Rufous-thighed Kite

SCI Name:  Harpagus diodon
Protonym:  Falco diodon Pl.Col. livr.34 pl.198
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Harpagus
Taxonomy Code:  rutkit1
Type Locality:  Brazil; restricted to Villa Vigoza, Rio Peruipe, Bahia, by Hellmayr and Conover, 1949, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 13, pt. 1, no. 4, p. 32, note 3.
Author:  Temminck
Publish Year:  1823
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

HARPAGUS
(Accipitridae; Ϯ Double-toothed Kite H. bidentatus) L. harpago  rapacious person, harpy < Gr. ἁρπαζω harpazō  to seize or carry off by violence (cf. Harpagus (6^th cent. BC) Persian general who was forced to eat the flesh of his own son); "And although I do not in general wish to increase the number of genera belonging to the present family [Falconidae], until we have attained a more extensive and accurate knowledge of the species, I feel obliged for the sake of perspicuity to adopt the following genus, of which the type is the F. bidentatus, Lath.  HARPAGUS.  The essential characteristick of this group is the double tooth on both the upper and lower mandible. The wings, which correspond with those of the other Hawks, in being one third shorter than the tail, have the third and fourth quill feathers, which are the longest, of equal length. The tarsi are of moderate length and strength, and have the acrotarsia scutellated as in the latter groups of the present stirps [Accipitrina]. The nares are of a semicircular form, and the cere is naked. The F. Diodon of M. Temminck is to be referred to this genus" (Vigors 1824); "Harpagus Vigors, 1824, Zool. Journ., 1, p. 338.  Type, by subsequent designation (G. R. Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 4), Falco bidentatus Latham." (Stresemann & Amadon in Peters, 1979, I, 2nd ed., p. 294).
Synon. Bidens, Diodon, Diplodon.

diodon
Gr. δι- di-  double  < δις dis  twice  < δυο duo  two; οδων odōn, οδοντος odontos  tooth.

Diodon
(Accipitridae; syn. Harpagus † Double-toothed Kite H. bidentatus) Specific name Falco diodon Temminck, 1823; "II.e Sous-genre. DIODON; Diodon.  Bec court, épais, convexe, à mandibule supérieure à peine plus longue que l'inférieure, à bords très-festonnés et munis de deux dents graduées et saillantes; narines ovales, peu apparentes, transversalement percées dans la cire: celle-ci garnie de poils courts; tarses minces, scutellés; ailes courtes, dépassant à peine le croupion; queue longue, arrondie.    19. DIODON DU BRÉSIL; Diodon brasiliensis: Falco bidentatus, Lath.; Daudin, t. II, p. 118; Temm., pl. 58 et 228;  Faucon diodon, Falco diodon, Temm., pl. 198." (Lesson 1830); "Diodon Lesson, Traité d'Orn., livr. 2, p. 95, May, 1830—type, by monotypy, Diodon brasiliensis Lesson [= Falco bidentatus Latham]." (Hellmayr and Conover, 1949, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. I (4), p. 32); "Diodon Lesson, 1830, Traité d'Ornithologie, p. 95.  Type, by tautonymy, Falco diodon Temminck." (JAJ 2019; only applicable if Lesson regarded the two forms as separate species (he seems to have treated diodon as the male, bidentatus as the female)).