White-tailed Emerald

SCI Name:  Elvira chionura
Protonym:  Trochilus (Thaumatias?) chionura Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1850) (1850), Pt18 no.211 p.162
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Elvira
Taxonomy Code:  whteme1
Type Locality:  David, 2000-3000 feet, Chiriquf, Panama
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1851
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ELVIRA
(Trochilidae; Ϯ White-tailed Emerald E. chionura) Probably after Elvira, mistress of Pizarro in Sheridan's 1799 tragedy "Pizarro" (a literary allusion to a South American maiden) (cf. (1) Elvire, “the name by which the poet Lamartine idealised Mme. Julie Charles   ...   with whom he was at one time deeply in love” (Harvey & Heseltine 1959): (2) Elvira, a maiden, one of many,  wronged by Don Giovanni (Mozart 1787)); "Genre LEUCOCHLORIS   ...  aa. Rectrices externes à intermédiaires blanches sur la moyenne partie basilaire de leur longueur  (S.-g. Elvira).    Chianura [sic], GOULD.    Costa-Rica.    Class. de M. Gould. Thaumantias" (Mulsant et al. 1866); "Elvira Mulsant and J. and E. Verreaux, Mém. Soc. Imp. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg, 12, 1866, p. 176. (P. 32 of separately paged reprint.) Type, by monotypy, Trochilus (Thaumatias) chionura Gould." (Peters, 1945, V, p. 77).
Synon. Lawrencius.

chionura / chionurus
Gr. χιων khiōn, χιονος khionos  snow; -ουρος -ouros  -tailed  < ουρα oura  tail.