White-eared Hummingbird

SCI Name:  Hylocharis leucotis
Protonym:  Trochilus leucotis Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 23 p.428
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Hylocharis
Taxonomy Code:  whehum
Type Locality:  Brazil, error, Orizaba, Vera Cruz designated as type locality by Griscom, supra. 1
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.

leucotis
Gr. λευκος leukos white; -ωτις -ōtis -eared < ους ous, ωτος ōtos ear.
● ex “Fourmilier à oreilles blanches de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 822, and “White-eared Manakin” of Latham 1783 (syn. Conopophaga aurita).

SUBSPECIES

White-eared Hummingbird (borealis)
SCI Name: Hylocharis leucotis borealis
borealis
L. borealis  northern  < boreas  north wind, north  < Gr. βορεας boreas  north wind, north. This epithet refers not only to northern latitudes but also to a distribution or range north of previously known forms.
● King George Bay, Alaska; ex “Boreal Sandpiper” of Latham 1785 (syn. Aphriza virgata).
● Carolina; ex “American Buzzard” of Latham 1781, and “Red-tailed Falcon” of Pennant 1785 (subsp. Buteo jamaicensis).
● Erroneous TL. Northern United States (= South Carolina) (Leuconotopicus).
● Erroneous TL. "Kamtschatka" (= Princes I., Java); ex “Rusty-headed Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Orthotomus sepium).
● Erroneous TL. Iceland (= Norway) (subsp. Poecile montanus).

White-eared Hummingbird (leucotis)
SCI Name: Hylocharis leucotis leucotis
leucotis
Gr. λευκος leukos white; -ωτις -ōtis -eared < ους ous, ωτος ōtos ear.
● ex “Fourmilier à oreilles blanches de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 822, and “White-eared Manakin” of Latham 1783 (syn. Conopophaga aurita).

White-eared Hummingbird (pygmaea)
SCI Name: Hylocharis leucotis pygmaea
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).