Egyptian Nightjar / Caprimulgus aegyptius

Egyptian Nightjar / Caprimulgus aegyptius

Egyptian Nightjar

SCI Name:  Caprimulgus aegyptius
Protonym:  Caprimulgus aegyptius Verz.Doubl.Zool.Mus.Berlin p.59
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Caprimulgidae /
Taxonomy Code:  egynig1
Type Locality:  Upper Egypt.
Author:  
Publish Year:  1823
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

CAPRIMULGUS
(Caprimulgidae; Ϯ European Nightjar C. europaeus) L. caprimulgus  nightjar  < capra  nanny-goat  < caper, capri  billy-goat; mulgere  to milk; “Those called goat-suckers  ...  enter the shepherds’ stalls and fly to the goats’ udders in order to suck their milk, which injures the udder and makes it perish, and the goats they have milked in this way gradually go blind” (Pliny X, lvi (ed. Rackham 1983)); this unfounded rustic superstition was for long associated with the European Nightjar; "NIGHT-HAWK (C. popetue). I have noticed, when skinning this bird, that the male, in spring, exhales a strong hircine odor.  If this is common to all birds of the family, it may have added apparent reason to the superstition from which the family name is derived." (Coues 1874); "102. CAPRIMULGUS.  Rostrum incurvum, minimum, subulatum, basi depressum.  Vibrissæ ad os serie ciliari.  Rictus amplissimus.   ...   Caprimulgus genere differt ab Hirundine, uti Strix a Falcone, Phalæna a Papilione." (Linnaeus 1758); "Caprimulgus Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1, 1758, p. 193. Type, by tautonymy, Caprimulgus europaeus Linné (Caprimulgus, pre-binomial specific name in synonymy." (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 196). Linnaeus's Caprimulgus, the final avian genus listed in his historic ground-breaking work, comprised two species (C. europæus, C. americanus). 
Synon. Allasma, Capripeda, Climacurus, Cosmetornis, Creapyga, Crotema, Diaphorasma, Eximiornis, Hypsiphornis, Macrodipteryx, Nyctichelidon, Nycticircus, Nyctitypus, Nyctipornis, Nyctisyrigmus, Nyctivociferator, Phalaenivora, Rossornis, Scotornis, Semeiophorus, Stelidopterus, Vociferator.

caprimulgus
L. caprimulgus  nightjar  < capra  nanny-goat  < caper, capri  billy-goat; mulgere  to milk (cf. Gr. αιγοθηλας aigothēlas  goatsucker).

aegyptius
L. Aegyptius  Egyptian  < Gr. Αιγυπτιος Aiguptios  Egyptian.
● ex “Houhou d’Égypte” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Egyptian Cuckow” of Latham 1782 (subsp. Centropus senegalensis).
● "79. CHARADRIUS.  ...  ægyptius.  5. C. fascia pectorali nigra, superciliis albis, rectricibus apice albis fascia nigra, pedibus cæruleis.  Charadrius ægyptius. Hasselq. iter. 256. n. 31.  Habitat in Ægypti apricis." (Linnaeus 1758) (Pluvianus).

SUBSPECIES

Egyptian Nightjar (saharae)
SCI Name: Caprimulgus aegyptius saharae
saharae / sahari
Sahara Desert  < Arabic sahrā’  desert.

Egyptian Nightjar (aegyptius)
SCI Name: Caprimulgus aegyptius aegyptius
aegyptius
L. Aegyptius  Egyptian  < Gr. Αιγυπτιος Aiguptios  Egyptian.
● ex “Houhou d’Égypte” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Egyptian Cuckow” of Latham 1782 (subsp. Centropus senegalensis).
● "79. CHARADRIUS.  ...  ægyptius.  5. C. fascia pectorali nigra, superciliis albis, rectricibus apice albis fascia nigra, pedibus cæruleis.  Charadrius ægyptius. Hasselq. iter. 256. n. 31.  Habitat in Ægypti apricis." (Linnaeus 1758) (Pluvianus).