Red-backed Sierra-Finch

SCI Name:  Idiopsar dorsalis
Protonym:  Phrygilus dorsalis J.Orn. 31 p.109
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Thraupidae / Idiopsar
Taxonomy Code:  rbsfin1
Type Locality:  Cerro Vayo [= Bayo] , near snow-line, Tucuman, Argentina.
Author:  Cabanis
Publish Year:  1883
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

IDIOPSAR
(Thraupidae; Ϯ Short-tailed Finch I. brachyurus) Gr. ιδιος idios  peculiar, distinct; ψαρ psar, ψαρος psaros  starling; "III. Genus IDIOPSAR, nobis.  In the collection of the Smithsonian Institution I find a specimen of a very interesting and singular bird, evidently Icterine, and allied to Quiscalus and Scolecophagus, but not to be referred with any considerable degree of propriety to either of those or to any other genus of this group. The tail is short, nearly even at the end, and emarginate, and the wings long.  General form short and compact, bill about the length of the head, strong, slightly curved, with the commissure much inflexed in both mandibles, culmen distinct. Legs and feet moderate.   1. IDIOPSAR BRACHYURUS, nobis.  Entire plumage of the head and body bluish cinereous or plumbeous, darker on the upper parts and lighter on the under parts" (Cassin 1866); "Idiopsar Cassin, 1866, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 414. Type, by monotypy, Idiopsar brachyurus Cassin." (Paynter in Peters 1970, XIII, 115). In ornithology psar also signifies members of the American Icteridae, formerly united with the starlings Sturnidae (Cassin believed his new bird to be an icterid). Schwenckfeld 1603, used psar as an alternative name for strouthos, the House Sparrow. More recently this bird has been called Andean Boulder-finch.

dorsale / dorsalis
L. dorsalis (properly dorsualis)  dorsal, of the back  < dorsum  back.
● ex “Chorlito à dos noir” of de Buffon (Sonnini ed.) 1800-1802 (syn. Calidris melanotos).