Cinereous becard explained

The cinereous becard (Pachyramphus rufus) is a species of bird in the family Tityridae. The term cinereous describes its colouration. It has traditionally been placed in Cotingidae or Tyrannidae, but evidence strongly suggest it is better placed in Tityridae,^[1] where it is now placed by the South American Classification Committee.

It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.

Taxonomy

The cinereous becard was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana.^[2] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.^[3] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Muscicapa rufa in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.^[4] The cinereous becard is now placed in the genus Pachyramphus that was introduced in 1839 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray.^[5] The generic name is from the Ancient Greek pakhus meaning "stout" or "thick" and rhamphos meaning "bill". The specific epithet rufus is Latin for "red".^[6]

Notes and References

1. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCprop313.html Adopt the Family Tityridae
2. Book: Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . 1779 . Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux . 8 . Paris . De L'Imprimerie Royale . 353–354 . le gobe-mouche roux de Cayenne . fr . https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42286858 .
3. Book: Buffon . Georges-Louis Leclerc de . Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon . Martinet . François-Nicolas . François-Nicolas Martinet . Daubenton . Edme-Louis . Edme-Louis Daubenton . Daubenton . Louis-Jean-Marie . Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton . 1765–1783 . le gobe-mouche roux . Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle . 5 . Paris . De L'Imprimerie Royale . Plate 453 Fig. 1 . https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35214527 .
4. Book: Boddaert, Pieter . Pieter Boddaert . 1783 . Table des planches enluminéez d'histoire naturelle de M. D'Aubenton : avec les denominations de M.M. de Buffon, Brisson, Edwards, Linnaeus et Latham, precedé d'une notice des principaux ouvrages zoologiques enluminés . Utrecht . 27, Number 453 Fig. 1 . fr .
5. Book: Gray G.R. in Gould, John . John Gould . Darwin . Charles . Charles Darwin . 1841 . The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, Part III. Birds . London . Smith, Elder and Company . 50 . Although the title page bears a date of 1841, both the plates and the text on Pachyramphus were issued in 1839.
6. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 288, 341.