The Key to Scientific Names

Edited by James A. Jobling
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ossifraga / ossifragus

L. ossifraga  bone-breaker, the fish eagle  < os, ossis  bone; frangere  to break.
● "FISH CROW.   CORVUS OSSIFRAGUS.  ...  Their manner of flying was also unlike the others, as they frequently sailed about, without flapping their wings, something in the manner of the Raven; and I soon perceived that their food, and their mode of procuring it, were also both different; their favourite haunts being about the banks of the river, along which they usually sailed, dextrously snatching up, with their claws, dead fish or other garbage that floated on the surface.  ...  The fishermen along these rivers also inform me, that they have particularly remarked this Crow, by his croaking voice, and his fondness for fish; almost always hovering about their fishing places to glean up the refuse." (A. Wilson 1812) (Corvus).
● "PHENE Ossifraga.   Le Vautour barbu."(de Savigny 1809): based on Θηνη and Ossifraga of the Greek and Latin authors, and Beinbrecker of Aldrovandus 1599-1603 (syn. Gypaetus barbatus).
● "258. Procellaria ossifraga F.  ...  Hispani Americae australis hanc Procellariam appellant Quebranta huessos i.e. Ossifragam ideoque idem nomen adoptavi in latino sermone.  Corpus magnitudine Diomedeam chrysostomam aliquanto excedit." (Forster 1844) (syn. Macronectes giganteus).


Ossifraga

L. ossifraga  ossifrage, bone-breaker, name applied to a variety of large, piratical seabirds  < os, ossis  bone; frangere  to break;
● (Accipitridae; syn. Haliaeetus White-tailed Eagle H. albicilla); "Selby, in his excellent "British Ornithology," places the white-tailed ossifrage (Ossifraga albicilla, mihi) in a different genus from the golden eagle, (Aquila aurea, Willughby,) and yet he calls it eagle, both in vernacular and scientific nomenclature" (N. Wood 1835); "Ossifraga N. Wood, 1835, Analyst, II (xi), p. 305.  Type, by monotypy, Ossifraga albicilla N. Wood, 1835 = Falco albicilla Linnaeus, 1758." (JAJ 2021).
● (Procellariidae; syn. Macronectes Southern Giant Petrel M. giganteus) "Quatrième sous-genre: Ossifraga . . .? — Bec le plus gros et le plus robuste de tous les Pétrels; plus long et moins large proportionellement que chez les précédents.  Narines placées dans un tube long, déprimé, large à la base, occupant les trois cinquièmes de la longueur du bec; la pointe en sort pour se recourber brusquement.  Bords des mandibules épais, larges, sinueux; le supérieur rayé de lames courtes, obliques, obstuses: le bord inférieur présente aussi quelques stries dans son milieu.  Deux dents courtes, tranchantes.  Langue inconnue.  Espèces: Pr. gigantea, Gm." (Hombron & Jacquinot 1844) (cf. specific name Procellaria ossifraga J. Forster, 1844 (= syn. Macronectes giganteus)); "Ossifraga (not of Wood, 1835) Hombron and Jacquinot, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, 18, p. 356, March, 1844—type, by monotypy, Procellaria gigantea Gmelin." (Hellmayr and Conover, 1948, Cat. Birds Americas, Pt. I (2), p. 50).


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