Papuan Spinetailed Swift

SCI Name:  Mearnsia novaeguineae
Protonym:  Chaetura novaeguineae Ann.Mus.Civ.Stor.Nat.Genova 14 p.55
Taxonomy:  Caprimulgiformes / Apodidae / Mearnsia
Taxonomy Code:  papnee1
Type Locality:  Fly River, New Guinea.
Author:  D''Albertis & Salvadori
Publish Year:  1879
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MEARNSIA
(Apodidae; Ϯ Philippine Spine-tail Swift M. picina) Lt.-Col. Edgar Alexander Mearns (1858-1916) US Army 1883-1909, surgeon, collector in Mexico 1892-1894, the Philippines 1903-1907, and tropical Africa 1909-1911. "dd. Size smaller (wing less than 170 mm., the wing relatively very long); tenth (outermost) primary distinctly shorter than ninth; distance from tips of longest secondaries to tip of longest primary much more than two-thirds the total length of wing; tail only one-sixth as long as wing, the longest coverts reaching nearly to its tip; no white on under tail-coverts or flanks.  Mearnsia (extralimital).^e   ...   ^eNew genus. Dedicated to Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, U. S. A., not only in recognition of his valuable services to ornithology, but also as a token of the author's high esteem.  (Type, Chætura picina Tweeddale.)" (Ridgway 1911).
Synon. Papuanapus.

novaeguinae / novaeguineae / novaeguineensis
L. novus  new; Mod. L. Guineensis  Guinean  < Guinea  Guinea, West Africa; i.e. New Guinea (first named Nueva Guinea in 1545 by the Spanish explorer Ortíz de Retes, because aborigines in the Mamberano region reminded him of those he had encountered earlier in African Guinea).
● ex “Lori noir de la Nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “Black Lory” of Latham 1781 (syn. Chalcopsitta atra).
● ex “Choucas de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 269, and “New-Guinea Crow” of Latham 1781 (syn. Coracina striata).
● Erroneous TL. New Guinea (= New South Wales); ex “Grand Martin-pêcheur de la Nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1766, “who had received the specimen from Cook’s botanist, Joseph Banks, at Cape Town. Sonnerat had never travelled to either New Guinea or Australia” (Robin 2001) (Dacelo).
● ex “Crabier de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 926, “Crabier noir” of de Buffon 1770-1786, and “New Guinea Heron” of Latham 1785 (syn. Egretta sacra).
● ex “Caille de la nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “New Guinea Quail” of Latham 1783 (unident.).

SUBSPECIES

Papuan Spinetailed Swift (buergersi)
SCI Name: Mearnsia novaeguineae buergersi
buergersi
Prof. Dr Theodor Josef Bürgers (1881-1954) German hygienist, bacteriologist, surgeon-explorer in New Guinea 1912-1913 (Erythrotriorchis, subsp. Geoffroyus simplex, subsp. Mearnsia novaeguineae, subsp. Melanorectes nigrescens, syn. Psittacella brehmii intermixta, subsp. Pteridophora alberti, subsp. Ptilorrhoa castanonota, subsp. Sericornis papuensis).

Papuan Spinetailed Swift (novaeguineae)
SCI Name: Mearnsia novaeguineae novaeguineae
novaeguinae / novaeguineae / novaeguineensis
L. novus  new; Mod. L. Guineensis  Guinean  < Guinea  Guinea, West Africa; i.e. New Guinea (first named Nueva Guinea in 1545 by the Spanish explorer Ortíz de Retes, because aborigines in the Mamberano region reminded him of those he had encountered earlier in African Guinea).
● ex “Lori noir de la Nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “Black Lory” of Latham 1781 (syn. Chalcopsitta atra).
● ex “Choucas de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 269, and “New-Guinea Crow” of Latham 1781 (syn. Coracina striata).
● Erroneous TL. New Guinea (= New South Wales); ex “Grand Martin-pêcheur de la Nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1766, “who had received the specimen from Cook’s botanist, Joseph Banks, at Cape Town. Sonnerat had never travelled to either New Guinea or Australia” (Robin 2001) (Dacelo).
● ex “Crabier de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 926, “Crabier noir” of de Buffon 1770-1786, and “New Guinea Heron” of Latham 1785 (syn. Egretta sacra).
● ex “Caille de la nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “New Guinea Quail” of Latham 1783 (unident.).