Cape Robin-Chat

SCI Name:  Cossypha caffra
Protonym:  Motacilla caffra MantissaPlant. p.527
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Cossypha
Taxonomy Code:  carcha1
Type Locality:  Cape of Good Hope.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1771
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

COSSYPHA
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Chorister Robin Chat C. dichroa) Gr. κοσσυφος kossuphos  thrush; "III. FAM. MERULIDÆ.  ...  ****[Subfam.] Cossyphina.  Cossypha.†—Timalia.   ...   † I take this opportunity of characterizing one of the many forms that enter into the present subdivision of the family, for the purpose of pointing out the mode by which the Thrushes gradually pass into the Warblers.   COSSYPHA.  Rostrum mediocre, subgracile, culmine leviter arcuato; naribus basalibus, ovalibus, longitudinalibus. Alæ mediocres, rotundatæ: remige 1ma brevissima, 5ta longissima, 4ta 3tia et 2da paulatim brevioribus; 4tae 5tae et 6tae pogoniis externis leviter prope medium emarginatis.  Pedes subgracilis: tarsis scutellatis, paratarsiis integris. Cauda mediocris, rotundata.  Typus genericus. Turdus vociferans. Swains." (Vigors 1825); "Cossypha Vigors, 1825, Zool. Journ., 2, p. 396. Type, by original designation, Turdus vociferans Swainson = Muscicapa dichroa Gmelin." (Ripley in Peters, 1964, X, p. 50).
Var. Cassypha, Cossipha, Gossypha.
Synon. Caffrornis, Hyloaedon, Marisca.

cafer / caffer / caffra
Mod. L. Caffra or Caffer  South African  < Caffraria  Kaffirland  = South Africa (from the terms Kaffir, Caffre, or Caffer applied to certain indigenous peoples of that country  < Arabic kafir  infidel).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (= Tahiti) (Acrocephalus).
● Caffraria; ex “Caffre” of Levaillant 1796, pl. 6, and Falco vulturinus Daudin, 1800 (?syn. Aquila verreauxii).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Bay of Good Hope, Nootka Sound, Canada) (Colaptes).
● "57. MEROPS.  ...  cafer.  4. M. griseus, ani regione flava, cauda longissima.  Habitat in Æthiopia.  Inter pulchre delineatos icones animalium ultra 150, quas misit amicissimus J. Burmannus, visa est." (Linnaeus 1758) (Promerops).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Ceylon); ex “Merle hupé du Cap de Bonne Espérance” of Brisson 1760 (Pycnonotus).
● Caffraria; ex “Promépic” of Levaillant 1806 (syn. Trachyphonus vaillantii).
● "49. CORACIAS.  ...  caffra.  2. C. cærulea, remigibus margine exteriore luteis.  Habitat in Æthiopia. J. Burmannus.  Femina cærulescente-nigra est." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.; nom. dub.).

SUBSPECIES

Cape Robin-Chat (iolaema)
SCI Name: Cossypha caffra iolaema
iolaema / iolaemus / iolaima / iolaimus
Gr. ιον ion  violet; λαιμος laimos  throat.

Cape Robin-Chat (kivuensis)
SCI Name: Cossypha caffra kivuensis
kivuense / kivuensis
Kivu Volcanoes, Kivu Province, Belgian Congo / DR Congo.

Cape Robin-Chat (namaquensis)
SCI Name: Cossypha caffra namaquensis
namaqua / namaquensis / namaquus
Namaqualand, Namibia.
● ex “Namaqua Grous” of Latham 1783 (Pterocles).

Cape Robin-Chat (caffra)
SCI Name: Cossypha caffra caffra
cafer / caffer / caffra
Mod. L. Caffra or Caffer  South African  < Caffraria  Kaffirland  = South Africa (from the terms Kaffir, Caffre, or Caffer applied to certain indigenous peoples of that country  < Arabic kafir  infidel).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (= Tahiti) (Acrocephalus).
● Caffraria; ex “Caffre” of Levaillant 1796, pl. 6, and Falco vulturinus Daudin, 1800 (?syn. Aquila verreauxii).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Bay of Good Hope, Nootka Sound, Canada) (Colaptes).
● "57. MEROPS.  ...  cafer.  4. M. griseus, ani regione flava, cauda longissima.  Habitat in Æthiopia.  Inter pulchre delineatos icones animalium ultra 150, quas misit amicissimus J. Burmannus, visa est." (Linnaeus 1758) (Promerops).
● Erroneous TL. Cape of Good Hope (= Ceylon); ex “Merle hupé du Cap de Bonne Espérance” of Brisson 1760 (Pycnonotus).
● Caffraria; ex “Promépic” of Levaillant 1806 (syn. Trachyphonus vaillantii).
● "49. CORACIAS.  ...  caffra.  2. C. cærulea, remigibus margine exteriore luteis.  Habitat in Æthiopia. J. Burmannus.  Femina cærulescente-nigra est." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.; nom. dub.).