Saltator Similis Bird

English Name:  Green-winged Saltator
Latin Name:  Saltator similis
Protonym:  Saltator similis Mag.Zool. 7 cl.2 p.36
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Thraupidae / Saltator
Taxonomy Code:  grwsal1
Type Locality:  Corrientes, Argentina.
Author:  d''Orbigny & Lafresnaye
Publish Year:  1837
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SALTATOR
(Thraupidae; Ϯ Buff-throated Saltator S. maximus) L. saltator, saltatoris  dancer  < saltare  to dance (cf. Tupí name Tangara  dancer, one who turns and skips, for the manakins and various colourful finch-like birds (see Tangara)); "66. HABIA, de Azara. Saltator. Tanagra, Lin. Gm. Lath.  Bec épais à la base, court, robuste, convexe en dessus, un peu comprimé par les côtés, échancré vers le bout; mandibule supérieure un peu fléchie en arc et couvrant les bords de l'inférieure.   Esp. Grand Tangara, Buff." (Vieillot 1816) ; "Saltator Vieillot, 1816, Analyse, p. 32. Type, by monotypy, "Grand Tanagra" Buffon = Tanagra maxima Müller." (Paynter in Peters 1970, XIII, 228). The saltators and their allies have also been placed with the finches Fringillidae, and the cardinals Cardinalidae, or treated as a separate family Saltatoridae.
Var. Salator, Sallator, Sattator, Staltator.
Synon. Cissurus, Pitylus, Pyrorhamphus, Saltatricula, Stelgidostomus.

saltator
L. saltator, saltatoris  dancer  < saltare  to dance  < salire  to jump.
● ex "Le Pavaneur" of Levaillant 1801-1804 (French pavaneur  strutter); "Gattung Calamoherpe.  ...  1. saltator Vaill. Afr. pl. 122. fig. 1. 2." (Boie 1828) (syn. Acrocephalus schoenobaenus).
● ex “Pingoin Sauteur” of de Bougainville 1771 (French sauteur  jumper) (syn. Eudyptes chrysocome) (see Chrysocoma).
● "56. SAXICOLA SALTATOR  ...  il va ordinairement par paires, et sautille continuellement; il se place volontiers sur les pointes de rochers, et là, il s'élève perpendiculairement en agitant fortement ses ailes, et faisant entendre un zri, zri, zri, très sonore; posé, il a un petit gazouillement très agréable" (Ménétries 1832) (French sautiller  to hop) (syn. Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca).
● "Not unfrequently we are startled by a shrill scream in some lonely place, and out rushes the Hopping Dick, jumping with rapidity across the road, almost close to our horse's feet.  ...  At the break of day, if we pass along a wooded mountain road  ...  we see the Hopping Dicks bounding singly along the ground in every part  ...  many of these Merles were gliding from one thicket to another, and dashing across the road with that bounding run from which they derive their soubriquet of Hopping Dick  ...  Ouzel, which I would call Merula Saltator, as this name preserves his distinctive soubriquet of Hopping Dick, and refers to his characteristic length of legs, both at the tarsus and the thighs." (Gosse & Hill 1847) (syn. Turdus aurantius).

simile / similis
L. similis, simile  similar, resembling.  Indicating a similarity in appearance or affinity to another, usually congeneric, species.  Over thirty forms share this epithet; some are shown below.
● "193.—A. similis.—New species?—Large Titlark.   Descr.—The description of the last species [A. rufula] will apply exactly to this very similar bird, with this exception, that the centre markings of the feathers are still more indistinct in this one; and that the fawn colour of the plumage beneath, extends over all the abdomen, vent, and under tail coverts.  It differs, however, remarkably in size and in some points of structure." (Jerdon 1840) (Anthus).
● "PTILOTIS PROCERIOR, F. & H., is unknown in Taviuni; and its place is supplied by a species that I at first took for P. carunculata, Gmel.  But the more I look at it, the more I doubt its identity with that bird; without actual comparisons, however, with specimens from Tonga, which is, I believe, the real habitat of P. carunculata, I cannot quite decide the point.  Measurements go for little in this species, hardly two individuals agreeing together; but not a single specimen we procured has the bill as short as 8'", the maximum quoted by Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub.  Then, again, they describe the iris as "white," and so figure it; in ours they are all buff, a darker shade prevailing.  The wattle is very different from that of P. procerior, but hardly resembles that figured by Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub.  If found distinct on actual comparison, I would name it P. similis.  I would call it after the island, of the birds of which I now write; but I possess some specimens from Bua and Mathuata islands  which are identical." (Layard 1876) (syn. Foulehaio taviunensis).
● "32. LE PIC SEMBLABLE.  (Picus similis, Lesson.)  ...  Celui que nous décrivons ici, et que nous adressons à M. Malherbe, pour sa belle Monographie des pics, ressemble singulièrement au lineatus, à l'erythrocephalus et à l'anaïs, et cependant, en le comparant à ces trois espèces, il offre des dissemblances."  (Lesson 1847) (subsp. Hylatomus lineatus).
● "9.  Chloropeta similis, new species.  ...  Its nearest relative appears to be C. icterina, but from this it differs in the wing formula, in smaller size, and apparently in the color of the thighs and upper parts." (Richmond 1897) (Iduna).
● "MONASA SIMILIS, new species. Cerro Azul Nun Bird.  ...  In general coloration very similar to M. fidelis from the same locality but immediately distinguishable by absence of white on chin, this color being confined to a band about base of upper mandible extending to lores as in pallescens" (Nelson 1912) (syn. Monasa morphoeus fidelis).
● "SPECIES 14.  MUSCICAPA SIMILIS.  TAB. XXV.   Mediocris, supra olivaceo-fusca, subtus sulphurea, Muscicapae cayennensi simillima, diversa vero rostro brevi, capite non nigro sed fusco, verticeque non flavo sed aurantio." (von Spix 1825) (Myiozetetes).
● "PETROICA SIMILIS.  ...  Very like Petroica pusilla of Peale, from Navigators' Islands, but it is larger (being 4½" in length), with the throat varied with white, scarlet, and fuscous-black; the outer tail-feathers white, with a blackish spot near the apex, and the outer margin only of the second feather white.   New Hebrides (Aneiteum)." (G. Gray 1860) (subsp. Petroica pusilla).
● "5. S. similis, Nob.  ...   differt a Tanagra magna, Gmel., Saltatore olivaceo, Vieillot, t. 4, p. 108, cui affinis tergo caudaque non viridibus, vitta superciliari post oculum ad nucham protensa, in Tanagra magna, ante oculari tantummodo juguloque non ferrugineo." (de La Fresnaye & d'Orbigny 1837) (Saltator).  

