Plain-backed Pipit

SCI Name:  Anthus leucophrys
Protonym:  Anthus leucophrys Nouv.Dict.Hist.Nat. 26 p.502
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Motacillidae / Anthus
Taxonomy Code:  plbpip1
Type Locality:  Cape of Good Hope.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1818
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ANTHUS
(Motacillidae; † Meadow Pipit A. pratensis) L. anthus  small bird that inhabited grasslands mentioned by Pliny, not further identified, but probably the Yellow Wagtail  < Gr. ανθος anthos  small, brightly coloured bird mentioned by Aristotle.  In Gr. myth. Anthus, son of Antinous and Hippodamia, was killed by his father’s horses and metamorphosed into a bird which imitated the neighing of horses but fled at their sight; "47. Pieper. Anthus.  Ich rechne zu dieser neuen Gattung vier Arten.   ...   Das was Frisch in der Naturgeschichte von No. III. von der Greuthlerche erzählt, gehört eigentlich zur Pieplerche (Alauda trivialis), die er Wiesenlerche nennt.  Das aber, was er von der Wiesenlerche No. IV. sagt, paßt nur auf die Brachlerche (Alauda campestris).  Das, was er von felner Pieplerche sagt, hat zwar seine Richtigkeit, allein die Ueberschrift ist falsch, und sollte eigentlich Wiesenlerche (Alauda pratensis) heißen *).  ...  *) Diese Vögel, nämlich die Brach- Piep- und Wiesenlerche haben zu vielen Irrthümern in den naturhistorischen Schriften Anlaß gegeben. Ich habe mich selbst irre führen lassen. Ich habe daher für dieselben, da sie zu auffallend von den Lerchen abweichen, eine besondere Gattung, die ich Anthus nenne, gebildet.   ...   161. Die Brachlerche oder der Brachpieper. Alauda campestris. L. Taf. 15. Fig. 2. b. (Anthus campestris, mihi." (Bechstein 1805); "Anthus Bechstein, Gemein. Naturg. Deutschl. ii, pp. 247, 302, 1805.  Type by subsequent designation of Mathews (Austral Av. Rec. ii, p. 123, 1918), Alauda campestris.  ...  This genus until recently has been quoted from Bechstein's third volume, p. 704, 1807, and the type designated by Gray in 1840 as A. spinoletta.  Under the earlier citation of Anthus, here quoted, the Water-Pipit is not mentioned, so that it cannot under the Rules be designated as the type of the genus.  The three species which are mentioned by Bechstein are A. campestris, A. trivialis, and A. pratensis.  Sharpe, in Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. x, p. 534, 1885, designated A. trivialis, but did not quote the earlier reference to Bechstein.  Mathews subsequently therefore (Austral Av. Rec. ii, p. 123, 1918) designated A. campestris, which is here accepted as the type." (W. Sclater, 1930, Syst. Av. Aethiop., II, 340); "Anthus Bechstein, 1805, Gemein. Nat. Deutschl., 2, p. 247, 302, 465.  Type, by subsequent designation, Alauda pratensis Linnaeus (Selby, 1825, Illust. Brit. Orn., p. xxix)." (Vaurie in Peters, 1960, IX, p. 144).
Var. Arthur, Artthus.
Synon. Afranthus, Agrodroma, Anomalanthana, Anomalanthus, Austranthus, Caffranthus, Cichlops, Cinaedium, Corydalla, Dendronanthus, Heterura, Leimoniptera, Meganthus, Megistina, Neocorys, Notiocorys, Oreocorys, Pediocorys, Petranthus, Pipastes, Rhabdochlamys, Seiren, Spipola, Xanthocorys.

leucophrys
Gr. λευκοφρυς leukophrus, λευκοφρυος leukophruos  white-browed  < λευκος leukos  white; οφρυς ophrus, οφρυος ophruos  eyebrow.
● ex “Pato ceja blanca” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 442 (Callonetta).
● ex “Grivetin” of Levaillant 1802, pl. 118 (Cercotrichas).

Leucophrys
(syn. Plocepasser Ϯ White-browed Sparrow Weaver P. mahali) Gr. λευκοφρυς leukophrus, λευκοφρυος leukophruos  white-browed  < λευκος leukos  white; οφρυς ophrus, οφρυος ophruos  eyebrow; "Leucophrys, Sw.  Bill unequally conic; the sides not swollen; the tip entire. Nostrils naked, round  ...  L. pileatus. Part 5. No. 199" (Swainson 1837).

