Vidua Chalybeata Bird

English Name:  Village Indigobird
Latin Name:  Vidua chalybeata
Protonym:  Fringilla chalybeata Natursyst.Suppl. Suppl. p.166
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Viduidae / Vidua
Taxonomy Code:  vilind
Type Locality:  Brazil, error; Senegal substituted by W. L. Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., p. 807.
Author:  Statius Muller
Publish Year:  1776
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

VIDUA
(Viduidae; † Pin-tailed Whydah V. macroura) L. vidua  widow  < viduus  bereaved, widowed (see vidua); "LES VEUVES. (VIDUA. Cuv.)  Sont des oiseaux d'Afrique et des Indes, à bec de linotte, quelquefois un peu plus renflé à sa base, qui se distinguent parce que quelques unes des couvertures supérieures de leur queue sont excessivement allongées dans les mâles (1).   ...   (1) On ne sait pourquoi Linnæus et Gmelin les ont associés aux bruans, sous les noms de emberiza regia (enl. 8, 1) — Emb. serena (ib. 2.) — Emb. paradisea (enl. 194.) — Emb. panayensis (enl. 647.) — Emb. longicauda (enl. 635.)  Si on ne laisse pas les veuves avec les linottes, on ne peut les placer qu'avec les gros becs.   N. B. L'emb. principalis (Edw. 270) et l'emb. vidua (Aldrow. Ornit. II, 565) me paraissent le même oiseau en différens états de plumage. L'emb. psittacea, Seb. I, pl. 66, fig. 5, n'est pas bien authentique. L'angolensis, Salern. Orn. 277; la veuve chrysoptère, Vieill. Ois. ch. pl. 41, et le lox. macroura, enl. 183, 1, qui n'en diffère peut-être pas, ne sont point des veuves, mais des gros becs ordinaires." (Cuvier 1817); "Vidua Cuvier, 1817, Règne Animal, 1, p. 388.  Type, by tautonymy, Emberiza vidua Linnaeus = Fringilla macroura Pallas." (Traylor in Peters, 1968, XIV, p. 394).
Synon. Hypochera, Linura, Steganura, Tetraenura, Videstrelda, Widha.
• (Viduidae; syn. Vidua † Long-tailed Paradise Whydah V. paradisaea) "Vidua, Cuvier.  (fig. 246.)  Bill short.  Wings lengthened; the second, third, and two following quills longest, and of equal length.  Tail boat-shaped: males with the two middle feathers excessively elongated, generally broad and convex.    V. rufitorques. W. Af. i. 174.(c)    erythrorhynchus. Ib. (b)    chrysonotus. W. Af. i. 174.(d)    paradisea. Ib. pl. 11." (Swainson 1837); "Vidua "Cuvier" Swainson, 1837, Nat. Hist. Classification Birds, II, p. 278 (not of Cuvier, 1817).  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 71), Emberiza paradisaea Linnaeus, 1758." (JAJ 2021).

vidua
L. vidua  widow  < viduus  bereaved, widowed (e.g. in mourning, black, veiled).
● ex “Aguimp” or “Lavandière Pie” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 178 (subsp. Motacilla aguimp).
● ex “Petite Veuve” and “Grande Veuve” of Brisson 1760; “is called la Veuve, or Widow Bird, from the colour ... Edwards gives another reason for the name - being a corruption of Whidah, a fort in Africa, in the neighbourhood of which they are common. Whidah Bird, and Widow Bird, are sounds very similar” (Latham 1783). Whydah or Whidah (now Ouidha, Benin), received its European name by a corruption of São João Baptista de Ajudá, a nearby Portuguese fort (syn. Vidua macroura).
● "Unfortunately Mons. Robert sent only one female of this distinct species. Of the allied H. griseiventris also the male is as yet unknown" (Hellmayr 1905) (Willisornis).

chalybeata / chalybeatus
Mod. L. chalybeatus  chalybeate, impregnated with steel  < L. chalybs, chalybis  steel  < Gr. χαλυψ khalups, χαλυβος khalubos  steel.
● ex “Moineau du Brésil” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 291, fig. 1 (Vidua).

SUBSPECIES

Village Indigobird (chalybeata)
Latin Name: Vidua chalybeata chalybeata
chalybeata / chalybeatus
Mod. L. chalybeatus  chalybeate, impregnated with steel  < L. chalybs, chalybis  steel  < Gr. χαλυψ khalups, χαλυβος khalubos  steel.
● ex “Moineau du Brésil” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 291, fig. 1 (Vidua).

