White-tailed Stonechat

SCI Name:  Saxicola leucurus
Protonym:  Pratincola leucura J.Asiat.Soc.Bengal 16 p.474
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Muscicapidae / Saxicola
Taxonomy Code:  whtsto2
Type Locality:  upper Sind.
Author:  Blyth
Publish Year:  1847
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

SAXICOLA
(Muscicapidae; Ϯ Common Stonechat S. torquatus rubicola) L. saxum, saxi  stone; -cola  dweller  < colere  to inhabit; "Gattung. Steinschmätzer. Saxicola.   ...  Sie machen den schicklichsten Uebergang zu den Fliegenfängern nach Gestalt und Lebensart; nisten auf der Erde oder in Löchern, und fressen blos Insekten, und zwar Käferarten und Fliegen.  *1. Großer Steinschmätzer (S. Oenanthe).   ...  *2. Braunkehliger Steinschmätzer (S. Rubetra).   ...  Ϯ3. Schwarzkehliger Steinschmätzer (S. Rubicola)" (Bechstein 1802); “Bechstein’s genus Saxicola  ...  contains three species only: œnanthe (Wheatear), rubetra (Whinchat), and rubicola (Stonechat). No type was originally designated, but Swainson (Zoologist Journ. iii. 1827, p. 172) subsequently fixed as the type Motacilla rubicola. Gray in 1841 and Seebohm (Cat. Bds. B. M. v. 1881, p. 362) made “œnanthe” the type; there can be no doubt, however, that Swainson’s designation must stand, and another name be found for the Wheatears” (BOU 1915); "Saxicola Bechstein, 1803, Orn. Taschenb., (1802), p. 216. Type, by subsequent designation (Swainson, 1827, Zool. Journ., 3, p. 172), Motacilla rubicola Linnaeus." (Ripley in Peters 1964, X, 104). Some workers believe that this form could be split into as many as seven species (i.e. S. torquatus, S. rubicola, S. maurus, S. przewalskii, S. stejnegeri, S. albofasciatus, S. sibilla).  
Var. Laxicola.
Synon. Curruca, Fruticicola, Pratincola, Rhodophila, Rubetra.
● (syn. Oenanthe Ϯ Northern Wheatear O. oenanthe) Formerly this name was much used for the wheatears and similar chat-like species (see above).

saxicola
L. saxum, saxi  stone, rock; -cola  dweller  < colere  to inhabit.

leucurum / leucurus
Gr. λευκουρος leukouros  white-tailed  < λευκος leukos  white; -ουρος -ouros  -tailed  < ουρα oura  tail.
● ex “Aguila coliblanca” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 10 (Buteo).
● ex “Alcon blanco” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 36 (Elanus).
● ex “Comaltecatl” of Hernandez 1651 (syn. Himantopus mexicanus).
● ex “Mellivora cauda alba” of Edwards 1751, and “Polytmus surinamensis” of Brisson 1760 (subsp. Threnetes niger).