Alcippe Poioicephala Bird

English Name:  Brown-cheeked Fulvetta
Latin Name:  Alcippe poioicephala
Protonym:  Thimalia poioicephala MadrasJ.Lit.Sci. 13 p.169
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Leiothrichidae / Alcippe
Taxonomy Code:  brcful1
Type Locality:  Coonoor Ghat, Nilgiri Hills.
Author:  Jerdon
Publish Year:  1841
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ALCIPPE
(Leiotrichidae; † Brown-cheeked Fulvetta A. poioicephala) Gr. myth. Alcippe, daughter of Aries or Mars the god of war, and who was ravished by a son of Poseidon (or, according to some sources, by Poseidon himself). She is perhaps the most famous of half a dozen women of this name in antiquity (including a countrywoman mentioned by Virgil, an attendant of Helen in Homer's epic, a sister-in-law to Cecrops, and a courtesan); "lastly, the T. poiocephala, Jerdon, I refer to an extensive Malayan group, exemplified by Malacopteron, Eyton, which is my Trichastoma, XI, 795, and is hereinafter subdivided, the species in question falling under my division Alcippe, p. 384.  ...   Alcippe, Nobis.  Has the bill much shorter than the head, approaching nearly in form to that of Leiothrix; in other respects resembling the foregoing; but the toes generally are small and proportionate.   1. A. cinerea? (Eyton).   ...   2. A. affinis; Trichastoma affine, Nobis, passim.   ...   3. A. poiocephala; Timalia poiocephala, Jerdon.   ...   4. A. atriceps; Brachypteryx atriceps, Jerdon.   ...   5. A. (?) sepiaria; Brachypteryx sepiaria, Horsfield.   ...   6. A. (?) bicolor; Brachypteryx bicolor, Lesson." (Blyth 1844); "Alcippe Blyth, 1844, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 13, pp. 370, 384. Type, by original designation, Thimalia poioicephala Jerdon." (Deignan in Peters, 1964, X, p. 397); "Alcippe Blyth, 1844, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, XIII, p. 384.  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1846, Genera Birds, I, p. 209), Trichastoma affine Blyth, 1842." (Laurent Raty in litt.; "So far as I can assess, if we want to use Alcippe in the way it is used now, a case should be submitted to the Commission asking that they change the type of the genus-group name to match current usage.  The alternative is to apply the Code, which means to do what Oberholser told us had to be done a century ago - and which was not done.") (see Alcippornis);  "FAMILY  ALCIPPEIDAE  ...  The position of Alcippe relative to Leiothrichidae and Pellorneidae is not unanimously supported and varies among studies  ...  Because the divergence between these three clades occurred early during the Miocene, however, Cai and colleagues suggested that the genus Alcippe, which is isolated in phylogenetic trees, should be placed in a monogeneric family." (Fjeldså, Christidis & Ericson (eds.) 2020).
Synon. Alcippornis, Proparus.

poioicephala
Gr. φαιος phaios  dusky, grey; -κεφαλος -kephalos  -headed  < κεφαλη kephalē  head.

SUBSPECIES

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (poioicephala)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala poioicephala
poioicephala
Gr. φαιος phaios  dusky, grey; -κεφαλος -kephalos  -headed  < κεφαλη kephalē  head.

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (brucei)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala brucei
brucei
● Revd. Henry James Bruce (1835-1909) US missionary to India 1862-1909 (subsp. Alcippe poioicephala, Otus).
● James Bruce (1730-1794) Scottish explorer in Abyssinia 1768-1773 (syn. Campethera abingoni) (see brucii).

