Cameroon Indigobird

SCI Name:  Vidua camerunensis
Protonym:  Hypochera chalybeata camerunensis J.Orn. 70 p.398
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Viduidae / Vidua
Taxonomy Code:  camind1
Type Locality:  between Nola and Mbaiki, southeastern Cameroons [= Oubangui-Chari] .
Author:  Grote
Publish Year:  1922
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

VIDUA
(Viduidae; † Pin-tailed Whydah V. macroura) L. vidua  widow  < viduus  bereaved, widowed (see vidua); "LES VEUVES. (VIDUA. Cuv.)  Sont des oiseaux d'Afrique et des Indes, à bec de linotte, quelquefois un peu plus renflé à sa base, qui se distinguent parce que quelques unes des couvertures supérieures de leur queue sont excessivement allongées dans les mâles (1).   ...   (1) On ne sait pourquoi Linnæus et Gmelin les ont associés aux bruans, sous les noms de emberiza regia (enl. 8, 1) — Emb. serena (ib. 2.) — Emb. paradisea (enl. 194.) — Emb. panayensis (enl. 647.) — Emb. longicauda (enl. 635.)  Si on ne laisse pas les veuves avec les linottes, on ne peut les placer qu'avec les gros becs.   N. B. L'emb. principalis (Edw. 270) et l'emb. vidua (Aldrow. Ornit. II, 565) me paraissent le même oiseau en différens états de plumage. L'emb. psittacea, Seb. I, pl. 66, fig. 5, n'est pas bien authentique. L'angolensis, Salern. Orn. 277; la veuve chrysoptère, Vieill. Ois. ch. pl. 41, et le lox. macroura, enl. 183, 1, qui n'en diffère peut-être pas, ne sont point des veuves, mais des gros becs ordinaires." (Cuvier 1817); "Vidua Cuvier, 1817, Règne Animal, 1, p. 388.  Type, by tautonymy, Emberiza vidua Linnaeus = Fringilla macroura Pallas." (Traylor in Peters, 1968, XIV, p. 394).
Synon. Hypochera, Linura, Steganura, Tetraenura, Videstrelda, Widha.
• (Viduidae; syn. Vidua † Long-tailed Paradise Whydah V. paradisaea) "Vidua, Cuvier.  (fig. 246.)  Bill short.  Wings lengthened; the second, third, and two following quills longest, and of equal length.  Tail boat-shaped: males with the two middle feathers excessively elongated, generally broad and convex.    V. rufitorques. W. Af. i. 174.(c)    erythrorhynchus. Ib. (b)    chrysonotus. W. Af. i. 174.(d)    paradisea. Ib. pl. 11." (Swainson 1837); "Vidua "Cuvier" Swainson, 1837, Nat. Hist. Classification Birds, II, p. 278 (not of Cuvier, 1817).  Type, by subsequent designation (G. Gray, 1855, Cat. Genera Subgenera Birds Brit. Mus., p. 71), Emberiza paradisaea Linnaeus, 1758." (JAJ 2021).

vidua
L. vidua  widow  < viduus  bereaved, widowed (e.g. in mourning, black, veiled).
● ex “Aguimp” or “Lavandière Pie” of Levaillant 1805, pl. 178 (subsp. Motacilla aguimp).
● ex “Petite Veuve” and “Grande Veuve” of Brisson 1760; “is called la Veuve, or Widow Bird, from the colour ... Edwards gives another reason for the name - being a corruption of Whidah, a fort in Africa, in the neighbourhood of which they are common. Whidah Bird, and Widow Bird, are sounds very similar” (Latham 1783). Whydah or Whidah (now Ouidha, Benin), received its European name by a corruption of São João Baptista de Ajudá, a nearby Portuguese fort (syn. Vidua macroura).
● "Unfortunately Mons. Robert sent only one female of this distinct species. Of the allied H. griseiventris also the male is as yet unknown" (Hellmayr 1905) (Willisornis).

cameroonensis / camerunensis / camerunensus
Cameroons, West Africa (German Cameroon (= Kamerun) 1884-1919, when divided into French Cameroun and British Cameroons; upon independence in 1961 southern British Cameroons joined with French Cameroun to become a republic (Cameroun), and northern British Cameroons became a part of Nigeria) (Rio dos Camerões, river of prawns, the name given to the River Wouri by the Portuguese explorer Fernão do Póo in 1492).
● Mt. Cameroon, German Cameroon (subsp. Bradypterus lopesi, Pternistis).
● Between Nola and Mbaiki, French Cameroun (= Ubangi Shari) (Vidua).