SUBSPECIES

Plain-backed Pipit (ansorgei)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys ansorgei
ansorgeanus / ansorgei / ansorgii
Prof. Dr William John Ansorge (1850-1913) British physician in Mauritius, Uganda and Nigeria, zoologist, collector, explorer in tropical Africa (subsp. Acrocephalus rufescens, subsp. Anthoscopus caroli, subsp. Anthus leucophrys, syn. Apalis rufogularis angolensis, syn. Apus caffer, subsp. Calendulauda sabota, syn. Chlorophoneus bocagei, syn. Cinnyris reichenowi, subsp. Cisticola rufilatus, subsp. Criniger barbatus, Dyaphorophyia, syn. Eremomela atricollis, syn. Erythropygia leucophrys munda, subsp. Euplectes gierowii, syn. Euplectes progne delacouri, Eurillas, subsp. Indicator willcocksi, subsp. Lagonosticta rhodopareia, syn. Melaenornis infuscatus benguellensis, syn. Myioparus griseigularis, Nesocharis, syn. Numida meleagris reichenowi, subsp. Ortygospiza atricollis, subsp. Parisoma subcaeruleum, subsp. Parmoptila woodhousei, subsp. Plocepasser mahali, subsp. Prinia flavicans, subsp. Pterocles bicinctus, syn. Sarothrura rufa, subsp. Sylvia abyssinica, syn. Sylvia subcoerulea iohannis, subsp. Sylvietta rufescens, subsp. Tchagra australis, subsp. Treron calvus, subsp. Tricholaema hirsuta, Xenocopsychus).

Plain-backed Pipit (gouldii)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys gouldii
gouldiana / gouldianus / gouldii
John Gould (1804-1881) English publisher, entrepreneur, naturalist, artist (subsp. Anthus leucophrys, subsp. Colluricincla megarhyncha, syn. Gerygone mouki richmondi, syn. Heteralocha acutirostris, syn. Larus novaehollandiae, subsp. Lesbia nuna, Lophornis, syn. Megapodius reinwardt, syn. Megapomatorhinus erythrogenys ferrugilatus, subsp. Melospiza melodia, syn. Neophema chrysogaster, syn. Onychoprion fuscatus, syn. Pedionomus torquatus, subsp. Phonygammus keraudrenii, subsp. Phylidonyris niger (ex Meliphaga mystacalis Gould, 1841), Selenidera, syn. Sericornis frontalis, subsp. Symposiachrus trivirgatus, subsp. Turdus rubrocanus) (see gouldi).

Plain-backed Pipit (zenkeri)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys zenkeri
zenkeri / zenkerianus
Georg August Zenker (1855-1922) German botanist, explorer, collector, settler in the Cameroons 1889-1922 (subsp. Accipiter erythropus, subsp. Agapornis swindernianus, subsp. Anthus leucophrys, syn. Lanius mackinnoni, syn. Macrosphenus concolor, Melignomon, syn. Neocossyphus poensis, syn. Phyllastrephus albigularis, subsp. Sarothrura pulchra, subsp. Smithornis sharpei, syn. Stizorhina finschi, subsp. Tauraco persa).

Plain-backed Pipit (omoensis)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys omoensis
omo / omoensis
Omo River, southwestern Ethiopia.

Plain-backed Pipit (bohndorffi)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys bohndorffi
bohndorffi
Friedrich Bohndorff (?1848-?1895) German interpreter, district administrator in the Sudan, naturalist, collector, explorer in the Sudan and Congo 1876-1884 (subsp. Anthus leucophrys, subsp. Cyanomitra verticalis, Phyllanthus, syn. Ploceus cucullatus, syn. Poicephalus flavifrons, syn. Strix woodfordi nuchalis).

Plain-backed Pipit (saphiroi)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys saphiroi
saphiroi
Photius Philip Constantine Zaphiro (1877-1933) British/Greek diplomat, linguist in Kenya 1904-1911, First Interpreter 1911-1915, Vice-Consul 1915-1921, Oriental Secretary 1921-1933 at the British Legation, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (subsp. Anthus leucophrys).

Plain-backed Pipit (goodsoni)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys goodsoni
goodsoni
Arthur Thomas Goodson (1873-1931) assistant ornithologist at Tring Mus. 1893-1931 (subsp. Anthus leucophrys, subsp. Colluricincla megarhyncha, subsp. Cyanoderma ruficeps, syn. Eclectus roratus solomonensis, subsp. Edolisoma melas, subsp. Hypotaenidia philippensis, subsp. Macropygia mackinlayi, subsp. Pachycephala pectoralis, Patagioenas, Phylloscopus, syn. Sericornis rufescens, syn. Stachyris leucotis obscurata, subsp. Tangara aurulenta, syn. Treron aromaticus).

Plain-backed Pipit (tephridorsus)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys tephridorsus
tephridorsus
Gr. τεφρα tephra  ashes; L. dorsum  back.

Plain-backed Pipit (leucophrys)
SCI Name: Anthus leucophrys leucophrys
leucophrys
Gr. λευκοφρυς leukophrus, λευκοφρυος leukophruos  white-browed  < λευκος leukos  white; οφρυς ophrus, οφρυος ophruos  eyebrow.
● ex “Pato ceja blanca” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 442 (Callonetta).
● ex “Grivetin” of Levaillant 1802, pl. 118 (Cercotrichas).