Daphoenositta Miranda Bird

English Name:  Black Sittella
Latin Name:  Daphoenositta miranda
Protonym:  Daphoenositta miranda Ibis p.380
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Neosittidae / Daphoenositta
Taxonomy Code:  blksit1
Type Locality:  Mt. Scratchley, New Guinea.
Author:  De Vis
Publish Year:  1897
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

DAPHOENOSITTA
(Neosittidae; † Black Sittella D. miranda) Gr. δαφοινος daphoinos  reeking with blood  < δα- da-  very; φοινος phoinos  blood-red, bloody; genus Sitta Linnaeus, 1758, nuthatch; the Black Sittella was formerly known as the Pink-faced Nuthatch; "Daphœnositta, De Vis.  ...  Daphœnositta miranda, De Vis.  ...  Above and below black, the feathers broadly edged with lead-grey; wing and tail fuscous brown; the four rectrices largely tipped with pink, nearly half the outermost being of that colour; rump stained with crimson; forehead, chin, and some feathers of the orbital ring rich crimson  ...  Apart from the shortness and straightness of the bill, this bird is structurally a Sittella, and, were it not for its very erratic colouring, its bill would hardly prevent it finding a home in that genus. But on the ground that so wide a departure from the characteristic sobriety in colours of the Sittellas, and indeed of the Creepers generally, argues physical differences not apparent to the eye, it appears to me advisable to provide a separate genus for the present bird" (DeVis 1897); "Daphoenositta De Vis, 1897, Ibis: 380.  Type, by monotypy, Daphoenositta miranda De Vis." (Beehler and Pratt, 2016, Birds New Guinea, p. 379).
Var. Daphaenositta, Daphoenosina.
Synon. Neops, Neositta, Neosittella.

miranda
L. mirandus  wonderful, strange  < mirari  to wonder at  < mirus  extraordinary.

SUBSPECIES

Black Sittella (frontalis)
Latin Name: Daphoenositta miranda frontalis
frontale / frontalis
L. frontalis  fronted, frontal  < frontalia or frontale  frontlet  < frons, frontis  forehead, brow (ref. distinctive, contrastingly coloured forehead patch, usually black or red).
● ex “Faucon Huppé” of Levaillant 1798, pl. 28 (syn. Crinifer piscator).
● Front Range, Rocky Mts., Colorado, USA (syn. Otus flammeolus).
● ex “Perruche Ara à Bandeau Rouge” of Levaillant 1801 (Pyrrhura).

Black Sittella (kuboriensis)
Latin Name: Daphoenositta miranda kuboriensis
kuboriensis
Kubor Mts., Central Highlands, New Guinea.

Black Sittella (miranda)
Latin Name: Daphoenositta miranda miranda
miranda
L. mirandus  wonderful, strange  < mirari  to wonder at  < mirus  extraordinary.