Simorhynchus, Tyloramphus.

pygmaea / pygmaeum / pygmaeus / pygmea / pygmeum / pygmeus
L. pygmaeus  pygmy  < Gr. πυγμαιος pugmaios  pygmy, of the size of a fist  < πυγμη pugmē   fist.
● ex “Flat-billed Auk” of Latham 1785, and “Pigmy Auk” of Pennant 1785 (Aethia).
● ex “Pygmy Parrakeet” of Latham 1781 (syn. Charmosyna palmarum).
● “73. PLATALEA.  ...  pygmea.  3. P. corpore supra fusco, subtus albo. Mus. Ad. Fr. 2. p. . .  Habitat Surinami.  Magnitudo Passeris.” (Linnaeus 1758) (Calidris).
● ex "Pygmy Curlew" of Pennant 1773, and Latham 1785 (syn. Calidris ferruginea).
● ex “Petit Gobe-mouche tacheté de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 831, fig. 2, “Gobe-moucheron” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Dwarf Fly-catcher” of Latham 1783 (syn. Myrmotherula brachyura).