Cinereous Antshrike

SCI Name:  Thamnomanes caesius
Protonym:  Muscicapa caesia Pl.Col. livr.3 pl.17 fig.1,2
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Thamnophilidae / Thamnomanes
Taxonomy Code:  cinant1
Type Locality:  Brazil and Guiana, i.e. State of Baia.
Author:  Temminck
Publish Year:  1820
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

THAMNOMANES
(Thamnophilidae; Ϯ Cinereous Antshrike T. caesius) Gr. θαμνος thamnos  bush; -μανης -manēs  passionately fond of   < μανια mania  passion  < μαινομαι mainomai  to rage; "Gen. Thamnomanes n. gen.  (θαμνομανης, Gebüsch liebend, wie ὑλομανης Wälder liebend).  Der Schnabel ist stärker und breiter als bei der vorhergehenden Gattung [Ellipura]; Schwanz kürzer als die Flügel, stufig und aus 12 Federn bestehend; Füsse kürzer, äussere Zehe mehr verwachsen. Gefieder einfacher gefärbte und ohne weisse Flecke.   1. Th. caesius.  Lanius caesius Licht. Doubl. p. 46. No. 468.  Muscicapa caesia Pr. Max. Temm. pl. col. 17. Fig. 1. 2.— id. Pr. Max. Beitr. III. p. 826.  Vaterland: Brasilien.    2. Th. glaucus.  ...  Vaterland: Cayenne." (Cabanis 1847); "Thamnomanes Cabanis, Arch. Naturg., 13, 1847, Band 1, p. 230. Type, by subsequent designation, Muscicapa caesia "Licht." i.e. Temminck (G. R. Gray, Cat. Gen. Subgen. Bds., 1855, p. 53)." (Peters 1951, VII, 187).

caesium / caesius
L. caesius bluish-grey (can also mean grey-eyed).

SUBSPECIES

Cinereous Antshrike (glaucus)
SCI Name: Thamnomanes caesius glaucus
glaucus
L. glaucus  glaucous, bluish-grey, bright, gleaming  < Gr. γλαυκος glaukos  blue-grey, glaucous (cf. Gr. myth, over a dozen persons of this name are referred to in antiquity, e.g. a son of Minos of Crete who was raised from the dead by the sage Polyidus: a fisherman of Boeotia who was metamorphosed into a sea-deity: a son of Sisyphus of Corinth who, having offended Venus, was torn to pieces by his own horses).
● ex “Guacamayo azul” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 273 (‡Anodorhynchus).
● ex “Cormoran glauque” of Hombron & Jacquinot 1845 (syn. Leucocarbo campbelli).

Cinereous Antshrike (persimilis)
SCI Name: Thamnomanes caesius persimilis
persimile / persimilis
L. persimilis, persimile  very like, similar  < per-  very; similis, simile  similar, resembling.
● "Chlorospingus ophthalmicus persimilis subsp. nov.  Description: (MIN, RTM) closely similar to C. o. albifrons Salvin and Godman, 1889: Omiltemi, Guerrero, but slightly darker brown on forehead, crown, nape, and sides of neck; back and rump deeper green, less yellowish; throat and especially malar area deeper, tawnier (less buffy); and chest slightly deeper, duller ochre." (Phillips 1966) (syn. Chlorospingus flavopectus).
● "Mesopicos griseocephalus persimilis nov. subsp.   ♂♀ dem M. g. ruwenzorii Sharpe vom Ruwenzori un den Kivu-See-Vulkanen sehr ähnlich, aber etwas kurzflügeliger.  ♂♀ Fl. 103—108 gegen 108—117 mm bei M. g. ruwenzorii." (Neumann 1933) (subsp. Dendropicos griseocephalus).
● "99.  Glaucidium cuculoides persimile subspec. nov.  ...  Very similar to G. cuculoides cuculoides from India, but with the upper surface distinctly more rufous, especially on the head, back, scapulars and upper wing-coverts.  Otherwise perfectly similar, of the same size and markings." (Hartert 1910) (subsp. Glaucidium cuculoides).
● "These birds are very much like A. p. pendulinus, but smaller, i.e. with shorter wings and tails, while the bills are equally slender and long, or even a little longer.  The chestnut line above the black forehead is exceedingly narrow, sometimes hardly visible, top of head of male in spring pure white. Lesser upper wing-coverts and rump paler, the latter therefore in sharper contrast to the interscapular region.  ...  I name this form Anthoscopus pendulinus persimilis, subsp. nov." (Hartert 1918) (syn. Remiz pendulinus menzbieri).
● "58.  Thamnomanes caesius persimilis subsp. nov.  ...  ♂ ad.  Very much like T. c. hoffmannsi Hellm., of Pará, but differs in the darker blue-grey colour of the plumage; by lacking the white streaks on the throat and ear-coverts, and by having the edge of the wing dark bluish slate-grey (instead of white).  T. c. caesius (Temm.), of Bahia, which agrees in the last two-named characters, is of a much darker, dull blackish slate-grey colour throughout.   ♀ ad.  Indistinguishable from that of T. c. glaucus Cab., but very different from the females of T. c. caesius and T. c. hoffmannsi by having the breast and abdomen deep ferruginous, only the throat and foreneck being brownish mixed with buff." (Hartert 1907) (subsp. Thamnomanes caesius).

