Gurney's Sugarbird

SCI Name:  Promerops gurneyi
Protonym:  Promerops gurneyi Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt1 p.135 pl.8
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Promeropidae / Promerops
Taxonomy Code:  gursug1
Type Locality:  Natal, South Africa.
Author:  Verreaux, J
Publish Year:  1871
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

PROMEROPS
(Promeropidae; Ϯ Cape Sugarbird P. cafer) Gr. προ pro  close to, similar; genus Merops Linnaeus, 1758, bee-eater; "Rostro gracili, parum arcuato:  ...  Capite simplici......Promerops. Genus 28. Sectio II.   ...   XXVIII. Le genre du Promérops.(¹)  Genus Promeropis  ...  Le bec menu, & un peu courbé en arc   ...   1. LE PROMÉROPS.  ...    On le trouve au Cap de Bonne Espérance, d'où il a été envoyé à M. le Comte de Bentinck qui en a fait présent à M. de Reaumur.   ...   2. LE PROMÉROPS DU MEXIQUE.  ...  Avis, Ani, Mexicana, cauda longissima. Seb.   ...   3. LE PROMÉROPS HUPÉ DES INDES.  ...  Upupa Manucodiata. Klein.   ...   4. LE PROMÉROPS DES BARBADES.  ...  Rhyndace. Moehr.   ...   5. LE PROMÉROPS JAUNE DU MEXIQUE.  ...  Cochitototl, seu Avis florida. Fern.    ...    (¹) Promérops, nom que M. de Reaumur a donné à ce genre d'Oiseaux." (Brisson 1760); "Promerops Brisson, 1760, Ornithologia, 1, p. 34; 2, p. 460. Type, by tautonymy, "Le Promérops" Brisson = Merops cafer Linnaeus." (Salomonsen in Peters 1967, XII, 449). Formerly an otherwise unrelated assortment of curve-billed birds was included here (e.g. hoopoe, wood-hoopoes, riflebirds, scimitarbills, honeyeaters, thrashers). The affinities of the curve-billed sugarbirds are unclear; they could have no close relatives, although the Modulatricidae may possibly belong here, and I was struck by the resemblance of immature Cape Sugarbirds to certain meliphagids.
Synon. Falcinellus, Pseudomerops, Ptiloturus.

promerops
Gr. προ pro close to, similar; genus Merops Linnaeus, 1758, bee-eater.
● ex “Promerops superne fuscus, inferne albus, pectore rufescente” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Promerops cafer).

gurneyi
John Henry Gurney, Sr. (1819-1890) English banker, MP, ornithologist specialising in raptors, founder member of BOU (syn. Accipiter brevipes, syn. Anaplectes rubriceps, Aquila, subsp. Aviceda subcristata, syn. Falco cherrug milvipes, Geokichla, Hydrornis, Mimizuku, syn. Pernis ptilorhynchus ruficollis, syn. Podiceps nigricollis, Promerops).

SUBSPECIES

Gurney's Sugarbird (ardens)
SCI Name: Promerops gurneyi ardens
ardens
L. ardens, ardentis  burning, glowing  < ardere  to burn.
● ex “Veuve à poitrine rouge du Cap de Bonne Espérance” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 647, and “Veuve en feu” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Euplectes).

Gurney's Sugarbird (gurneyi)
SCI Name: Promerops gurneyi gurneyi
gurneyi
John Henry Gurney, Sr. (1819-1890) English banker, MP, ornithologist specialising in raptors, founder member of BOU (syn. Accipiter brevipes, syn. Anaplectes rubriceps, Aquila, subsp. Aviceda subcristata, syn. Falco cherrug milvipes, Geokichla, Hydrornis, Mimizuku, syn. Pernis ptilorhynchus ruficollis, syn. Podiceps nigricollis, Promerops).