Hemicircus Canente Bird

English Name:  Heart-spotted Woodpecker
Latin Name:  Hemicircus canente
Protonym:  Picus canente Cent.Zool. p.215 pl.73
Taxonomy:  Piciformes / Picidae / Hemicircus
Taxonomy Code:  heswoo1
Type Locality:  Pegu.
Author:  Lesson
Publish Year:  1832
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HEMICIRCUS
(Picidae; Ϯ Grey-and-buff Woodpecker H. concretus) Gr. ἡμι- hēmi-  small  < ἡμισυς hēmisus  half; κερκος kerkos  tail; "Hemicircus, Sw.  Tail excessively short, and very broad.  Neck short, very slender.  Bill straight, considerably compressed.  Lateral ridge slight, near to the margin.  Nostrils concealed.  Feet very large.  Versatile toe always longer than the anterior.  Wings nearly as long as the tail.   India.    H. concretus.  Pl. Col. 90." (Swainson 1837); "Hemicircus Swainson, Classif. Bds., 2, 1837, p. 306. Type, by monotypy, H. concretus Pl. col. 90 = Picus concretus Temminck." (Peters, 1948, VI, p. 223).
Var. Hemicercus.
Synon. Micropicos.

canente
Roman myth. Canens, daughter of Janus and Venilia, a beautiful nymph, the personification of song and sweet-voiced wife to Picus. After he was changed into a woodpecker for spurning the attentions of Circe, Canens pined away and was metamorphosed into a lone voice; "Hemicircus canens (!)*) Bp. Consp. I. p. 129. gen. 264. 2.  ...  * Picus der Sohn des Saturn heirathete nach Ovid (Meteamorph. XIV) die ob ihrer Stimme Schönheit Canente genannte Tochter des Janus und der Venilia.  Es ist daher der Name Canente wie des ihres Gatten Picus nebst Picumnus und Pilumnus für die Spechte anwendbar, und erscheint die bonaparte'sche Verbesserung canens mindestens überflüssig." (Cabanis & Heine 1863) (Hemicircus).