White-breasted Whistler / Pachycephala lanioides

White-breasted Whistler / Pachycephala lanioides

White-breasted Whistler

SCI Name:  Pachycephala lanioides
Protonym:  Pachycephala Lanioides Proc.Zool.Soc.London(1839) (1839), Pt7 no.82 p.142
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Pachycephalidae /
Taxonomy Code:  whbwhi2
Type Locality:  northwest coast of Australia; restricted to Derby by Mathews, 1920, Birds Australia, 8, p. 255.
Author:  
Publish Year:  1840
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

PACHYCEPHALA
(Pachycephalidae; Ϯ Golden Whistler P. pectoralis) Gr. παχυς pakhus  large, thick; κεφαλη kephalē  head; from the appearance of their large rounded heads the Indomalayan and Australasian whistlers were formerly known as 'thickheads'; "The interval betweeen the present groups and those of the Pari, where we entered on the family [Pipridæ], appears to be filled up by a race of birds peculiar to New Holland, and hitherto uncharacterized, of which the Muscicapa pectoralis, Lath. is the type*. These, uniting many external characters, at least, both of the Berry-Eaters and Flycatchers, exhibit also in general appearance a considerable resemblance to the Pari, and will be found, I conjecture, to be the connecting bond between all these groups.  ...  * Mr. Swainson has lately formed this group into a genus by the name of Pachycephala.  Nov. 1824." (Vigors 1825); "Genus. PACHYCEPHALA*. Swains. MSS.  ... Caput tumidiusculum.  ...  In their general appearance some of the species exhibit a resemblance to the birds of the genus Procnias, Ill., while by the puffed-out appearance of the feathers about the head, we trace an approximation to some of the Linnean Pari.  ...  * παχυς crassus, and κεφαλη caput" (Vigors & Horsfield 1827). 
Var. Pachycephalus
Synon. Alisterornis, Gilbertornis, Hylocharis, Hyloterpe, Lewinornis, Malacolestes, Mattingleya, Musciterpe, Muscitrea, Mutevodia, Pachycilodryas, Psaltricephus, Pucherania, Timixos.

lanioides
Genus Lanius Linnaeus, 1758, shrike; Gr. -οιδης -oidēs  resembling (e.g. heavy-billed).
● "L. Turdampelis lanioides, Lesson, g. et sp. nov." (Lesson 1844) (see Turdampelis) (Lipaugus). 
● "PACHYCEPHALA LANIOÏDES.  Pach. vertice, plumis auricularibus et pectore nigris; dorso posteriore fascia castanea ornato; gutture, abdomine medio, crissoque albis; dorso, lateribus, humeris, necnon primariis secundariis tectricibusque, externe, cinereis; cauda, rostro, pedibusque nigris.  ...  Hab. The north-west coast of Australia." (Gould 1840); "Distinctive, large, heavy-billed whistler of mangrove forests  ...  massive bill for catching large arthropods such as crabs" (Menkhorst et al. 2017) (Pachycephala).

Lanioides
(syn. Lanius Ϯ Lesser Grey Shrike L. minor) Genus Lanius Linnaeus, 1758, shrike; Gr. -οιδης -oidēs  resembling; "It seems never to have occurred to anyone that the Lesser Grey Shrike (L. minor) should be separated from the larger, more sedentary species; yet it is unique amongst the shrikes in the shortness of the outermost primary.  Its colour characters leave little room for doubt as to its affinity with the larger species and it is perhaps for this reason that taxonomers have so studiously avoided making use of the primary formulae in the diagnoses of the genera; but if we get down to facts we find that the same character is utilised in the case of other birds which have evolved in the same way and we must therefore recognise the difference.  As no name is available I propose for this genus the name of LANIOIDES, genotype Lanius minor Gmelin, characterised as follows: first primary not extending beyond the primary coverts and only about one fourth of the length of the second; second primary longer than the fourth, third primary the longest; tail very much shorter than the wing (about 85 per cent.), the feathers graduated to about the length of the culmen and very much less than the length of the tarsus.  Outermost tail feather somewhat narrower than in the typical Lanius." (A. Roberts 1922).

SUBSPECIES

White-breasted Whistler (carnarvoni)
SCI Name: Pachycephala lanioides carnarvoni
carnarvoni
Carnarvon, Western Australia.

White-breasted Whistler (lanioides)
SCI Name: Pachycephala lanioides lanioides
lanioides
Genus Lanius Linnaeus, 1758, shrike; Gr. -οιδης -oidēs  resembling (e.g. heavy-billed).
● "L. Turdampelis lanioides, Lesson, g. et sp. nov." (Lesson 1844) (see Turdampelis) (Lipaugus). 
● "PACHYCEPHALA LANIOÏDES.  Pach. vertice, plumis auricularibus et pectore nigris; dorso posteriore fascia castanea ornato; gutture, abdomine medio, crissoque albis; dorso, lateribus, humeris, necnon primariis secundariis tectricibusque, externe, cinereis; cauda, rostro, pedibusque nigris.  ...  Hab. The north-west coast of Australia." (Gould 1840); "Distinctive, large, heavy-billed whistler of mangrove forests  ...  massive bill for catching large arthropods such as crabs" (Menkhorst et al. 2017) (Pachycephala).

White-breasted Whistler (fretorum)
SCI Name: Pachycephala lanioides fretorum
fretorum
L. fretorum  of the straits  < fretum  strait, sound, sea.
● Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory/Queensland, Australia (subsp. Pachycephala lanioides).