Yellow Wattlebird

SCI Name:  Anthochaera paradoxa
Protonym:  Corvus paradoxus TraitedOrn.[Daudin] 2 p.246 pl.16
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Meliphagidae / Anthochaera
Taxonomy Code:  yelwat1
Type Locality:  Nouvelle Zelande [error = South Tasmania. Cf . Stresemann, 1953, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 29, p. 84] .
Author:  Daudin
Publish Year:  1800
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ANTHOCHAERA
(Meliphagidae; Ϯ Little Wattlebird A. chrysoptera) Gr. ανθος anthos  flower, bloom; χαιρω khairō  to enjoy; "Genus. ANTHOCHÆRA *.   Rostrum elongatum, subattenuatum, subarcuatum; culmine ad basin subcarinato; mandibula superiori vix emarginata; naribus longitudinalibus, linearibus, membrana supra tectis, ad medium rostrum extendentibus ibique apertioribus.  Lingua ad apicem in setas plurimas divisa.  Alæ mediocres, rotundatæ; remige prima brevi secunda tertia parte longiori, tertia gradatim longiori, quarta quinta et sexta æqualibus longissimis; tertiæ ad septimam inclusam pogoniis externis in medio gradatim longioribus.  Cauda elongata, rotundata, vix gradata.  Pedes fortes, longitudine mediocres; acrotarsiis scutellatis, paratarsiis integris.   The strong, but at the same time lengthened and attenuated bill of this group, added to the size and powerful conformation of the species, distinguish it from the true Meliphaga. The lengthened and subgraduated tail also serves as a strong mark of distinction. The chief external characters of the group associate it with the Meliphagidæ, although upon a decided enlarged scale; and the tongue of one of the species, now before us, exhibits the filamentous formation peculiar to the Australian Honey-Eaters.  ...  1. CARUNCULATA.  ...  2. MELLIVORA.  ...  Le Goruck? Vieill. Ois. dor. ii. p. 126. pl. 88.   ...  The natives call it Coke'ran.  ...  3. PHRYGIA.*  ...*We take this opportunity of characterizing the following bird, which has been generally considered the young of Anth. carunculata, but which appears to us to be distinct.  ...  4. LEWINII.  ...  Memoriæ Domini JOANNIS GULIELMI LEWIN, peregrinatoris in Australia seduli sagacissimique   ...   * Aνθος flos, and χαιρω gaudeo" (Vigors & Horsfield 1827); "Anthochaera Vigors and Horsfield, 1827, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 15, p. 320. Type, by subsequent designation (Gadow, 1884, Cat. Birds Brit.Mus., 9, p. 262), Certhia mellivora Latham = Merops chrysopterus Latham." (Salomonsen in Peters, 1967, XII, p. 444).   
Var. Acanthochaera (Gr. ακανθα akantha  spine, thorn).   
Synon. Anellobia, Coleavis, Coleia, Colena, Dyottornis, Melichaera, Zanthomiza.

paradoxa
Gr. παραδοξος paradoxos  strange, incredible, contrary.
● Daudin 1800, considered the Yellow Wattlebird to be a type of magpie, naming it “Pie à pendeloques” and placing it in Corvus (Anthochaera).
● “Weil dieser Vogel sowohl in Haltung und Lebensart, als selbst, mit Ausnahme des Schnabels, auch in der Körperbildung so ganz die Eigenschaften der Gattung Troglodytes zeigt, so habe ich ihn der Hand noch nicht von derselben trennen wollen” (von Kittlitz 1830) (Eugralla).
● "Paradoxornitheo simillimus: mandibula superiore minus sinuosa, magis apice truncata; digitus externus brevissimus; alæ breves; cauda elongata, graduata" (Verreaux 1870) (Heteromorpha).

SUBSPECIES

Yellow Wattlebird (paradoxa)
SCI Name: Anthochaera paradoxa paradoxa
paradoxa
Gr. παραδοξος paradoxos  strange, incredible, contrary.
● Daudin 1800, considered the Yellow Wattlebird to be a type of magpie, naming it “Pie à pendeloques” and placing it in Corvus (Anthochaera).
● “Weil dieser Vogel sowohl in Haltung und Lebensart, als selbst, mit Ausnahme des Schnabels, auch in der Körperbildung so ganz die Eigenschaften der Gattung Troglodytes zeigt, so habe ich ihn der Hand noch nicht von derselben trennen wollen” (von Kittlitz 1830) (Eugralla).
● "Paradoxornitheo simillimus: mandibula superiore minus sinuosa, magis apice truncata; digitus externus brevissimus; alæ breves; cauda elongata, graduata" (Verreaux 1870) (Heteromorpha).

Yellow Wattlebird (kingi)
SCI Name: Anthochaera paradoxa kingi
kingi / kingii
● Capt. James King (1750-1784) Royal Navy, explorer in the Pacific with Capt. Cook 1776-1779 (subsp. Acrocephalus familiaris).
● Rear-Adm. Phillip Parker King (1791-1856) Royal Navy, surveyor in Australia 1817-1822 and tropical America 1825-1830, collector (Aglaiocercus, syn. Larus pacificus, subsp. Oriolus flavocinctus, syn. Sephanoides sephaniodes, syn. Veniliornis lignarius).
● King I., Bass Strait, Australia (syn. Anthochaera paradoxa, syn. Colluricincla harmonica strigata, subsp. Melanodryas vittata, syn. Melithreptus validirostris, syn. Pardalotus striatus).
● Benjamin Francis King (b. 1937) US ornithologist, research associate at AMNH (subsp. Heterophasia desgodinsi).
● Sir George King (1840-1909) British botanist, first Superintendent of Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta 1871, initiated Botanical Survey of India (syn. Oenanthe chrysopygia).
● Harold Henry King (1885-1954) British government entomologist in the Sudan 1906-1932 (syn. Trachyphonus margaritatus).