Ruddy Duck

SCI Name:  Oxyura jamaicensis
Protonym:  Anas jamaicensis Syst.Nat. 1 pt2 p.519
Taxonomy:  Anseriformes / Anatidae / Oxyura
Taxonomy Code:  rudduc
Type Locality:  Jamaica.
Author:  Gmelin, JF
Publish Year:  1789
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

OXYURA
(Anatidae; Ϯ Ruddy Duck O. jamaicensis) Gr. οξυς oxus  sharp, pointed; ουρα oura  tail; "SUBGENUS III. OXYURA.  Rhynchaspis, Oidemia, Steph.  Macreuses, Cuv.  Bill broad at tip, nail very small. Wings very short, concave. Tail long, cuneiform, of eighteen narrow pointed, rigid, canaliculate feathers. Plumage remarkably thick, compact, and beneath silvery.  336. FULIGULA RUBIDA, Nob." (Bonaparte 1828); "Oxyura Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, 2, 1828, p. 390. Type, by monotypy, Anas rubidus Wilson." (Peters 1931, I, 184); "12. Oxyura jamaicensis  ...  Population of North America has been assigned separate subspecies rubida, though doubtfully valid." (del Hoyo & Collar 2014, 126).
Synon. Bythonessa, Cerconectes, Erismatura, Gymnura, Pervicauda, Plectrura, Undina.

oxyura
Gr. οξυς oxus  sharp, pointed; -ουρος -ouros  -tailed  < ουρα oura tail.
● ex “Figuier à Cuti-Pennes” of Levaillant 1803, pl. 133 (unident.).

jamaicensis
Jamaica (named Xaymaca  land of springs, by the indigenous Taíno).
● ex “Cream-coloured Buzzard” of Latham 1781 (Buteo).
● ex “Chattering Crow” of Sloane 1725, and Latham 1781, “Cornix Jamaicensis” of Brisson 1760, and “Corneille de la Jamaïque” of de Buffon 1770-1783 (Corvus).
● ex “Least Water-Hen” of Edwards 1760 (Laterallus).
● ex “Columba minor ventre candido” of Sloane 1725, and “Pigeon de la Jamaïque” of Brisson 1760 (Leptotila).
● ex “Jamaica Night-Heron” of Latham 1785 (syn. Nyctanassa violacea).
● ex “Guira querea” of Ray 1713, “Wood-Owle” of Sloane 1725, “Mountain Owl” of Browne 1756, and “Jamaica Goatsucker” of Latham 1783 (Nyctibius).
● ex “Jamaica Shoveler” of Latham 1785 (Oxyura).
● TL. Coast of British Guiana; "Chalcophanes Wagl.   80. Ch. jamaicensis Cab. [nec Daudin]  ...  Lebt an der Küste und findet sich auf den Fahr- und Fusswegen, auf Grasplätzen, in der Umgebung der Coloniestadt, besucht auch häufig in kleineren Gesellschaften die Höfe der Wohnungen." (Cabanis 1849) (syn. Quiscalus lugubris).
● "*Holoquiscalus niger crassirostris (Swainson).¹   ...   ¹ Ridgway and Peters have adopted for this form the subspecific name jamaicensis of Daudin (Traité Elém. Compl. Orn., 2, p. 317, 1800), a procedure that appears to me hardly justifiable.  Daudin based his name by no means  exclusively on Brown's "Merops niger, iride sub-argentea" from Jamaica, but this is merely one of the references which he believed to pertain to one and the same bird, for which "plusieurs îles des Antilles, la Jamaïque et le Labrador" are given as habitat. The only specimens actually seen by Daudin, upon which the description of his Sturnus jamaicensis was probably based, are those sent to the Paris Museum by Maugé from Porto Rico and "St. Thomas" [= H. n. brachypterus].  I do not advocate, however, transferring Daudin's name to the Porto Rico form, and would rather consider it an unidentifiable mixtum compositum." (Hellmay 1937) (?syn. Quiscalus niger).
● ex “Jamaica Thrush” of Latham 1783 (Turdus).