Madagascar Magpie-Robin

SCI Name:  Copsychus albospecularis
Protonym:  Turdus albo-specularis Mag.Zool. 6 cl.2 p.9 pl.64,65
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Copsychus
Taxonomy Code:  mamrob1
Type Locality:  Madagascar ; restricted to Maroantsetra, northeastern Madagascar, by Delacour, 1931, Ois. Rev. Frang. Orn., 1, p. 623.
Author:  Eydoux & Gervais
Publish Year:  1836
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

COPSYCHUS
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Oriental Magpie Robin C. saularis) Gr. κοψυχος kopsukhos or κοψιχος kopsikhos  blackbird; "Gracula Saularis Gmel., Lath., Turdus mindanensis Gmel., Lath., Turdus amoenus Horsf., Lanius musicus Raffl., Lanius Shalaris Vieill. *)   ...   *) Constituo ex hac ave genus distinctum Copsychum (Kοψυχος  merula).  Ad hoc accedunt species: Lanius jocosus (idem qui Lanius Emeria Edw. 4. t. 190. fig. e specimine manco.) — Turdus macrurus (Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. 3. t. 114.) — Turdus melanicterus Vieill. N. D. 20. p. 267. (Le Merle jaune huppé Levaill. l.c. t. 117.)" (Wagler 1827); "Copsychus Wagler, 1827, Syst. Av., note to art. Gracula, p. 306. Type, by subsequent designation (Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, ed. 1, p. 21), Gracula saularis Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters, 1964, X, p. 64).
Var. Copsychum.
Synon. Copsicus, Dahila, Gervaisia, Gryllivora, Polypeira.

albospecularis
L. albus  white; specularis  like a mirror, mirrored  < speculum  mirror  < specere  to look at.

SUBSPECIES

Madagascar Magpie-Robin (Black-bellied)
SCI Name: Copsychus albospecularis albospecularis
albospecularis
L. albus  white; specularis  like a mirror, mirrored  < speculum  mirror  < specere  to look at.

Madagascar Magpie-Robin (White-bellied)
SCI Name: Copsychus albospecularis inexspectatus
inexpecta / inexpectata / inexpectatum / inexpectatus / inexpectus / inexspectata / inexspectatus
L. inexspectatus  unexpected, surprising, unlooked for  < in-  not; exspectatus  awaited, expected  < exspectare  to await.
● “In view of the stability shown by Arremonops conirostris conirostris through a wide area, the appearance of this form so near the type-locality of that race is surprising and inexplicable” (Chapman 1914) (subsp. Arremonops conirostris).
● “It certainly was unexpected to find such a striking and hitherto unknown species on Guadalcanar, and this and the discovery of other new forms on the island shows that the ornithological exploration of Guadalcanar has hitherto been very imperfect” (Hartert 1929) (Guadalcanaria).
● “et necata inexpectatum nobis gaudium dedit novae speciei, ante nunquam visae” (Forster 1844) (Pterodroma).
● "Named both for the unexpected nature of its distribution, being restricted to two provinces of Ghana, and the fact that there are no obvious geographic barriers that separate it from two other members of the genus" (Voelker et al. 2016) (subsp. Stiphrornis erythrothorax).
● “On examining a large series of birdskins collected in the northern parts of Celebes and presented to the Leyden Museum by S. C. I. W. van Musschenbroek, Esq., I was quite astonished to find, that there exists in the Minahassa, beside Strix [= Tyto ] Rosenbergii, another large species of Barn-owl, very different as well from Strix Rosenbergii as from all the other known species” (Schlegel 1879) (Tyto).

Madagascar Magpie-Robin (White-winged)
SCI Name: Copsychus albospecularis pica
PICA
(Corvidae; Ϯ Eurasian Magpie P. pica) L. pica  magpie; "{Plumis basis rostri antrorsum incumbentibus, naresque tegentibus  {Rostro recto; apice deorsum inclinante:  {Rectricibus intermediis multo longioribus . . . . . Pica. Genus 15.   ...   **1. LA PIE.  Pica nigro-violacea; ventre & pennis scapularibus albis; imo dorso griseo; remigibus majoribus interius albis . . . . PICA" (Brisson 1760); based on "Pica" of Gessner 1555, Aldrovandus 1599-1603, and many other authors; "Pica Brisson, 1760, Orn., 1, p. 30. Type, by tautonymy, "Pica" = Pica pica, ibid., 2, p. 35 = Corvus pica Linnaeus." (Blake & Vaurie in Peters 1962, XV, 250). The bold and inquisitive Eurasian Magpie has been accused of decimating local passerine populations, especially in suburban environments.
Var. Rica.
Synon. Cleptes, Melanoleuca, Melanopica.