Green-backed Twinspot

SCI Name:  Mandingoa nitidula
Protonym:  Estrelda nitidula Ibis p.269
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Estrildidae / Mandingoa
Taxonomy Code:  grbtwi1
Type Locality:  Natal.
Author:  Hartlaub
Publish Year:  1865
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MANDINGOA
(Estrildidae; Ϯ Green Twinspot M. nitidula) Mandingo or Mandinka, a people and former kingdom of the Niger and upper Senegal valleys in West Africa; this bird was formerly known as the Green Mandingo or Mandingo Twinspot; "Hypargos harterti Shelley, Bull. B. O. Club, xiv. p. 30 (Dec. 1903 — new name for Lagonosticta nitidula Hartl. 1886.   ...   There is no necessity to reject the name nitidula of 1886, as "Estrelda nitidula" Hartlaub, 1865, is not congeneric with his Lagonosticta nitidula of 1886. This has already been stated by Bannerman, Ibis, 1910, p. 682, but it is not, as Bannerman has it, the "attenuated extremity of the first primary" (more correctly the second!) which separates "Hypargos" from Lagonosticta, but on the contrary the fact that in Hypargos it is not attenuated! The attenuation of the second primary, moreover, is, though very remarkable, not found in all species of Lagonosticta of Shelley and there are intermediate forms. The genera can therefore by no means be grouped as Shelley has done it, and Hypargos and Lagonosticta cannot be separated by the shape of the second primary, and thus Lagonosticta nitidula Hartl. 1886 must remain in the genus Lagonosticta. On the other hand, Estrelda nitidula Hartl. 1865 differs very much by the shortness of its tail! The bill is comparatively large, the first primary minute, the second normal, not attenuated, and very little shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth.  I propose for this species the new generic name:  Mandingoa, gen. nov." (Hartert 1919). 

nitidula / nitidulus
L. nitidulus  somewhat spruce, rather trim  < nitidus  beautiful, brilliant  < nitere  to shine.

Nitidula
(Muscicapidae; syn. Ficedula † Pygmy Blue Flycatcher F. hodgsoni) L. nitidulus  somewhat spruce, rather trim  < nitidus  glittering  < nitere  to shine; "Genus NITIDULA, Jerd. & Blyth.  Resembles Muscicapula, Blyth, but has a slender undepressed bill, like that of Phylloscopus.   NITIDULA CAMPBELLI, Jerd. & Blyth.  Colour bright dark-indigo-blue above, passing to ultramarine on the crown  ...  throat, breast, and belly clear bright ferruginous" (Jerdon & Blyth 1861); "Nitidula Jerdon and Blyth, 1861, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 201. Type, by monotypy, Nitidula campbelli Jerdon and Blyth [= Nemura hodgsoni Moore, 1854]." (Watson in Peters, 1986, XI, p. 355) (see Briania).

SUBSPECIES

Green-backed Twinspot (Orange-breasted)
SCI Name: Mandingoa nitidula schlegeli/virginiae
MANDINGOA
(Estrildidae; Ϯ Green Twinspot M. nitidula) Mandingo or Mandinka, a people and former kingdom of the Niger and upper Senegal valleys in West Africa; this bird was formerly known as the Green Mandingo or Mandingo Twinspot; "Hypargos harterti Shelley, Bull. B. O. Club, xiv. p. 30 (Dec. 1903 — new name for Lagonosticta nitidula Hartl. 1886.   ...   There is no necessity to reject the name nitidula of 1886, as "Estrelda nitidula" Hartlaub, 1865, is not congeneric with his Lagonosticta nitidula of 1886. This has already been stated by Bannerman, Ibis, 1910, p. 682, but it is not, as Bannerman has it, the "attenuated extremity of the first primary" (more correctly the second!) which separates "Hypargos" from Lagonosticta, but on the contrary the fact that in Hypargos it is not attenuated! The attenuation of the second primary, moreover, is, though very remarkable, not found in all species of Lagonosticta of Shelley and there are intermediate forms. The genera can therefore by no means be grouped as Shelley has done it, and Hypargos and Lagonosticta cannot be separated by the shape of the second primary, and thus Lagonosticta nitidula Hartl. 1886 must remain in the genus Lagonosticta. On the other hand, Estrelda nitidula Hartl. 1865 differs very much by the shortness of its tail! The bill is comparatively large, the first primary minute, the second normal, not attenuated, and very little shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth.  I propose for this species the new generic name:  Mandingoa, gen. nov." (Hartert 1919). 

Green-backed Twinspot (Green-breasted)
SCI Name: Mandingoa nitidula nitidula/chubbi
MANDINGOA
(Estrildidae; Ϯ Green Twinspot M. nitidula) Mandingo or Mandinka, a people and former kingdom of the Niger and upper Senegal valleys in West Africa; this bird was formerly known as the Green Mandingo or Mandingo Twinspot; "Hypargos harterti Shelley, Bull. B. O. Club, xiv. p. 30 (Dec. 1903 — new name for Lagonosticta nitidula Hartl. 1886.   ...   There is no necessity to reject the name nitidula of 1886, as "Estrelda nitidula" Hartlaub, 1865, is not congeneric with his Lagonosticta nitidula of 1886. This has already been stated by Bannerman, Ibis, 1910, p. 682, but it is not, as Bannerman has it, the "attenuated extremity of the first primary" (more correctly the second!) which separates "Hypargos" from Lagonosticta, but on the contrary the fact that in Hypargos it is not attenuated! The attenuation of the second primary, moreover, is, though very remarkable, not found in all species of Lagonosticta of Shelley and there are intermediate forms. The genera can therefore by no means be grouped as Shelley has done it, and Hypargos and Lagonosticta cannot be separated by the shape of the second primary, and thus Lagonosticta nitidula Hartl. 1886 must remain in the genus Lagonosticta. On the other hand, Estrelda nitidula Hartl. 1865 differs very much by the shortness of its tail! The bill is comparatively large, the first primary minute, the second normal, not attenuated, and very little shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth.  I propose for this species the new generic name:  Mandingoa, gen. nov." (Hartert 1919).