SUBSPECIES

Green-winged Saltator (similis)
Latin Name: Saltator similis similis
simile / similis
L. similis, simile  similar, resembling.  Indicating a similarity in appearance or affinity to another, usually congeneric, species.  Over thirty forms share this epithet; some are shown below.
● "193.—A. similis.—New species?—Large Titlark.   Descr.—The description of the last species [A. rufula] will apply exactly to this very similar bird, with this exception, that the centre markings of the feathers are still more indistinct in this one; and that the fawn colour of the plumage beneath, extends over all the abdomen, vent, and under tail coverts.  It differs, however, remarkably in size and in some points of structure." (Jerdon 1840) (Anthus).
● "PTILOTIS PROCERIOR, F. & H., is unknown in Taviuni; and its place is supplied by a species that I at first took for P. carunculata, Gmel.  But the more I look at it, the more I doubt its identity with that bird; without actual comparisons, however, with specimens from Tonga, which is, I believe, the real habitat of P. carunculata, I cannot quite decide the point.  Measurements go for little in this species, hardly two individuals agreeing together; but not a single specimen we procured has the bill as short as 8'", the maximum quoted by Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub.  Then, again, they describe the iris as "white," and so figure it; in ours they are all buff, a darker shade prevailing.  The wattle is very different from that of P. procerior, but hardly resembles that figured by Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub.  If found distinct on actual comparison, I would name it P. similis.  I would call it after the island, of the birds of which I now write; but I possess some specimens from Bua and Mathuata islands  which are identical." (Layard 1876) (syn. Foulehaio taviunensis).
● "32. LE PIC SEMBLABLE.  (Picus similis, Lesson.)  ...  Celui que nous décrivons ici, et que nous adressons à M. Malherbe, pour sa belle Monographie des pics, ressemble singulièrement au lineatus, à l'erythrocephalus et à l'anaïs, et cependant, en le comparant à ces trois espèces, il offre des dissemblances."  (Lesson 1847) (subsp. Hylatomus lineatus).
● "9.  Chloropeta similis, new species.  ...  Its nearest relative appears to be C. icterina, but from this it differs in the wing formula, in smaller size, and apparently in the color of the thighs and upper parts." (Richmond 1897) (Iduna).
● "MONASA SIMILIS, new species. Cerro Azul Nun Bird.  ...  In general coloration very similar to M. fidelis from the same locality but immediately distinguishable by absence of white on chin, this color being confined to a band about base of upper mandible extending to lores as in pallescens" (Nelson 1912) (syn. Monasa morphoeus fidelis).
● "SPECIES 14.  MUSCICAPA SIMILIS.  TAB. XXV.   Mediocris, supra olivaceo-fusca, subtus sulphurea, Muscicapae cayennensi simillima, diversa vero rostro brevi, capite non nigro sed fusco, verticeque non flavo sed aurantio." (von Spix 1825) (Myiozetetes).
● "PETROICA SIMILIS.  ...  Very like Petroica pusilla of Peale, from Navigators' Islands, but it is larger (being 4½" in length), with the throat varied with white, scarlet, and fuscous-black; the outer tail-feathers white, with a blackish spot near the apex, and the outer margin only of the second feather white.   New Hebrides (Aneiteum)." (G. Gray 1860) (subsp. Petroica pusilla).
● "5. S. similis, Nob.  ...   differt a Tanagra magna, Gmel., Saltatore olivaceo, Vieillot, t. 4, p. 108, cui affinis tergo caudaque non viridibus, vitta superciliari post oculum ad nucham protensa, in Tanagra magna, ante oculari tantummodo juguloque non ferrugineo." (de La Fresnaye & d'Orbigny 1837) (Saltator).  

Green-winged Saltator (ochraceiventris)
Latin Name: Saltator similis ochraceiventris
ochraceiventer / ochraceiventris
Mod. L. ochraceus  ochraceous  < L. ochra  ochre  < Gr. ωχρα ōkhra  yellow ochre; L. venter, ventris  belly.