Promerops Cafer Bird

English Name:  Cape Sugarbird
Latin Name:  Promerops cafer
Protonym:  Merops cafer Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.117
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Promeropidae / Promerops
Taxonomy Code:  capsug1
Type Locality:  Ethiopia ; restricted to Cap de Bonne Esperance [= Cape of Good Hope] by Brisson, 1760, Ornithologia, 2, p. 462.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PROMEROPS
(Promeropidae; Ϯ Cape Sugarbird P. cafer) Gr. προ pro  close to, similar; genus Merops Linnaeus, 1758, bee-eater; "Rostro gracili, parum arcuato:  ...  Capite simplici......Promerops. Genus 28. Sectio II.   ...   XXVIII. Le genre du Promérops.(¹)  Genus Promeropis  ...  Le bec menu, & un peu courbé en arc   ...   1. LE PROMÉROPS.  ...    On le trouve au Cap de Bonne Espérance, d'où il a été envoyé à M. le Comte de Bentinck qui en a fait présent à M. de Reaumur.   ...   2. LE PROMÉROPS DU MEXIQUE.  ...  Avis, Ani, Mexicana, cauda longissima. Seb.   ...   3. LE PROMÉROPS HUPÉ DES INDES.  ...  Upupa Manucodiata. Klein.   ...   4. LE PROMÉROPS DES BARBADES.  ...  Rhyndace. Moehr.   ...   5. LE PROMÉROPS JAUNE DU MEXIQUE.  ...  Cochitototl, seu Avis florida. Fern.    ...    (¹) Promérops, nom que M. de Reaumur a donné à ce genre d'Oiseaux." (Brisson 1760); "Promerops Brisson, 1760, Ornithologia, 1, p. 34; 2, p. 460. Type, by tautonymy, "Le Promérops" Brisson = Merops cafer Linnaeus." (Salomonsen in Peters 1967, XII, 449). Formerly an otherwise unrelated assortment of curve-billed birds was included here (e.g. hoopoe, wood-hoopoes, riflebirds, scimitarbills, honeyeaters, thrashers). The affinities of the curve-billed sugarbirds are unclear; they could have no close relatives, although the Modulatricidae may possibly belong here, and I was struck by the resemblance of immature Cape Sugarbirds to certain meliphagids.
Synon. Falcinellus, Pseudomerops, Ptiloturus.

promerops
Gr. προ pro close to, similar; genus Merops Linnaeus, 1758, bee-eater.
● ex “Promerops superne fuscus, inferne albus, pectore rufescente” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Promerops cafer).

cafer / caffer / caffra
Mod. L. Caffra or Caffer  South African  < Caffraria  Kaffirland  = South Africa (from the terms Kaffir, Caffre, or Caffer applied to certain indigenous peoples of that country  < Arabic kafir  infidel).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (= Tahiti) (Acrocephalus).
● Caffraria; ex “Caffre” of Levaillant 1796, pl. 6, and Falco vulturinus Daudin, 1800 (?syn. Aquila verreauxii).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Bay of Good Hope, Nootka Sound, Canada) (Colaptes).
● "57. MEROPS.  ...  cafer.  4. M. griseus, ani regione flava, cauda longissima.  Habitat in Æthiopia.  Inter pulchre delineatos icones animalium ultra 150, quas misit amicissimus J. Burmannus, visa est." (Linnaeus 1758) (Promerops).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Ceylon); ex “Merle hupé du Cap de Bonne Espérance” of Brisson 1760 (Pycnonotus).
● Caffraria; ex “Promépic” of Levaillant 1806 (syn. Trachyphonus vaillantii).
● "49. CORACIAS.  ...  caffra.  2. C. cærulea, remigibus margine exteriore luteis.  Habitat in Æthiopia. J. Burmannus.  Femina cærulescente-nigra est." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.; nom. dub.).