Yellow Chat

SCI Name:  Epthianura crocea
Protonym:  Epthianura crocea Proc.Linn.Soc.NewS.Wales 1 p.380
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Meliphagidae / Epthianura
Taxonomy Code:  yelcha1
Type Locality:  Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria.
Author:  Castelnau & Ramsay
Publish Year:  1877
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

EPTHIANURA
(Meliphagidae; Ϯ White-fronted Chat E. albifrons) Gr. εφθος ephthos  refined, languid; ουρα oura  tail; “Genus EPTHIANURA.  Bill shorter than the head, nearly straight, compressed laterally, notched at the tip, gonys incurved; nostrils basal, linear, and covered by a membrane; wings long, first quill spurious, second very long, third and fourth equal and longest; tertials very long; tail short and truncate; tarsi entire, moderately long, slight; toes slender, the hinder toe and claw shorter than the middle one, the inner toe rather shorter than the outer.   Type. Acanthiza albifrons, Jard. and Selb.    EPTHIANURA AURIFRONS.” (Gould 1838); “Mayr (in Mayr & Cottrell 1986) noted that Epthianura, as described in Gould’s ‘A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia’, part 4, App., p. 3, was corrected on p. 4 to Ephthianura ... An examination of two copies of this work reveals that Epthianura was used on both pages. What Gould thought of as his original description under this name was not published until some seven months after his Synopsis  ...  where Ephthianura was used. Gould used Ephthianura in July 1841 ...  and later again Ephthianura in the same year ...  In March and June 1842, in the relevant parts of ‘The Birds of Australia’ ...  Gould again used Epthianura ... However, in 1845 Gould used both Epthianura ...  and Ephthianura; ...  Ephthianura reappears in his ‘Introduction’ (1848c), then Epthianura in 1849 (Sturt & Gould 1849) and twice in 1861 ... then back to Ephthianura in his ‘Handbook’ (1865) ...  Obviously, Gould never came to a firm decision on his spelling of the name ...  In such a situation of inconsistent usage, it is best to retain the name as it was originally published in 1838” (McAllan & Bruce 1989).  
Var. Ephthianura, Ephthrianura, Hepthaenura.   
Synon. Aurepthianura, Cinura, Keartlandia, Leachena, Parepthianura.

crocea
L. croceus  saffron-coloured, yellow, golden  < crocus  crocus, saffron  < Gr. κροκος krokos  crocus, saffron.

SUBSPECIES

Yellow Chat (tunneyi)
SCI Name: Epthianura crocea tunneyi
tunneyi / tunnyi
John Thomas Tunney (1871-1929) Australian farmer, collector, explorer (subsp. Epthianura crocea, syn. Fregata ariel, syn. Melloria quoyi spaldingi, syn. Phalacrocorax fuscescens, subsp. Puffinus assimilis).

Yellow Chat (crocea)
SCI Name: Epthianura crocea crocea
crocea
L. croceus  saffron-coloured, yellow, golden  < crocus  crocus, saffron  < Gr. κροκος krokos  crocus, saffron.

Yellow Chat (macgregori)
SCI Name: Epthianura crocea macgregori
macgregori
• Sir William Macgregor (1846-1919) British colonial administrator, Medical Officer in the Seychelles 1873-1875, Medical Officer/Colonial Secretary in Fiji 1875-1888, Administrator/ Lt.-Gov. of British New Guinea 1888-1898, Gov. of Lagos, Nigeria 1899-1902, Gov. of Newfoundland 1904-1909, Gov. of Queensland, Australia 1909-1914, explorer, ornithologist, collector (syn. Cnemophilus macgregorii).
• John MacGregor (?1830-1867) Australian entrepreneur, hotelier, collector (Martin Schneider and Paul Scofield in litt.) (subsp. Epthianura crocea).