Melanocharis Versteri Bird

English Name:  Fan-tailed Berrypecker
Latin Name:  Melanocharis versteri
Protonym:  Pristorhamphus versteri Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1875) (1875), Pt4 p.642
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Melanocharitidae / Melanocharis
Taxonomy Code:  fatber1
Type Locality:  Arf ak Mountains, New Guinea.
Author:  Finsch
Publish Year:  1876
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MELANOCHARIS
(Melanocharitidae; Ϯ Black Berrypecker M. nigra) Gr. μελας melas, μελανος melanos  black; χαρις kharis, χαριτος kharitos  beauty  < χαιρω khairō  to rejoice; "Melanocharis nigra, Less., sp.  Dicæum nigrum, Less. Voy. Coq. i. p. 673; Cent. Zool. pl. 27; Müll. Verh. Ethn. p. 162.  Havre Dorey (Less.); Lobo (Müll.)  Mus. Lugd.   Müller and Schlegel say this bird is not a Dicæum, but a Muscicapine, allied to Boie's genus Hylocharis (since changed to Hyloterpe). It does not seem to me to be referable to either of these genera, but, as far as external appearances go, to be more nearly akin to Dicæum than Hyloterpe.  I have therefore used for it the new generic term Melanocharis (μελας, niger, et χαρις, gratia)." (P. Sclater 1858); "Melanocharis Sclater, 1858, Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. London, Zool., 2, p. 157. Type, by monotypy, Dicaeum niger Lesson." (Salomonsen in Peters 1967, XII, 167).
Var. Merlanocharis.
Synon. Neneba, Pristorhamphus, Sarganura, Urocharis.

versteri
Florentius Abraham Verster van Wulverhorst (1826-1923) Dutch zoologist, Administrator of Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden 1860-1920 (Melanocharis, subsp. Poicephalus senegalus).

SUBSPECIES

Fan-tailed Berrypecker (versteri)
Latin Name: Melanocharis versteri versteri
versteri
Florentius Abraham Verster van Wulverhorst (1826-1923) Dutch zoologist, Administrator of Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden 1860-1920 (Melanocharis, subsp. Poicephalus senegalus).

Fan-tailed Berrypecker (meeki)
Latin Name: Melanocharis versteri meeki
meeki / meekiana
Albert Stewart Meek (1871-1943) English explorer, collector in New Guinea, Melanesia and Australia (syn. Amaurornis cinerea, subsp. Cacomantis flabelliformis, syn. Caprimulgus macrurus schlegelii, Ceyx, Charmosyna, syn. Coracina papuensis angustifrons, Corvus, subsp. Dicrurus bracteatus, subsp. Edolisoma melas, Erythropitta, subsp. Loriculus aurantiifrons, subsp. Macropygia amboinensis, subsp. Melanocharis versteri, subsp. Melanorectes nigrescens, ‡Microgoura, Micropsitta, syn. Myzomela obscura fumata, Ninox, subsp. Oedistoma pygmaeum, subsp. Pachycephala leucogastra, subsp. Parotia carolae, subsp. Podargus ocellatus, syn. Psittaculirostris desmarestii godmani, Ptiloprora, subsp. Sericornis papuensis, subsp. Syma torotoro, subsp. Symposiachrus browni, subsp. Tyto alba, Zosterops).

Fan-tailed Berrypecker (virago)
Latin Name: Melanocharis versteri virago
virago
L. virago, viraginis  heroine, female warrior  < virgo, virginis  maiden.

Fan-tailed Berrypecker (maculiceps)
Latin Name: Melanocharis versteri maculiceps
maculiceps
L. macula  spot; -ceps  -headed  < caput, capitis  head.