White-shouldered Black-Tit

SCI Name:  Melaniparus guineensis
Protonym:  Parus leucomelas guineensis BirdsAfr. 2 p.229
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Paridae / Melaniparus
Taxonomy Code:  whsblt1
Type Locality:  Volta River, Gold Coast.
Author:  Shelley
Publish Year:  1900
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELANIPARUS
(Paridae; Ϯ Southern Black Tit M. niger) Gr. μελας  melas, μελανος  melanos  black; genus Parus Linnaeus, 1758, tit; "489. Melaniparus, Bp. (Parus, p. Gr.)  3. P. niger, Vieill. (luctuosus, Licht.) Lev. Afr. t. 137. 1. ex Africa mer." (Bonaparte 1850).
Var. Melanoparus.
Synon. Aegithospiza, Pentheres.

guinea / guineae / guineensis
Guinea, West Africa  < Med. Portuguese name Guiné for the tropical West African lands south of the Senegal River occupied by negroes  < Berber word Ghinawen  negroes.  The name came to refer to the old Grain Coast, Gold Coast, Slave Coast, Benin, Calabar and the Camarones, roughly equivalent to the modern area from Guinea-Bissau to Cameroun.
● TL. Guinea coast; ex “Petite Perruche de Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 60 (syn. Agapornis pullarius).
● TL. Kintampo, Ashanti Province, Gold Coast (Cisticola).
● TL. Inland parts of Guinea, Africa; ex “Columba maculis triquetris.Triangular-spotted Pigeon” of Edwards 1747 (Columba).
● TL. Nanna Kru, Liberia (subsp. Cyanomitra olivacea).
● Erroneous TL. New Guinea (= Guinea coast, Africa); ex “Pic cardinal de l’isle de Luçon” of Sonnerat 1776 (syn. Dendropicos fuscescens).
● TL. Gunnal, Portuguese Guinea (syn. Fraseria cinerascens).
● TL. Mimika River, New Guinea (see novaeguineae) (syn. Gerygone chrysogaster).
● TL. Volta River, Gold Coast (Melaniparus).
● TL. Portuguese Guinea to the Niger (subsp. Phoeniculus purpureus).
● TL. Loko, Benue River, Nigeria (subsp. Sternula albifrons).