Cinereous Antshrike (simillimus)
SCI Name: Thamnomanes caesius simillimus
simillima / simillimum / simillimus
L. simillimus  very similar  < super. similis  similar.
● "Arachnothera simillima, Sp. Nov.  Extremely like A. flavigaster, Eyton, but smaller, somewhat yellower above and below, with a much smaller bill and distinguished at once by the rami of the lower mandible not meeting to form the angle of the gonys till within 0·6 of the point.  ...  This bird may not be new, but I am unable to identify it; and I think it probable that owing to its extreme similarity to the common flavigaster it may hitherto have escaped observation." (Hume 1877) (syn. Arachnothera flavigaster).
● "75. Dicaeum geelvinkianum simillimum subsp. nov.  Extremely similar to D. g. diversum R. & H. (NOV. ZOOL. 1903, p. 215), but differs by the deeper red colour of the crown, breast patch and rump.  ...  It is perhaps risky to describe a form which differs so little, but this form is interesting as standing in between rubrocoronatum and diversum, in having the deep red of the former and the more steel-blue (not purplish) edges of the latter, and its geographical position is equally intermediate." (Hartert 1930) (syn. Dicaeum geelvinkianum).
● "Sp. 134.  Heterophasia simillima, nov. sp.  ...  Simillima H. PICOIDI (Hodgs.) nepalensi, sed paullo minor, subtus pallidior, abdomine et subcaudalibus sordide albidis, et speculo alari albo minore, diversa." (Salvadori 1879) (subsp. Heterophasia picaoides).
● "Rallus torquatus simillimus, subsp. nov.  Description.—Male and female.  Very similar to Rallus torquatus sulcirostris Wallace from Sula Mangoli and Taliaboe, but larger and slightly more rufous and a little darker on the upper parts.  ...  The difference in colour is very slight, and some specimens are scarcely different in this respect.  I would not have given the Peling population a new name were it not an island race." (Neumann 1939) (syn. Hypotaenidia torquata).
● "30b. *Diaphoropterus naevius simillimus nov. Subsp.   Verbreitung: Alle drei Loyalty-Inseln.  ...  ausser dem etwa kürzeren Schwanz mit der caledonischen Form übereinstimmend.  Beim Weibchen, besonders bei dem von Maré, sind die weissen Säume der Primär- und namentlich der Sekundärschwingen wesentlich schmäler als beim caledonischen Vogel, ähnlich die hell rötlichbraunen des Weibchens von Lifou." (F. Sarasin 1913) (subsp. Lalage leucopygus).
● "454. Motacilla flava simillima subsp. nov.  Budytes leucostriatus (non Homeyer!) amerikanischer Ornithologen.   In Kamtschatka brütet eine Schafstelze, die der mitteleuropäischen M. f. flava so ähnlich ist, daß sie schwer zu unterscheiden ist und bisher von europäischen Ornithologen nicht davon unterschieden wurde" (Hartert 1905) (subsp. Motacilla tschutschensis).
● "There also we find a beautiful and apparently very common Pitta, closely assimilating in colour, but in colour alone, to the P. strepitans  ...  Having lately had a great number of specimens forwarded to me which all agree in being of a smaller size and in having the under surface of a deeper buff, I propose, notwithstanding the opinion given in my 'Handbook,' to characterize it as distinct, and at the same time to assign to it a name (simillima) which shall mark its affinity to the older known species.  ...  PITTA SIMILLIMA, Gould." (Gould 1868) (subsp. Pitta versicolor).
● "83.—T. simillimus.—New species.—Neilgherry black bird.   This black bird, generally considered by residents on the Neilgherries to be identical with the European species, so closely resembles it, that I was unable to decide accurately from the descriptions I possess, til I procured some specimens from home of the British bird.  It however differs invariably (besides in other points hereafter to be mentioned) in the colour of its legs, which are always yellow, whilst those of the T. merula are brown" (Jerdon 1839) (Turdus). 

Cinereous Antshrike (hoffmannsi)
SCI Name: Thamnomanes caesius hoffmannsi
hoffmannsi / hoffmansi
Wilhelm Hoffmanns (1865-1909) German collector in Peru 1903 and Brazil 1905-1908 (syn. Crypturellus soui albigularis, Dendrocolaptes, Epinecrophylla, syn. Pipra coronata x, Rhegmatorhina, subsp. Thamnomanes caesius).

Cinereous Antshrike (caesius)
SCI Name: Thamnomanes caesius caesius
caesium / caesius
L. caesius bluish-grey (can also mean grey-eyed).