Tympanuchus Cupido Bird

English Name:  Greater Prairie-Chicken
Latin Name:  Tympanuchus cupido
Protonym:  Tetrao Cupido Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.160
Taxonomy:  Galliformes / Phasianidae / Tympanuchus
Taxonomy Code:  grpchi
Type Locality:  Virginia, ex Catesby.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

TYMPANUCHUS
(Tetraonidae; Ϯ Greater Prairie-chicken T. cupido) Gr. τυμπανον tumpanon  kettle-drum; ηχεω ēkheō  to sound (cf. εχω ekhō  to have, to possess); "Mehr auf den Ebenen, halb im Walde, halb auf Wiesengründen, wohnt der interessante Flügelhals oder das Cupidohuhn, (Tympanuchus Cupido:) von ähnlicher Färbung und Größe, aber mit bereits überall befiederten Tarsen.  ...  Es scheint nicht sowohl zur Verstärkung und Bildung der eigentlichen Stimme beizutragen, welche man mit dem dumpfen Tone einer Kindertrompete vergleicht" (Gloger 1841); "Tympanuchus Gloger, Hand-und Hilfsb. Naturg., 1842 (1841), p. 396. Type, by monotypy, Tetrao cupido Linné." (Peters 1934, II, 41).
Synon. Cupidonia.

cupido
Roman myth. Cupido Cupid, the god of love, son of Venus; the erectile neck feathers of the Heath Hen, the extinct nominal subspecies of this grouse, were thought to resemble the wings of Cupid; "91. TETRAO.  ...  Cupido.  6. T. pedibus hirsutis, alis succenturiatis cervicalibus.  Urogallus minor fuscus, cervice plumis alas imitantibus donata. Catesb. car. 3. p. 1. t. 1.  Habitat in Virginia.  Color Tetricis feminæ; vertex subcristatus; a tergo colli duæ parvæ alæ: singulæ pennis quinque.  Confr. Phasianus Pensylvanicus. Act. angl. 48. p. 499. t. 15." (Linnaeus 1758) (Tympanuchus).

SUBSPECIES

Greater Prairie-Chicken (pinnatus)
Latin Name: Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus
pinnata / pinnatus
L. pinnatus feathered < pinna feather.

Greater Prairie-Chicken (Heath Hen)
Latin Name: Tympanuchus cupido cupido
cupido
Roman myth. Cupido Cupid, the god of love, son of Venus; the erectile neck feathers of the Heath Hen, the extinct nominal subspecies of this grouse, were thought to resemble the wings of Cupid; "91. TETRAO.  ...  Cupido.  6. T. pedibus hirsutis, alis succenturiatis cervicalibus.  Urogallus minor fuscus, cervice plumis alas imitantibus donata. Catesb. car. 3. p. 1. t. 1.  Habitat in Virginia.  Color Tetricis feminæ; vertex subcristatus; a tergo colli duæ parvæ alæ: singulæ pennis quinque.  Confr. Phasianus Pensylvanicus. Act. angl. 48. p. 499. t. 15." (Linnaeus 1758) (Tympanuchus).

Greater Prairie-Chicken (Attwater's)
Latin Name: Tympanuchus cupido attwateri
attwateri
Henry Philemon Attwater (1854-1931) English naturalist, emigrated to Canada (1873) and to Texas (1889) where he became a pioneer conservationist (subsp. Tympanuchus cupido).