Pallas's Sandgrouse

SCI Name:  Syrrhaptes paradoxus
Protonym:  Tetrao paradoxa ReiseVersch.Provin.Russ.Reichs 2 p.712
Taxonomy:  Pterocliformes / Pteroclidae / Syrrhaptes
Taxonomy Code:  palsan1
Type Locality:  Southern part of the Tartarian Desert.
Author:  Pallas
Publish Year:  1773
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SYRRHAPTES
(Pteroclidae; Ϯ Pallas's Sandgrouse S. paradoxus) Gr. συρραπτος surrhaptos  sewn together  < συρραπτω surrhaptō  to sew together  < συν sun  together; ῥαπτω rhaptō  to stitch; "GENUS 80. SYRRHAPTES (συρραπτειν consuere) (Fausthuhn Germ.)  Rostrum mediocre, gracilius, rectum compressum? acutum, dertro haud fornicato, culmine in apicem deflexo, mandibulae gonyde oblique ascendente.  Nares plumis tectae?  Caput plumis tectum. Cauda mediocris, rectricibus. . . .  Pedes gradarii, breves, congrui, hirsuti, tridactyli, halluce nullo, digitis obvolutis, solo apice distinctis. Pelma imbricato-scabrum, continuum, antice trilobum. Ungues incurvi, acuti.   Species: Tetrao paradoxus LinGmel." (Illiger 1811); "Syrrhaptes Pallasii. Mihi.  ...  les doigts de cet oiseau sont réunis jusques aux ongles, tandis qu'ils ne le sont qu'à leur base chez les Gangas [Pterocles]" (Temminck 1815); "Syrrhaptes Illiger, Prodromus, 1811, p. 243. Type, by monotypy, Tetrao paradoxus "Lin Gmel." = Pallas." (Peters 1937, III, 3).
Var. Sirrhaptes, Surrhaptes, Syrhaptes, Synaptes.
Synon. Heteroclitus, Nematura, Palaeosyrrhaptes, Przewalskia, Tchangtangia.

paradoxus
Gr. παραδοξος paradoxos strange, incredible, extraordinary.
● “Avis inter Lagopodes et Otides ambigua, multisque momentis anomala et a norma solita aliena. Rostrum tenuis quam Tetraonibus ...Dorsum inter alas et ad caudam usque, ut in Otide, gryseo nigroque squamatum” (Pallas 1773) (Syrrhaptes).
● “It is not to the purpose to follow up the unfortunate series of new names given to Tephras olivaceus Ramsay, but it must be remarked that the use of the name Z. rendovae by Salvadori and many subsequent authors for the bird from Rendova, is incorrect ...it is evident that Zosterops rendovae is a new name for Tephras olivaceus Ramsay, and thus becomes the valid name for the species know known as Zosterops ugiensis (Ramsay), 1882” (Mees 1955) (subsp. Zosterops kulambangrae).