Dark-fronted Babbler

SCI Name:  Rhopocichla atriceps
Protonym:  B[rachypteryx]. atriceps MadrasJ.Lit.Sci. 10 p.250
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Timaliidae / Rhopocichla
Taxonomy Code:  dafbab1
Type Locality:  Trichur, Wadakkancheri, Coonoor, and the Wynaad, southwestern India; restricted to the Wynaad, by Whistler, 1935, in Ali and Whistler, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, 38, p. 82.
Author:  Jerdon
Publish Year:  1839
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

RHOPOCICHLA
(Timaliidae; Ϯ Dark-fronted Babbler R. atriceps) Gr. ῥωψ rhōps, ῥωπος rhōpos  bush; κιχλη kikhlē  thrush; "d'. Bill stout and curved; culmen regularly curved from its base; bill deepest at nostrils.  ...  h". Nostrils oval, exposed, pierced in anterior corner of membrane . . . .RHOPOCICHLA, p. 159.   ...   Genus RHOPOCICHLA, n. gen.  I propose this generic term (with R. atriceps as the type) for three birds which have hitherto been included in Alcippe. This genus differs from Alcippe in having the nostrils roundish, exposed, and pierced in the anterior part of the membrane, and in having a much shorter tail when compared with the wing. The eggs of the two genera are also different in colour   ...   166. Rhopocichla atriceps.  The Black-headed Babbler.   ...   Davison remarks that this bird goes about in larger or smaller parties and seems to prefer bamboo and scrub jungle.   ...   167. Rhopocichla nigrifrons.  The Black-fronted Babbler.  ...  Batitchia, Ceyl.   ...   168. Rhopocichla bourdilloni.  Bourdillon's Babbler." (Oates 1889).
● (syn. Rhopornis Ϯ Slender Antbird R. ardesiacus) "Rhopocichla, gen. nov.   ...   Type, Myiothera ardesiaca Wied.  This genus is allied to Pyriglena, but has the bill much more compressed, the tail relatively longer, as also the tarsi, which are not obviously scaled." (Allen 1891).

atriceps
L. ater  black; -ceps  -capped, -headed  < caput, capitis  head.

SUBSPECIES

Dark-fronted Babbler (atriceps)
SCI Name: Rhopocichla atriceps atriceps
atriceps
L. ater  black; -ceps  -capped, -headed  < caput, capitis  head.

Dark-fronted Babbler (bourdilloni)
SCI Name: Rhopocichla atriceps bourdilloni
bourdilloni
Thomas Fulton Bourdillon (1849-1930) Conservator of Forests in Travancore, India 1891-1908 (subsp. Eurostopodus macrotis, subsp. Rhopocichla atriceps, subsp. Turdus simillimus).

Dark-fronted Babbler (siccata)
SCI Name: Rhopocichla atriceps siccata
siccata / siccatus
L. siccatus  dried up, dry  < siccare  to dry up  < siccus  dry.

Dark-fronted Babbler (nigrifrons)
SCI Name: Rhopocichla atriceps nigrifrons
nigrifrons
L. niger  black; frons, frontis  forehead, brow.
● ex “Black-fronted Fly-catcher” of Latham 1783 (unident.).