Common Redpoll

SCI Name:  Acanthis flammea
Protonym:  Fringilla flammea Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.182
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Fringillidae / Acanthis
Taxonomy Code:  comred
Type Locality:  Europe; restricted to Norrland, Sweden, by Hartert, 1903, Vogel pal. Fauna, p. 77.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

ACANTHIS
(Fringillidae; Ϯ Redpoll A. flammea) L. acanthis  small bird, probably a finch  < Gr. ακανθις akanthis  small unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle and other authors, probably the Common Linnet. In ornithology usually identified with some sort of finch (cf. myth. Acanthis, daughter of Autonous, was metamorphosed into a type of finch. Her brother, Acanthus, was changed into an unidentified bird); "XIX. Gattung, Zeisig, Acanthis.  Schnabel kegelförmig, von benden Seiten zusammengedrückt und scharf zugespitzt.  Die Vögel dieser Gattung (die in Deutschland einheimischen wenigstens) nähren sich bloß von Sämerenen, und füttern ihre Jungen aus dem Kropfe." (Borkhausen 1797 (where no fewer than twenty-nine species and varieties are listed)); "Acanthis Borkhausen, 1797, Deutsche Fauna, 1, p. 248. Type, by subsequent designation (Stejneger, 1884, Auk, 1, p. 145), Fringilla linaria Linnaeus = Fringilla flammea Linnaeus." (Howell & Paynter in Peters 1968, XIV, 250). Recent genetic work has shown that the various Holarctic Redpolls formerly treated as distinct species (e.g. flammea, cabaret, hornemanni) are too closely related to be so considered, representing but arbitrary divisions of a continuum of morphological characters. Doubtless, in the fullness of time, further research will reveal that such divisions are evidence of on-going speciation and that they should be separated again.
Var. Acanthys.
Synon. Aegiothus, Cannabis, Linacanthis, Rubricapilla.
● (Fringillidae; syn. Linaria Ϯ Twite L. flavirostris) "Arktischer Fink (F. flavirostris, Linn.)  ...  Mit einem dünnern, an den Seiten etwas zusammengedrückten, und scharf und lang zugespitzten Schnabel. Die Nahrung besteht aus bloßen öhligen Sämereyen.  (Acanthis)" (Bechstein 1802); "Acanthis J. M. Bechstein, Ornith. Taschenbuch Deutschland, Erster Theil, 1802, 125. Type by monotypy: Fringilla flavirostris Linn." (Richmond Index). 
● ("syn. Spinus") see Acanthilis 

flammea
L. flammeus  flammulated, flame-coloured, fiery-red  < flamma  flame  < flagrare  to burn.
● "98. FRINGILLA.  ...  flammea.  20. F. fusca, crista flammea. Faun. svec. 201.  Linaria s. Luteola nigra. Klein. av. 93.  Habitat in Europa." (Linnaeus 1758) (Acanthis).
● ex “Aluco minor” of Willughby 1676, “Noctua guttata” of Frisch 1733, and Linnaeus 1746. “The name “flammea” first appears in the 12^th edition of Linnaeus, and the description given by him certainly refers to the Barn-Owl and not to the Tawny Owl or Short-eared Owl, although the first reference - to no. 73 of the ‘Fauna Suecica’ - appears to refer to another bird, perhaps one of the two last-named. Linnaeus’s name Strix flammea is, however, invalidated by the use of the same name by Pontoppidan [1763] ...for the Short-eared Owl ...The Committee have decided that this is a case where the old and well-known name of “flammea” may well be conserved for the Barn-Owl and not transferred to the Short-eared Owl, as would be the case if the international rules of priority were followed out” (BOU 1915) (syn. Tyto alba).