Village Indigobird (neumanni)
Latin Name: Vidua chalybeata neumanni
neumanni / neumanniana / neumannianus
Prof. Oskar Rudolph Neumann (1867-1946) German ornithologist, explorer and collector in East Africa 1892-1899, Associate at Tring Mus. 1908-1931 (syn. Alcedo leucogaster bowdleri, syn. Anthreptes orientalis, syn. Anthus similis hararensis, subsp. Anthus vaalensis, syn. Apalis flavida flavocincta, Arizelocichla, subsp. Bradornis microrhynchus, syn. Campethera nubica, syn. Cecropis semirufa gordoni, subsp. Centropus leucogaster, syn. Certhia brachydactyla, syn. Cisticola hunteri, syn. Euplectes axillaris phoeniceus, subsp. Gallinula tenebrosa, subsp. Galerida cristata, Hemitesia, subsp. Lophoceros pallidirostris, subsp. Melierax metabates, syn. Muscicapa adusta minima, subsp. Muscicapa striata (ex Muscicapa grisola sibirica Neumann, 1900), syn. Numida meleagris, subsp. Oenanthe melanura (ex Cercomela melanura erlangeri Neumann & von Zedlitz, 1913), Onychognathus, syn. Passer griseus swainsonii, subsp. Phonygammus keraudrenii, subsp. Ploceus baglafecht, syn. Prionops retzii graculina, subsp. Psittacara acuticaudatus, subsp. Ptilinopus solomonensis, subsp. Ptilorrhoa caerulescens, syn. Pyrenestes ostrinus, subsp. Terpsiphone rufiventer, subsp. Vidua chalybeata).

Village Indigobird (ultramarina)
Latin Name: Vidua chalybeata ultramarina
ultramarina / ultramarinus
Old Italian azzurro oltramarino  azure from overseas, ultramarine, lapis lazuli  < Med. L. ultramarinus  beyond the sea  < L. ultra  beyond; marinus  marine, of the sea  < mare, maris  sea.
● ex “Outre-mer” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Ultra-marine Finch” of Latham 1783 (Vidua).

Village Indigobird (centralis)
Latin Name: Vidua chalybeata centralis
centralis
L. centralis, centrale  central, in the middle  < centrum  middle point, centre  < Gr. κεντρον kentron  sharp point, stationary point of a pair of compasses.  A good proportion of the names here refer to forms collected in "Central Africa," i.e. the eastern Congo and the Rift Valley lakes (e.g. subsp. Bradypterus baboecala, subsp. Chlorocichla flaviventris, subsp. Malimbus rubricollis, subsp. Sarothrura pulchra, subsp. Turdus pelios).  Some further examples follow.
• "Dieselbe steht in Bezug auf Grösse zwischen cardinalis und massaicus in der Mitte." (Neumann 1900) (subsp. Dendropicos fuscescens).  
• "Distribution. Endemic to Peru on east Andean slope from Río Huallaga through Pasco to Junín west of the Río Ene and north of the Río Mantaro  ...  The scientific name reflects the range of this species near the geographic center of Peru." (Hosner et al. in M. Isler et al. 2020) (Grallaria).
• "Intermediate in size between N. f. flavicollis (Vieill.) and N. f. melanoxantha (Lcht.)" (Hellmayr 1907) (subsp. Hemithraupis flavicollis).
• "These birds are intermediate between N. famosa and N. cupreonitens, and resemble birds labelled by Neumann in the Tring Museum with the MS. name Nectarinia famosa centralis" (van Someren 1916) (subsp. Nectarinia famosa).
• "RANGE. —Eastern part of the central Solomon Islands (Kulambangra, New Georgia, Vangunu, and Gatukai)." (Mayr 1932) (subsp. Pachycephala pectoralis).
• "zentralbrasilianischen Hochlandes (Matto-grosso.  S. Goyaz.  N.-São Paulo.  W.-Minas Geraës)" (Hellmayr 1920) (subsp. Ramphocelus carbo).
• "the Central American form is named CICCABA VIRGATA CENTRALIS, subsp. nov.  ...  Chivela, Oaxaca, Mexico." (Griscom 1929) (subsp. Strix virgata).
• "Tang- (Dang-) la Range, Central Tibet, Tang-la Pass" (Sushkin 1926) (subsp. Tetraogallus tibetanus).               

Village Indigobird (okavangoensis)
Latin Name: Vidua chalybeata okavangoensis
okavangensis / okavangoensis
Okavango Delta, Bechuanaland / Botswana.

Village Indigobird (amauropteryx)
Latin Name: Vidua chalybeata amauropteryx
amauropteryx
Gr. αμαυρος amauros  dark; πτερυξ pterux, πτερυγος pterugos  wing.