Blue Nuthatch

SCI Name:  Sitta azurea
Protonym:  Sitta azurea TraitedOrn. livr.4 p.316
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Sittidae / Sitta
Taxonomy Code:  blunut1
Type Locality:  no type locality; Mt. Ardjuno, eastern Java designated by Robinson and Kloss, 1919, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 40, p. 17.
Author:  Lesson
Publish Year:  1830
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SITTA
(Sittidae; Ϯ Eurasian Nuthatch S. europaea) Late Med. L. sitta (Turner 1544) nuthatch  < Gr. σιττη sittē  bird like a woodpecker mentioned by Aristotle, Callimachus, and Hesychius; "55. SITTA.  Rostrum subcultrato-conicum, rectum, porrectum: integerrimum, mandibula superiore obtusiuscula.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758); "Sitta Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, p. 115. Type, by monotypy, Sitta europaea Linnaeus." (Greenway in Peters 1967, XII, 125). Linnaeus's Sitta comprised a single species.
Var. Sitla, Sida.
Synon. Arctositta, Callisitta, Cyanositta,  Dendrophila, Homositta, Leptositta, Melositta, Mesositta, Micrositta, Oenositta, Orthorynchus, Poecilositta, Poliositta, Rupisitta, Sittella.

azurea
Med. L. azureus azure-coloured, azure-blue  < azura  lapis lazuli.
● ex “Gobe-mouche bleu des Philippines” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 666, fig. 1, and “Petit Azur” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Hypothymis).
● ex “Azurou” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 158 (unident.).

Azuria
(Parulidae; syn. Setophaga † Cerulean Warbler S. cerulea) Med. L. azureus  azure-coloured  < azura  lapis lazuli; "g. Azure Warblers. Azuria  ... Type, Sylvia rara Wilson" (Maynard 1907); "Azuria Maynard, [Directory Bds. East. N. A.], Part 9, p. 238, 1907—type, by orig. desig., Sylvia rara Wilson = Sylvia cerulea Wilson." (Hellmayr, 1935, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. VIII, p. 362).
Var. Azurea.

SUBSPECIES

Blue Nuthatch (expectata)
SCI Name: Sitta azurea expectata
expectata / expectatus
L. exspectatus  awaited, welcome  < exspectare  to hope for  < spectare  to contemplate.

Blue Nuthatch (nigriventer)
SCI Name: Sitta azurea nigriventer
nigriventer / nigriventris
L. niger black; venter, ventris belly.

Blue Nuthatch (azurea)
SCI Name: Sitta azurea azurea
azurea
Med. L. azureus azure-coloured, azure-blue  < azura  lapis lazuli.
● ex “Gobe-mouche bleu des Philippines” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 666, fig. 1, and “Petit Azur” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Hypothymis).
● ex “Azurou” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 158 (unident.).