Puna Tapaculo

SCI Name:  Scytalopus simonsi
Protonym:  Scytalopus simonsi Bull.Br.Orn.Club 38 p.17
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Rhinocryptidae / Scytalopus
Taxonomy Code:  puntap1
Type Locality:  Choquecamate, 4000 meters [near Tapacari, Cochabamba], Bolivia.
Author:  Chubb, C
Publish Year:  1917
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SCYTALOPUS
(Rhinocryptidae; Ϯ Dusky Tapaculo S. fuscus) Gr. σκυταλη skutalē or σκυταλον skutalon  stick, cudgel; πους pous, ποδος podos  foot; "Mr. Gould also proposed a new genus in the group of Wrens, under the name of Scytalopus, and which he characterized as follows:  Genus SCYTALOPUS.  Rostrum capite brevius, compressum, obtusum leviter recurvum.  Nares basales, membrana tectæ.  Alæ concavæ, breves, rotundatæ, remige prima abbreviata, tertia, quarta, quinta et sexta æqualibus.  Cauda brevis, rotundata, (pennis externis brevissimis,) laxa.  Tarsi elongati, atque robusti, antrorsum scutellis tecti; posterius fasciis angustis cincti, squamis serpentum abdominalibus, haud dissimilibus; halluce elongato et robusto; ungue elongato; digitum anteriorum, medio elongato et gracili.    SCYTALOPUS FUSCUS.   ...   Hab. in Fretu Magellanico, Chili, &c.  Hoc genus ad illud in quo Troglodytes veræ amplectuntur maximam affinitatem demonstrat.     SCYTALOPUS ALBOGULARIS.  ...  Hab. in Brasilia." (Gould 1837); "The general contour of form is that of Troglodytes  ...  the tail is even shorter than in that genus, and consists of decomposed feathers, the whole has a rugged and disunited appearance; and lastly, the tarsi have their posterior aspect regularly banded with narrow scales, instead of having one or two continuous laminæ on that part.  ...  Tarsi long and stout, the forepart covered with large scutellæ; the hind part bound round with narrow scales, like the abdominal scales of snakes; hind toe long and rather stout, claw long; middle toe long and slender, and with the other two fore toes furnished with fine nails." (Gould 1851); "Scytalopus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, pt. 4, 1836 (1837), p. 89. Type, by subsequent designation, Sylvia Magellanicus (Lath.) = Motacilla magellanica Gmelin (G. R. Gray, List Gen. Bds., 1840, p. 19)." (Peters 1951, VII, 283) (see Myornis).
Var. Scytolopus.
Synon. Agathopus, Sylviaxis.

simonsi
Perry Oveitt Simons (1869-1901) US collector in the Neotropics, murdered in Bolivia (subsp. Atlapetes seebohmi, subsp. Attagis gayi, syn. Buteo poecilochrous, syn. Nothoprocta pentlandii oustaleti, subsp. Odontophorus gujanensis, syn. Oreopholus ruficollis, subsp. Pardirallus sanguinolentus, Scytalopus).