Fork-tailed Woodnymph

SCI Name:  Thalurania furcata
Protonym:  Trochilus furcatus Syst.Nat. 1 pt1 p.486
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Trochilidae / Thalurania
Taxonomy Code:  fotwoo1
Type Locality:  Jamaica, Brazil and Cayenne = Cayenne.
Author:  Gmelin, JF
Publish Year:  1788
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

THALURANIA
(Trochilidae; Ϯ Fork-tailed Woodnymph T. furcata) Gr. θαλος thalos  child, scion (cf. θαλια thalia  happiness, abundance  < θαλλω thallō  to flourish); ουρανος ouranos  heaven (cf. ουρανιος ouranios  heavenly, sky-blue); "Genus THALURANIA.   Gen. char.— Rostrum capite longius, deorsum curvatum, et paululum apud basin depressum.  Alæ breves, debiles.  Cauda mediocris, furcata.  Tarsi plumis induti, parvis, mollibus.  Hallux cum ungue, digito intermedio cum ungue brevior.    ...   Types, Trochilus furcatus, nigro-fasciatus, Watertonii, &c.   THALURANIA VIRIDIPECTUS (n. sp.)." (Gould 1848); "Thalurania Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 16, 1848, p. 13. Type, by subsequent designation, Trochilus furcatus Gmelin. (G. R. Gray, Cat. Gen. Subgen. Bds., 1855, p. 21.)" (Peters 1945, V, 44).
Var. Thalucania, Thalucrania, Thaluronia, Tholucania.
Synon. Chlorostola, Chlorurania, Glaucopis.    

furcata
Med. L. furcatus  forked  < L. furca  two-pronged fork  < ferre  to tend.
● ex “Mellisuga Jamaicensis violacea cauda bifurca” of Brisson 1760, “Oiseau-mouche violet à queue fourchue” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Lesser fork-tailed Humming-bird” of Latham 1782 (Thalurania).

SUBSPECIES

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (refulgens)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata refulgens
refulgens
L. refulgens, refulgentis  glittering  < refulgere  to glitter.

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (furcata)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata furcata
furcata
Med. L. furcatus  forked  < L. furca  two-pronged fork  < ferre  to tend.
● ex “Mellisuga Jamaicensis violacea cauda bifurca” of Brisson 1760, “Oiseau-mouche violet à queue fourchue” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Lesser fork-tailed Humming-bird” of Latham 1782 (Thalurania).

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (fissilis)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata fissilis
fissilis
L. fissilis split < findere to split.

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (nigrofasciata)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata nigrofasciata
nigrofasciata / nigrofasciatus
L. niger  black; Late L. fasciatus  banded  < L. fascia  band, girdle.

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (viridipectus)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata viridipectus
viridipectus
L. viridis  green  < virere  to be green; pectus, pectoris  breast.

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (jelskii)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata jelskii
jelskii
Konstanty Roman Jelski (1837-1896) Polish zoologist, explorer and collector in Cayenne and Peru 1865-1879, Curator of Kraków Mus. 1879-1896 (syn. Anabacerthia striaticollis montana, syn. Empidonomus varius rufinus, Iridosornis, syn. Metallura phoebe, subsp. Picumnus dorbignyanus, Silvicultrix, syn. Spodiornis rusticus, subsp. Thalurania furcata, subsp. Upucerthia validirostris).

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (simoni)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata simoni
simoni
● Eugène Louis Simon (1848-1924) French ornithologist, hummingbird specialist (syn. Cotinga nattererii, subsp. Eupetomena macroura, Heliangelus exortis x Haplophaedia aureliae, subsp. Selasphorus flammula, Synallaxis, subsp. Thalurania furcata).
● Brig.-Gen. Simon Joseph Fraser 14^th Baron Lovat and 41^st MacShimi (1871-1933) originated cotton-planting in the Sudan, raised Lovat Scouts 1899, first Chairman Forestry Commission 1919 (syn. Dendropicos fuscescens lepidus).

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (balzani)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata balzani
balzani
Prof. Luigi Balzan (1865-1893) Italian zoologist, explorer in Paraguay and Bolivia 1885-1893 (Björn Bergenholtz in litt.) (subsp. Thalurania furcata).

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (furcatoides)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata furcatoides
furcatoides
Specific name Trochilus furcata J. Gmelin, 1788; Gr. -οιδης -oidēs  resembling; "117. THALURANIA FURCATOIDES, Gould.   Thalurania furcatoides, Gould, in text to T. furcata.  Habitat. Para and the lower part of the Amazon.   This bird is very like T. furcata, but is of smaller size, has a much less-forked tail, and the breast ultramarine-blue instead of purplish-blue." (Gould 1861) (subsp. Thalurania furcata).

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (boliviana)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata boliviana
boliviae / boliviana / bolivianum / bolivianus / boliviensis
Bolivia (named after Simón Bolívar (1783-1830) "The Liberator", Venezuelan revolutionary, who helped to expel the Spaniards from their South American empire).

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (baeri)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata baeri
baeri
● Prof. Karl Ernst von Baer Edler von Huthorn (1792-1876) Prussian embryologist, anti-Darwinist, geographer, explorer in Siberia under Russian auspices (Aythya).
● Gustave Adolphe Baer (1838-1918) French natural history dealer, collector in Peru, Chile and Brazil (Asthenes, Leucippus, Paroaria, subsp. Patagioenas plumbea, Poospiza, syn. Syndactyla dimidiata, subsp. Thalurania furcata, syn. Upucerthia ruficaudus).

Fork-tailed Woodnymph (eriphile)
SCI Name: Thalurania furcata eriphile
eriphile
Gr. myth. Eriphyle, who was put to death by her son, Alcmaeon, for betraying her husband and seer Amphiaraus King of Argos, whose death in battle he had foreseen (subsp. Thalurania furcata).