The Key to Scientific Names
- DAPHOENOSITTA
(Neosittidae; † Black Sittella D. miranda) Gr. δαφοινος daphoinos reeking with blood < δα- da- very; φοινος phoinos blood-red, bloody; genus Sitta Linnaeus, 1758, nuthatch; the Black Sittella was formerly known as the Pink-faced Nuthatch; “18. DAPHŒNOSITTA MIRANDA, gen. et sp. nov. DAPHŒNOSITTA, gen. nov. Bill subulate, straight, shorter than the head, not notched; nostril basal, exposed, in front of an operculated groove; no rictal bristles … DAPHŒNOSITTA MIRANDA, sp. nov. Above and below black, the feathers broadly edged with lead-grey; wing and tail fuscous brown; the four rectrices largely tipped with pink, nearly half the outermost being of that colour; rump stained with crimson; forehead, chin, and some feathers of the orbital ring rich crimson; metacarpal edge and adjacent under wing-coverts white; middle third of primaries and secondaries white on under surface of inner webs, forming a broad band across the wing; lateral rectrices below darker pink than on the upper surface ... Apart from the shortness and straightness of the bill, this bird is structurally a Sittella, and, were it not for its very erratic colouring, its bill would hardly prevent it finding a home in that genus. But on the ground that so wide a departure from the characteristic sobriety in colours of the Sittellas, and indeed of the Creepers generally, argues physical differences not apparent to the eye, it appears to me advisable to provide a separate genus for the present bird." (DeVis 1897); "Daphoenositta DeVis, 1897, Ibis, p. 380. Type, by monotypy, Daphoenositta miranda DeVis, 1897." (JAJ 2022).
Var. Daphaenositta, Daphoenosina.
Synon. Neops, Neositta, Neosittella.
