Slaty Monarch

SCI Name:  Mayrornis lessoni
Protonym:  R[hipidura]. Lessoni Gen.Birds 1 p.258
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Monarchidae / Mayrornis
Taxonomy Code:  slamon1
Type Locality:  iles Viti (Balaou) = Viti Levu, Fiji Islands, fide Wetmore, 1919, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 63, p. 203.
Author:  Gray, GR
Publish Year:  1846
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MAYRORNIS
(Monarchidae; † Slaty Monarch M. lessoni) Dr Ernst Walter Mayr (1904-2005) German ornithologist, systematist; Gr. ορνις ornis, ορνιθος ornithos  bird. "A number of years ago during work on a collection of birds from islands of the southern Pacific the writer observed that the generic name of Muscylva Lesson [1831], in current use for the curious flycatcher of Fiji described originally by Gray [1846] as Rhipidura lessoni, was involved in hopeless complication due to the fact that its original basis was composite and that it had no type designation.  ...  It is sufficient to say that in an endeavour to straighten out this nomenclatural tangle the writer designated the type of Muscylva Lesson as Muscicapa caerulea Brehm, there being no way open to save it for current use, which made Muscylva a synonym of Hypothymis Boie, and so eliminated it from further consideration.  At the same time he set up the new name Haplornis to replace Muscylva, but through absorption in the involved discussion concerned with the status of the latter name neglected definitely to designate a type, so that Haplornis, cited simply as a new name, ranks as a synonym of Muscylva, and so must be placed with that name in the synonymy of Hypothymis.  Dr. Witmer Stone in reviewing this paper in the Auk (1920, p. 160) attempted to rectify this error by designating Rhipidura lessoni Gray as type of Haplornis, but this action is believed to have come too late to be valid.  It has long been my intention to give this question further attention, but various matters have prevented until now when Dr. Ernst Mayr, engaged in study of the Pacific Island collections of the American Museum of Natural History, brings the matter again to attention with the request that I discuss it as he has need to treat the species concerned in a revision of the flycatchers of Polynesia.  There is proposed the genus Mayrornis gen. nov.  Characters:— Generally similar to Chasiempis Cabanis, but with rictal bristles less prominently developed; feet decidedly smaller, with anterior toes weaker; tarsus relatively shorter.   Type— Rhipidura lessoni Gray, which becomes Mayrornis lessoni (Gray).  The genus is named in honor of Dr. Ernst Mayr in recognition of his work on the avifauna of the Pacific Islands." (Wetmore 1932); "Mayrornis Wetmore, 1932, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 45, p. 104.  Type, by original designation, Rhipidura lessoni G. R. Gray." (Mayr in Peters, 1986, XI, p. 495). 
Var. Mayornis.

lessoni
Prof. René-Primevère Lesson (1794-1849) French Navy surgeon-naturalist, explorer (syn. Amazilia amazilia, syn. Avocettula recurvirostris (ex Ornismya avocetta Lesson, 1832), syn. Buteo lagopus, syn. Campylopterus curvipennis pampa, syn. Cardinalis carneus (ex Coccothraustes carneus Lesson, 1842), ?syn. Chlorophoneus olivaceus, syn. Chlorostilbon mellisugus caribaeus, syn. Hylocharis chrysura, syn. Icterus prosthemelas, subsp. Lamprotornis splendidus, subsp. Lophornis delattrei, syn. Malaconotus cruentus, Mayrornis (ex “Muscylva de Lesson” of Dumont d’Urville 1844), syn. Ochthoeca rufopectus, syn. Pelecanoides garnotii, syn. Philemon diemenensis (ex Tropidorhynchus diemenensis Lesson, 1831), syn. Sporophila bouvronides (ex Pyrrhula bouvronides Lesson, 1831), syn. Tapera naevia, syn. Xanthotis flaviventer (ex Philedon chrysotis Lesson & Garnot, 1828)).

SUBSPECIES

Slaty Monarch (lessoni)
SCI Name: Mayrornis lessoni lessoni
lessoni
Prof. René-Primevère Lesson (1794-1849) French Navy surgeon-naturalist, explorer (syn. Amazilia amazilia, syn. Avocettula recurvirostris (ex Ornismya avocetta Lesson, 1832), syn. Buteo lagopus, syn. Campylopterus curvipennis pampa, syn. Cardinalis carneus (ex Coccothraustes carneus Lesson, 1842), ?syn. Chlorophoneus olivaceus, syn. Chlorostilbon mellisugus caribaeus, syn. Hylocharis chrysura, syn. Icterus prosthemelas, subsp. Lamprotornis splendidus, subsp. Lophornis delattrei, syn. Malaconotus cruentus, Mayrornis (ex “Muscylva de Lesson” of Dumont d’Urville 1844), syn. Ochthoeca rufopectus, syn. Pelecanoides garnotii, syn. Philemon diemenensis (ex Tropidorhynchus diemenensis Lesson, 1831), syn. Sporophila bouvronides (ex Pyrrhula bouvronides Lesson, 1831), syn. Tapera naevia, syn. Xanthotis flaviventer (ex Philedon chrysotis Lesson & Garnot, 1828)).

Slaty Monarch (orientalis)
SCI Name: Mayrornis lessoni orientalis
orientale / orientalis
L. orientalis  eastern, oriental  < oriens, orientis  east.
● Asia; ex “Anser moschoviticus” of Albin 1731-1738, and “Anser chinensis” of Linnaeus 1747 (syn. Anser cygnoides).
● India; ex Ardea antigone Linnaeus, 1758, “Grus orientalis” of Brisson 1760, and “Indian Crane” of Latham 1785 (syn. Antigone antigone).
● East Indies (= Seram and New Guinea); ex “Casoar des Indes orientales” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 313 (syn. Casuarius casuarius).
● India; ex “Eastern Parrot” of Latham 1781 (?syn. Eclectus roratus).
● East Indies (= Amboina); ex “Coucou noir des Indes” (= ♂) and “Coucou tacheté des Indes” (=♀) of Brisson 1760 (subsp. Eudynamys scolopaceus).
● East Indies (=Java); ex “Rollier des Indes” of Brisson 1760 (Eurystomus).
● East Indies; ex “Merula indica” of Brisson 1760, “Merle des Indes Orientales” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 273, fig. 2, and “Ash-rumped Thrush” of Latham 1783 (syn. Lalage nigra).
● India; ex “Indian Bee-eater” and “Coromandel Bee-eater” of Latham 1782-1787 (Merops).
● Asia; ex “Onocrotalus” or “Pelecanus” of previous authors (syn. Pelecanus onocrotalus).
● "91. TETRAO.  ...  orientalis.  12. T. pedibus antice pilosis: abdomine gulaque atra, collari ferrugineo, cauda cuneiformi.  Tetrao orientalis. Hasselq. it. 278. n. 43.  Perdix damascena. Will. orn. 128.  Francolin. Tournef. it. I. p. 158. t. 158.  Habitat in Oriente." (Linnaeus 1758) (Pterocles).
● China; ex “Tourterelle brune de la Chine” of Sonnerat 1782, and “Chinese Turtle” of Latham 1783 (Streptopelia).
● China; ex “China Owl” of Latham 1801 (syn. Strix seloputo).