Sao Tome Short-tail

SCI Name:  Motacilla bocagii
Protonym:  Amaurocichla bocagii Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt2 p.228 pl.20 fig.1
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Motacillidae / Motacilla
Taxonomy Code:  boclon2
Type Locality:  San Miguel, west coast of St. Thomas, West Africa.
Author:  Sharpe
Publish Year:  1892
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

MOTACILLA
(Motacillidae; Ϯ White Wagtail M. alba) Late Med. L. (1555) motacilla  pied wagtail  < L. motacilla  wagtail  < Gr. μυττηξ muttēx  type of bird mentioned by Hesychius. The mistaken use of -cilla ­for “tail” in ornithology goes back to mediaeval writers who misread motacilla, Varro’s name for the wagtail ("quod semper movet caudam") and a diminutive from motare to move about or shake (i.e. a little shaker or wagger), as “shaketail”; "99. MOTACILLA.  Rostrum subulatum, rectum: Mandibulis subæqualibus.  Nares obovatæ.  Lingua lacero-emarginata." (Linnaeus 1758);"Motacilla Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 184. Type, by tautonymy, "Motacilla" = M. alba Linnaeus." (Vaurie in Peters 1960, IX, 130). Linnaeus's Motacilla comprised thirty-four species (M. Luscinia, M. Calidris, M. modularis, M. Schœnobænus, M. campestris, M. Curruca, M. Hippolais, M. Salicaria, M. Sylvia, M. Philomela, M. Ficedula, M. alba, M. flava, M. Tiphia, M. Ruticilla, M. hispanica, M. Oenanthe, M. Rubetra, M. Atricapilla, M. Emeria, M. Phœnicurus, M. Erithacus, M. Titys, M. svecica, M. Sialis, M. Velia, M. Spiza, M. Rubecula, M. Troglodytes, M. Regulus, M. Trochilus, M. Acredula, M. Pendulinus, M. minuta). The White Wagtail has a wide range in the Palaearctic, although several subspecies are sometimes treated specifically (e.g. yarrellii, subpersonata, personata, lugens).
Var. Matacilla, Metacilla, Motacilea, Motacitta, Mottacilla, Montacilla, Notacilla, Notorcilla.
Synon. Aguimpia, Atolmodytes, Boarula, Budytes, Calobates, Pallenura, Pecula, Psomophilus, Seisura.

motacilla
L. motacilla  wagtail  < Gr. μυττηξ muttēx  type of bird mentioned by Hesychius (subsp. Myiothlypis fulvicauda, Parkesia).

bocagii
Prof. José Vicente Barboza du Bocage (1823-1907) Portuguese ornithologist, father of Angolan ornithology (Amaurocichla, subsp. Anthus cinnamomeus, Nectarinia).