White-chinned Sapphire

SCI Name:  Hylocharis cyanus
Protonym:  Trochilus cyanus Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 23 p.426
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Hylocharis
Taxonomy Code:  whcsap1
Type Locality:  Brazil = Rio de Janeiro ex Voyage De Lalande.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1818
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HYLOCHARIS
(Trochilidae; † Rufous-throated Sapphire H. sapphirina) Gr. ὑλη hulē  woodland, forest; χαρις kharis, χαριτος kharitos  grace, loveliness  < χαιρω khairō  to rejoice; "Hylocharis.   a. Gefieder oben grün, Kehle bey ♂ schön blau. Am After weiße Flecken.  b. Schnabel gerade und  c. Schwanz äqual.    Arten.  1. Troch. sapphirinus Gm.   2. — latirostris. Pr. Max.   3. — cyanus. Viell.   4. — lazulus. Viell.   5. — cyanotropus Pr. Max.   6. — bicolor Gm.  u.s.w.    Die Schnäbel mehrerer Arten sind corallenroth, die Schwungfedern kupferglänzend." (Boie 1831); "Hylocharis Boie, Isis von Oken, 1831, col. 546.  Type, by subsequent designation, H. sapphirina (Gm.) Boie = Trochilus sapphirinus Gmelin. (G. R. Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 14.)" (Peters, 1945, V, p. 52).
Var. Hylocaris.
Synon. Sapphironia, Ulysses.
• (Pachycephalidae; syn. Pachycephala † Mangrove Whistler P. cinerea) "Muscicapa presbytis, cantatrix, euryura et phoenicura KUHL, Hylocharis luscinia, Pardalotus percussus" (S. Müller 1835).  By some authors Müller's name is equated with Tephrodornis grisola Blyth, which is unidentifiable (see Hyloterpe and Muscitrea).
• (Pachycephalidae; syn. Pachycephala † Fawn-breasted Whistler P. orpheus) "PACHYCEPHALA ORPHEUS, JARDINE.  "Hylocharis orpheus, ♀." — Verreaux MS.  THIS bird, named on our plate Hylocharis orpheus, is another of the interesting species sent to us by Mr. Wilson, and the figure is now given to direct attention to those very curious but unobtrusive forms that appear to swarm over the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The generic name on M. Verreaux's MS. ticket, which is inscribed upon the plate, has been already applied to a genus of Humming Birds; but independent of that, after a close examination as to its proper position, we have been unable to separate it from Pachycephala" (Jardine 1850).
• (Trochilidae; syn. Patagona † Giant Hummingbird P. gigas) "HYLOCHARIS Boie.*   ...   1. H. gigas (Vieill.) Gal. des Ois t. 180. —Ornismya tristis Less. Ois. Mouch. t. 3., Nat. Libr. xv. pl. 3.; Orn. giganteus D'Orb. & Lafr.; Type of Patagona G. R. Gray (1840).  ...  *M. Boie established the above genus in 1831 (Isis, 1831, p. 546.).  Les Saphirs of M. Lesson (1829) are synonymous.  It embraces Patagona of G. R. Gray (1840), which is the Les Patagons of M. Lesson (1829)" (G. Gray 1848) (another forty-eight forms are included in Gray's genus); "Hylocharis G. Gray, 1848, The Genera of Birds, I, p. 114.  Type, by subsequent designation (Elliot, 1879, Smithsonian Contrib. Knowledge, 317, Classif. Synop. Trochilidae, p. 67), Trochilus gigas." (JAJ 2020).

hylocharis
Gr. ὑλη hulē  woodland, forest; χαρις kharis, χαριτος kharitos  beauty  < χαιρω khairō  to rejoice.

cyanus
Gr. κυανος kuanos dark-blue.
● Gr. κυανος kuanos unknown bird, formerly identified with the Blue Rock Thrush or the Wallcreeper; ex “Cyanus” of Gessner 1555, Belon 1555, Aldrovandus 1599-1603, and Ray 1713, “Passer solitarius congener” of Willughby 1676, “Merula solitaria” of Edwards 1743-1751, and Brisson 1760, and Turdus solitarius Linnaeus, 1758 (syn. Monticola solitarius).

SUBSPECIES

White-chinned Sapphire (viridiventris)
SCI Name: Hylocharis cyanus viridiventris
viridiventris
L. viridis  green  < virere  to be green; venter, ventris  belly.

White-chinned Sapphire (rostrata)
SCI Name: Hylocharis cyanus rostrata
rostrata
L. rostratus  beaked, large-billed  < rostrum  beak.
● “The native who carried it finding its bite too severe to be often repeated, submitted the poor creature to a most cruel remedy, often practised by the island bird-catchers, which was to thrust the sharp point of the upper mandible through the lower, thus yoking it with its own jaw; in this state it was kept until the party reached the coast” (Peale 1848) (Pseudobulweria).

White-chinned Sapphire (conversa)
SCI Name: Hylocharis cyanus conversa
conversa
L. conversus  swept together, swept up  < converrere  to sweep together.

White-chinned Sapphire (cyanus)
SCI Name: Hylocharis cyanus cyanus
cyanus
Gr. κυανος kuanos dark-blue.
● Gr. κυανος kuanos unknown bird, formerly identified with the Blue Rock Thrush or the Wallcreeper; ex “Cyanus” of Gessner 1555, Belon 1555, Aldrovandus 1599-1603, and Ray 1713, “Passer solitarius congener” of Willughby 1676, “Merula solitaria” of Edwards 1743-1751, and Brisson 1760, and Turdus solitarius Linnaeus, 1758 (syn. Monticola solitarius).

White-chinned Sapphire (griseiventris)
SCI Name: Hylocharis cyanus griseiventris
griseiventer / griseiventris
Med. L. griseum  grey; L. venter, ventris  belly.