Zapata Sparrow

SCI Name:  Torreornis inexpectata
Protonym:  Torreornis inexpectata Proc.NewEngl.Zool.Cl. 9 p.96
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Passerellidae / Torreornis
Taxonomy Code:  zapspa1
Type Locality:  Santo Tomas, Peninsula de Zapata, Cuba.
Author:  Barbour & Peters
Publish Year:  1927
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

TORREORNIS
(Passerellidae; Ϯ Zapata Sparrow T. inexpectata) Prof. Carlos de la Torre y de la Huerta (1858-1950) Cuban zoologist at Havana University; Gr. ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird; "Torreornis inexpectata gen. et spec. nov.  Generic characters. — A medium-sized fringillid with short rounded wing; rounded, almost graduated, tail; plumage long and lax. Bill moderately stout; culmen convex; rictal bristles indistinct. Wing very short, three times the length of the tarsus, much rounded   ...   Coloration.—Back more or less streaked, or else plain purplish grayish brown; under parts without streaks in adults, except sometimes on sides and flanks; otherwise extremely variable" (Barbour & J. Peters 1927) (Laurent Raty in litt.); "Torreornis Barbour and Peters, 1927, Proc. New England Zool. Club, 9, p. 96. Type, by monotypy, Torreornis inexpectata Barbour and Peters." (Paynter in Peters 1970, XIII, 102) (see Cyanolimnas).

inexpecta / inexpectata / inexpectatum / inexpectatus / inexpectus / inexspectata / inexspectatus
L. inexspectatus  unexpected, surprising, unlooked for  < in-  not; exspectatus  awaited, expected  < exspectare  to await.
● “In view of the stability shown by Arremonops conirostris conirostris through a wide area, the appearance of this form so near the type-locality of that race is surprising and inexplicable” (Chapman 1914) (subsp. Arremonops conirostris).
● “It certainly was unexpected to find such a striking and hitherto unknown species on Guadalcanar, and this and the discovery of other new forms on the island shows that the ornithological exploration of Guadalcanar has hitherto been very imperfect” (Hartert 1929) (Guadalcanaria).
● “et necata inexpectatum nobis gaudium dedit novae speciei, ante nunquam visae” (Forster 1844) (Pterodroma).
● "Named both for the unexpected nature of its distribution, being restricted to two provinces of Ghana, and the fact that there are no obvious geographic barriers that separate it from two other members of the genus" (Voelker et al. 2016) (subsp. Stiphrornis erythrothorax).
● “On examining a large series of birdskins collected in the northern parts of Celebes and presented to the Leyden Museum by S. C. I. W. van Musschenbroek, Esq., I was quite astonished to find, that there exists in the Minahassa, beside Strix [= Tyto ] Rosenbergii, another large species of Barn-owl, very different as well from Strix Rosenbergii as from all the other known species” (Schlegel 1879) (Tyto).

SUBSPECIES

Zapata Sparrow (inexpectata)
SCI Name: Torreornis inexpectata inexpectata
inexpecta / inexpectata / inexpectatum / inexpectatus / inexpectus / inexspectata / inexspectatus
L. inexspectatus  unexpected, surprising, unlooked for  < in-  not; exspectatus  awaited, expected  < exspectare  to await.
● “In view of the stability shown by Arremonops conirostris conirostris through a wide area, the appearance of this form so near the type-locality of that race is surprising and inexplicable” (Chapman 1914) (subsp. Arremonops conirostris).
● “It certainly was unexpected to find such a striking and hitherto unknown species on Guadalcanar, and this and the discovery of other new forms on the island shows that the ornithological exploration of Guadalcanar has hitherto been very imperfect” (Hartert 1929) (Guadalcanaria).
● “et necata inexpectatum nobis gaudium dedit novae speciei, ante nunquam visae” (Forster 1844) (Pterodroma).
● "Named both for the unexpected nature of its distribution, being restricted to two provinces of Ghana, and the fact that there are no obvious geographic barriers that separate it from two other members of the genus" (Voelker et al. 2016) (subsp. Stiphrornis erythrothorax).
● “On examining a large series of birdskins collected in the northern parts of Celebes and presented to the Leyden Museum by S. C. I. W. van Musschenbroek, Esq., I was quite astonished to find, that there exists in the Minahassa, beside Strix [= Tyto ] Rosenbergii, another large species of Barn-owl, very different as well from Strix Rosenbergii as from all the other known species” (Schlegel 1879) (Tyto).

Zapata Sparrow (sigmani)
SCI Name: Torreornis inexpectata sigmani
sigmani
Arthur Tucker Sigman (d. 1959) US conservationist (subsp. Torreornis inexpectata).

Zapata Sparrow (varonai)
SCI Name: Torreornis inexpectata varonai
varonai
Luis Sánchez Varona y Calvo (1923-1989) Cuban palaeontologist, geologist, zoologist (Gymnogyps, subsp. Torreornis inexpectata).