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Little Kingfisher scientific name

To: Frank O'Connor <>
Subject: Little Kingfisher scientific name
From: Carl Clifford <>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:06:06 +1100
Frank,

There seems to be a fair bit of confusion with the scientific name for Little Kingfisher. Not only do C&B use pusilla on p69 and pusillus on p169, but they use both pusillus and pusilla on p169. If you google C. pusillus and C. pusilla, you come up with references to it being Little Kingfisher. It would appear that a typo has occurred somewhere along the line and it has lead to this confusion.

The Index of Organism Names http://www.organismnames.com/ uses C. pusillus and the ION is generally regarded as the the authoritative source for scientific names. The only problem with that is that Temmink, when he described the species in 1836, called it Ceyx pusilla So, there you go. Call it whatever you like, because whichever name you use, someone will say you are wrong.

Cheers,

Carl Clifford


On 31/10/2008, at 1:12 PM, Frank O'Connor wrote:


I have just read the review by Stephen Debus of C&B2008 in the latest Australian Field Ornithology.

He points out that on page 29, Little Kingfisher has the scientific name Ceyx pusilla, where on page 169 both that and Ceyx pusillus are used. Which is correct? He states that C. pusillus is correct.

But there are several other species with pusilla as their specific name. Namely Baillon's Crake, Little Lorikeet and Brown Thornbill. So I would assume that pusilla is correct for Little Kingfisher?

The IOU list and Clements have Alcedo pusilla. The different genus might make a difference.


_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor           Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694              Email : 
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