Blue-headed Bee-eater

SCI Name:  Merops muelleri
Protonym:  Meropiscus Mülleri Proc.Acad.Nat.Sci.Philadelphia 9 p.37
Taxonomy:  Coraciiformes / Meropidae / Merops
Taxonomy Code:  bhbeat2
Type Locality:  Muni River, Gaboon.
Author:  Cassin
Publish Year:  1857
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MEROPS
(Meropidae; Ϯ European Bee-eater M. apiaster) L. merops, meropis  bee-eater  < Gr. μεροψ merops  bee-eater; "57. MEROPS.  Rostrum curvatum, compressum, carinatum.  Lingua apice laciniata.  Digiti infimo articulo coadunati: postico distincto." (Linnaeus 1758); "Merops Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 117. Type, by tautonymy, Merops apiaster Linné (Merops, prebinomial specific name in synonymy)." (Peters 1945, V, 233). Linnaeus's Merops comprised four species (M. Apiaster, M. viridis, M. cinereus, M. cafer).
Synon. Aerops, Apiaster, Archimerops, Blepharomerops, Bombylonax, Coccolarynx, Cosmaerops, Dicreadium, Dicrocercus, Melittias, Melittophagus, Melittophas, Melittotheres, Meropiscus, Micromerops, Patricus, Phlothrus, Spheconax, Sphecophobus, Tachymerops, Tephraerops, Urica.

muelleri
● Salomon Müller (1804-1864) German explorer, ornithologist (syn. Accipiter griseogularis, subsp. Ficedula dumetoria, Heleia, syn. Mulleripicus pulverulentus, subsp. Oriolus flavocinctus, subsp. Phylloscopus castaniceps, subsp. Pitta sordida, subsp. Rhipidura hyperythra (ex Rhipidura rufiventris Müller)).
● Prof. David Heinrich Müller (1846-1912) Austrian orientalist, linguist, explorer in Arabia 1897-1898 (syn. Anthodiaeta metallica).
● Johann Wilhelm Freiherr von Müller (1824-1866) German naturalist, collector in tropical Africa, North America and Mexico, Director of Jardin Zoologique, Bruxelles 1852-1854 (syn. Butastur rufipennis, Merops, syn. Passer euchlorus, syn. Ploceus luteolus).
● Anton Müller (1799-1864) German civil servant, naturalist (syn. Calidris alba, syn. Larus marinus).
● C. Müller (fl. 1910) skinner for Graf von Zedlitz und Trützschler in tropical Africa 1908-1910 (syn. Cichladusa guttata rufipennis, subsp. Ortygospiza atricollis, syn. Tchagra senegalus habessinicus, syn. Uraeginthus cyanocephalus).
● Maj. Müller (d. 1898) explorer in tropical Africa (subsp. Cisticola fulvicapilla, syn. Cisticola lais semifasciatus).
● Lorenz Müller (1868-1953) German herpetologist, collector in Brazil (syn. Cettia cetti sericea, Cranioleuca, subsp. Phaethornis superciliosus).
● Otto Frederik Müller (1730-1784) Danish naturalist (syn. Gavia stellata).
● Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich Freiherr von Mueller (1825–1896) German/Australian botanist, acclimatizer (Lewinia).
● Alfred Müller (d. 1931) German Consul in Palma, Mallorca (syn. Troglodytes troglodytes kabylorum).