Flammea
(Tytonidae; syn. Tyto † Common Barn Owl T. alba) Specific name Strix flammea Linnaeus, 1766 (= syn. Tyto alba); "EFFRAIE: Flammea.  ...  EFFRAIE COMMUNE: Flammea vulgaris.  Strix flammea. (Lin.)  L'EFFRAIE OU FRESAIE. (Buff.) Buff. Enl. pl. 440.  ...  C'est elle que le vulgaire regarde plus spécialement comme un oiseau de mauvais augure" (Fournel 1836) ("Effraie est en liaison avec orfraie (XVe siècle)  ...  Chez Belon, en 1555, on trouve fresaye, dérivé du latin praesago (prévoir, présager, avec la connotation de mauvais augure)" (Cabard & Chauvet 2003)); “Aluco is preoccupied by Aluco Link, 1807, for a genus of Mollusca, and Tyto by Tyta of the same author eight years earlier. We have therefore to fall back on Flammea here adopted.” (BOU 1915); "Flammea Fournel, Faune de la Moselle, p. 101, 1836.  Type (by monotypy): Flammea vulgaris = Strix alba Scopoli." (Mathews, 1927, Syst. Av. Austral., I, p. 278).

SUBSPECIES

Common Redpoll (flammea)
SCI Name: Acanthis flammea flammea
flammea
L. flammeus  flammulated, flame-coloured, fiery-red  < flamma  flame  < flagrare  to burn.
● "98. FRINGILLA.  ...  flammea.  20. F. fusca, crista flammea. Faun. svec. 201.  Linaria s. Luteola nigra. Klein. av. 93.  Habitat in Europa." (Linnaeus 1758) (Acanthis).
● ex “Aluco minor” of Willughby 1676, “Noctua guttata” of Frisch 1733, and Linnaeus 1746. “The name “flammea” first appears in the 12^th edition of Linnaeus, and the description given by him certainly refers to the Barn-Owl and not to the Tawny Owl or Short-eared Owl, although the first reference - to no. 73 of the ‘Fauna Suecica’ - appears to refer to another bird, perhaps one of the two last-named. Linnaeus’s name Strix flammea is, however, invalidated by the use of the same name by Pontoppidan [1763] ...for the Short-eared Owl ...The Committee have decided that this is a case where the old and well-known name of “flammea” may well be conserved for the Barn-Owl and not transferred to the Short-eared Owl, as would be the case if the international rules of priority were followed out” (BOU 1915) (syn. Tyto alba).

Common Redpoll (rostrata/islandica)
SCI Name: Acanthis flammea rostrata/islandica
ACANTHIS
(Fringillidae; Ϯ Redpoll A. flammea) L. acanthis  small bird, probably a finch  < Gr. ακανθις akanthis  small unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle and other authors, probably the Common Linnet. In ornithology usually identified with some sort of finch (cf. myth. Acanthis, daughter of Autonous, was metamorphosed into a type of finch. Her brother, Acanthus, was changed into an unidentified bird); "XIX. Gattung, Zeisig, Acanthis.  Schnabel kegelförmig, von benden Seiten zusammengedrückt und scharf zugespitzt.  Die Vögel dieser Gattung (die in Deutschland einheimischen wenigstens) nähren sich bloß von Sämerenen, und füttern ihre Jungen aus dem Kropfe." (Borkhausen 1797 (where no fewer than twenty-nine species and varieties are listed)); "Acanthis Borkhausen, 1797, Deutsche Fauna, 1, p. 248. Type, by subsequent designation (Stejneger, 1884, Auk, 1, p. 145), Fringilla linaria Linnaeus = Fringilla flammea Linnaeus." (Howell & Paynter in Peters 1968, XIV, 250). Recent genetic work has shown that the various Holarctic Redpolls formerly treated as distinct species (e.g. flammea, cabaret, hornemanni) are too closely related to be so considered, representing but arbitrary divisions of a continuum of morphological characters. Doubtless, in the fullness of time, further research will reveal that such divisions are evidence of on-going speciation and that they should be separated again.
Var. Acanthys.
Synon. Aegiothus, Cannabis, Linacanthis, Rubricapilla.
● (Fringillidae; syn. Linaria Ϯ Twite L. flavirostris) "Arktischer Fink (F. flavirostris, Linn.)  ...  Mit einem dünnern, an den Seiten etwas zusammengedrückten, und scharf und lang zugespitzten Schnabel. Die Nahrung besteht aus bloßen öhligen Sämereyen.  (Acanthis)" (Bechstein 1802); "Acanthis J. M. Bechstein, Ornith. Taschenbuch Deutschland, Erster Theil, 1802, 125. Type by monotypy: Fringilla flavirostris Linn." (Richmond Index). 
● ("syn. Spinus") see Acanthilis