Magnificent Riflebird

SCI Name:  Ptiloris magnificus
Protonym:  Falcinellus magnificus Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 28 p.167 pl.G.39 fig.3
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Paradisaeidae / Ptiloris
Taxonomy Code:  magrif3
Type Locality:  'Nouvelle Guinee'', restricted to Dorey, Vogelkop.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1819
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

Ptiloris
(syn. Lophorina Ϯ Paradise Riflebird L. paradisea) Gr. πτιλον ptilon  feather; ῥις rhis, ῥινος rhinos  nostrils; "Genus. PTILORIS. Mihi.  Tribe Tenuirostres.*  Family. Meliphagidæ.  Vigors. Mihi.   GENERIC CHARACTERS.   Rostrum longissimum, compressum, falciforme.  Nares basales, plumosi, paertura lineari.  Tarsi breves.  Hallux validus.  Tarsus halluxque æquales, plantæ planæ, latæ.  Cauda brevis,æqualis.  Alæ rotundatæ.  ...  I shall therefore merely observe, that while this genus seems to open a passage to the next family of Paradiseidæ, it gives a typical representation of that group among the Meliphagidæ.  ...  PTILORIS paradiseus.  ...  In this sex [♂] the nostrils are completely hid by the frontal feathers, which entirely cover the membrane." (Swainson 1825); "Ptiloris Swainson, 1825, Zool. Journ., 1 (4), p. 479. Type, by monotypy, Ptiloris paradiseus Swainson." (Mayr in Peters 1962, XV, 187). Cracraft 1992, recognised five diagnosably distinct species in this genus.   Var. Ptilorbis, Ptilorhis, Ptilorhys.

magnificus
L. magnificus  splendid, magnificent  < magnus  great; facere  to make.
● ex “Magnifique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 631 (Cicinnurus).

SUBSPECIES

Magnificent Riflebird (magnificus)
SCI Name: Ptiloris magnificus magnificus
magnificus
L. magnificus  splendid, magnificent  < magnus  great; facere  to make.
● ex “Magnifique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 631 (Cicinnurus).

Magnificent Riflebird (alberti)
SCI Name: Ptiloris magnificus alberti
alberti
● Capt. Samuel Albert White (1870-1954) Australian Army, explorer, collector, ornithologist (Laurent Raty in litt.) (subsp. Acanthiza lineata). 
● Revd. Fr. Albert Nagnzaun (1777-1856) Benedictine Abbot of St. Peter's Monastery, Salzburg 1818-1856, theologian, naturalist (Jan van der Brugge in litt.) (syn. Anas platyrhynchos).
● Albert Stewart Meek (1871-1943) English explorer, collector in New Guinea, the Solomons and Australia (subsp. Eudynamys orientalis, subsp. Lewinia pectoralis, syn. Pachycephala simplex sudestensis, subsp. Todiramphus chloris, syn. Zosterops rendovae).
● Franz August Karl Albrecht Emanuel Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony (1819-1861), commonly known as Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria (Crax, subsp. Lophorina magnifica, Menura).
● Albert I Leopold Clemens Maria Meinrad King of the Belgians (1875-1934; reigned 1909-1934) (Prionops).
● Friedrich August Albrecht Anton Ferdinand King of Saxony (1828-1902; reigned 1873-1902) (Pteridophora).