White-throated Grasswren

SCI Name:  Amytornis woodwardi
Protonym:  Amytornis woodwardi Bull.Br.Orn.Club 16 p.30
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Maluridae / Amytornis
Taxonomy Code:  whtgra1
Type Locality:  South Alligator River, Northern Territory.
Author:  Hartert, E
Publish Year:  1905
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

AMYTORNIS
(Maluridae; Ϯ Thick-billed Grasswren A. textilis) Genus Amytis Lesson, 1831, grasswren; Gr. ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "Textile Wren ... its mode of progression on the ground is such as no description can convey an accurate conception of, and must be seen to be understood: I cannot perhaps compare it with anything, unless with the motion of an Indian-rubber ball when thrown forcibly along the ground. While stealing from bush to bush, with this rapid movement, its head low and tail perfectly erect, it presents an exceedingly droll appearance" (Gould 1865); "Malurinæ  ...  Amytornis textilis, with two allied species, also from Australia, belong here, wren-like birds of brown plumage, with curious whitish longitudinal streaks" (Stejneger 1885); "Amytornis Stejneger, 1885, in Kingsley, Standard Nat. Hist., 4, p. 499. New name for Amytis Lesson, 1831, preoccupied by Amytis Savigny, 1822." (Mayr in Peters, 1986, XI, p. 404).   
Synon. Amictus, Amytis, Cryptamytis, Diaphorillas, Eyramytis, Magnamytis, Mytisa.

woodwardi
• Bernard Henry Woodward (1846-1916) British immigrant to Australia, son of Prof. S. P. Woodward, assayer, Curator of Perth Mus., Western Australia 1889-1916 (Amytornis, subsp. Anthochaera carunculata, Colluricincla, syn. Dromaius novaehollandiae, syn. Eudyptula minor novaehollandiae, subsp. Mirafra javanica, syn. Porphyrio melanotus).
• Dr Sir Arthur Smith Woodward (1864-1944) English palaeontologist involved in the Piltdown Man hoax 1912 (‡Buteo).
• Revd. Richard Blake Woodward (1847-1919) and his brother Revd. John Deverell Stewart Woodward (1849-1919) English missionaries to Natal, naturalists, explorers, collectors, emigrated to Australia 1905 (Paul Scofield in litt.) (subsp. Cryptolybia olivacea, subsp. Sylvia borin).