Masked Finfoot

SCI Name:  Heliopais personatus
Protonym:  Podica personata Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1848) (1848), Pt16 no.186 p.90 pl.4
Taxonomy:  Gruiformes / Heliornithidae / Heliopais
Taxonomy Code:  masfin3
Type Locality:  Malacca.
Author:  Gray, GR
Publish Year:  1849
IUCN Status:  Endangered

DEFINITIONS

HELIOPAIS
(Heliornithidae; Ϯ Masked Finfoot H. personatus) Genus Heliornis Bonnaterre, 1791, sungrebe; Gr. παις pais, παιδος paidos  child; "A communication from Dr. BOWDLER SHARPE referred to the distribution of the Fin-feet (Heliornithidæ). He pointed out that hitherto the Burmese Podica personata had been considered to be congeneric with Podica senegalensis of Africa. Dr. Sharpe showed, however, that its affinities lay with the American Heliornis fulica, which had the same-shaped bill and wings and the same soft tail, very different from the stiff-ribbed rectrices of P. senegalensis. The webbing of the toes was different in the two genera, and Dr. Sharpe proposed for the Burmese species the new generic name of  HELIOPAIS, gen. n.   H. similis 'Heliornis' dicto, sed digitis tantum ad basin palmatis nec flavo fasciatis distinguendus.  Typus. Podica personata, Gray." (Sharpe 1893); "Heliopais Sharpe, 1893, Bull. British Ornith. Club, I (VII), p. xxxvii.  Type, by original designation, Podica personata G. Gray, 1849." (JAJ 2021).

personata / personatus
L. personatus  masked  < persona  mask.
● ex “Perroquet Geoffroy” of Levaillant 1805 (syn. Geoffroyus geoffroyi).
● ex “Chouette à Masque Noir” of Levaillant 1799, pl. 44 (syn. Pulsatrix perspicillata).