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (fusca)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala fusca
fusca
L. fuscus  dusky, black, brown. Despite its classical meaning this epithet is used in ornithology to indicate a very wide spectrum of colours from black, grey and brown to a range of dark tints including slate-blue and dusky-orange (see also fuscus).
● ex “Héron brun de Cayenne” (= ☼) of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 858, and “Héron brun” of de Buffon 1770-1786 (syn. Agamia agami).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de la Martinique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 568, fig. 2 (Allenia).
● ex “Brown Sandpiper” of Pennant 1768, and Latham 1787 (syn. Calidris minuta).
● ex “Brown Tern” of Latham 1785 (syn. Chlidonias niger).
● ex “Promérops de la nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 638, “Promérops brun à ventre rayé” of de Buffon 1770-1783, “Promérops brun de la nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “New Guinea brown Promerops” of Latham 1782 (syn. Epimachus fastuosus).
● ex “White-breasted Barbet” of Latham 1782 (Malacoptila).
● "61. ANAS.  ...  fusca.  5. A. nigricans, macula pone oculos lineaque alarum albis.  Anas corpore obscuro, macula alba pone oculos, lineaque alba. Fn. svec. 106. It. gotl. 215. 271.  Anas fera fusca. Jonst. av. t. 44.  Anas niger. Will. orn. 278. t. 10. Raj. av. 141.  Habitat in oceano Europæo.  Mas ad basin rostri gibbositate notatus." (Linnaeus 1758) (Melanitta).
● ex “Martin-pêcheur de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 663 (= ♀), and “Great Brown Kingsfisher” of Latham 1782 (syn. Melidora macrorrhina).
● ex “Tangara brun d’Amérique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 155, fig. 2 (syn. Paroaria gularis).
● ex “Coot-footed Tringa” of Edwards 1743-1751, “Phalaropus fuscus” of Brisson 1760, and “Brown Phalarope” of Pennant 1785, and Latham 1785 (syn. Phalaropus lobatus).
● ex “Brown Creeper from the South Seas” of Latham 1782 (syn. Phylidonyris undulata).
● ex “Golondrina parda” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 301 (subsp. Progne tapera).
● ex "Figuier étranger" of d'Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 58, fig. 3 (Setophaga).
● ex “Bouveron” of de Buffon 1770-1783: “J’appelle ainsi cet oiseau ... parce qu’il me paroît faire la nuance entre les bouvreuils [bullfinches] d’Europe et les bec-ronds [seedeaters] d’Amérique” (syn. Sporophila lineola).
● ex “Barge brune” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 875 (syn. Tringa erythropus).
● ex “Rasle brun des Philippines” of Brisson 1760 (Zapornia).
● ex “Tourterelle de la Caroline” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 175 (syn. Zenaida macroura carolinensis).
● "96. LOXIA.  ...  fusca.  25. L. fusca, subtus albida, remigibus a tertia ad nonam basi omnino albis. Chin. Lagerstr. 19.  Habitat in Benghala." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.).
● ex “Figuier brun-olive” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Olive-brown Warbler” of Latham 1783, and Pennant 1785 (unident.).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 574, fig. 1 (unident.; has been linked with Cnemotriccus fuscatus and with Contopus cinereus).

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (phayrei)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala phayrei
phayrei
Lt.-Gen. Sir Arthur Purves Phayre (1812-1885) British Army, Commissioner of Arakan 1849-1852, Commissioner of Pegu 1852-1862, Commissioner of British Burma 1862-1867 (subsp. Alcippe poioicephala, subsp. Francolinus pintadeanus, Hydrornis, syn. Leptocoma brasiliana, Pomatorhinus, Treron).

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (haringtoniae)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala haringtoniae
haringtoniae
Dorothy Caroline Harington née Pepys (1879-1969) wife of Lt.-Col. Herbert H. Harington (subsp. Alcippe poioicephala).

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (alearis)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala alearis
alearis
L. alearis pertaining to dice (i.e. spotted, marked) < alea game of dice.

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (karenni)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala karenni
karenensis / karenni
Karenni State, Burma / Myanmar.

Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (davisoni)
Latin Name: Alcippe poioicephala davisoni
davisoni
William Ruxton Davison (1850-1893) British field-ornithologist, collector for A. C. Hume in Tenasserim, Curator of Raffles Mus., Singapore 1887-1893 (subsp. Alcippe poioicephala, subsp. Geokichla sibirica, subsp. Hemixos flavala, syn. Hydrornis caeruleus, subsp. Lalage nigra, Leioptila, syn. Lophura nycthemera, subsp. Napothera epilepidota, subsp. Phylloscopus montis, syn. Phylloscopus intensior muleyitensis, Pseudibis, subsp. Psilopogon asiaticus, Pycnonotus, subsp. Spilornis cheela, subsp. Stachyris nigriceps, subsp. Todiramphus chloris).