Peg-billed Finch

SCI Name:  Acanthidops bairdi
Protonym:  Acanthidops bairdii Proc.U.S.Natl.Mus. 4 p.336
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Thraupidae / Acanthidops
Taxonomy Code:  pebfin1
Type Locality:  Volcan de Irazu, Costa Rica.
Author:  Ridgway
Publish Year:  1882
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ACANTHIDOPS
(Thraupidae; Ϯ Peg-billed Finch A. bairdi) Gr. ακανθις akanthis, ακανθιδος akanthidos  small bird, probably a finch  < ακανθα akantha  thorn  < ακη akē  point; ωψ ōps, ωπος ōpos  appearance; "Genus ACANTHIDOPS, nobis.  (Aκανθις, ιδος = Acanthis, and ωψ = facies.)  GEN. CH.—Most nearly related to Automolus, Placellodromus, and allied genera in structure of the feet, &c., but very different in form of bill, and other characters.  Bill about as long as the middle toe, cuneate in all its profiles, somewhat swollen basally, the culmen and lateral outlines decidedly concave in the middle portion; mandibular tomia very strongly inflexed, with a prominent angle near the base, anterior to which the edge is decidedly concave; maxillary tomia with a decided notch near the base, immediately above the mandibular angle; gonys very long (about equal to the exposed portion of the culmen); nostrils exposed, small, longitudinal, occupying less than the lower half of the nasal fossæ.   ...   Type, A. bairdi, sp. nov.   This remarkable genus is so very distinct from any other hitherto described that it is quite difficult to decide where to place it. It evidently belongs, however, to the Synallaxine group, on account of the structure of the feet, but the bill is so widely different from that of any other member of the family ("Dendrocolaptidae") as to suggest certain Fringilline forms, as Carduelis and Chrysomitris. In fact, the bill is so similar in form to that of the genera named that the collector had referred it to the latter genus.   ...   4. Acanthidops bairdi, sp. nov." (Ridgway 1882); "ACANTHIDOPS RIDGWAY ¹   ...  ¹ Close to, and possibly conspecific with, Haplospiza. These genera may be offshoots of Phrygilus." (Paynter in Peters 1970, XIII, 111).

bairdi / bairdii
● Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887) US ornithologist, collector, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (Acanthidops, syn. Buteo swainsoni, Calidris, syn. Calidris melanotos, ‡Campephilus, syn. Coccyzus americanus, syn. Coccyzus euleri, syn. Coereba flaveola bahamensis, syn. Dryobates pubescens, syn. Dryobates scalaris, subsp. Empidonax affinis, Geothlypis, ‡subsp. Icterus leucopteryx, Junco, subsp. Melanerpes formicivorus, syn. Myioborus melanocephalus ruficoronatus, Myiodynastes, Oreomystis, Passerculus, syn. Phalacrocorax pelagicus resplendens, syn. Polioptila albiloris, Prinia, subsp. Sialia mexicana, syn. Sterna paradisaea, syn. Thryomanes bewickii mexicanus, Trogon, Vireo).
● Dr Robert F. Baird (fl. 1996) Australian palaeontologist (‡Centropus).