The Key to Scientific Names
- ZELEDONIA
(Zeledoniidae; † Wren-thrush Z. coronata) José Castulo Zeledón (1846-1923) Costa Rican businessman, naturalist, collector. "Zeledonia, genus novum. CHAR.—Somewhat like Catharus, but wing still more rounded (primaries very little longer than secondaries), first quill about four-fifths as long as second, tail very short (much shorter than tarsus and middle toe together), rictal bristles very weak, and loral feathers well developed and closely appressed. Coloration (of type): Dark olive-green above, deep slate-gray beneath, the crown brownish orange, with a black stripe along each side. This remarkable new genus is so peculiar in its characters that I am in much doubt as to which family it belongs. The very short rounded wing with long first primary, full and closely appressed loral feathers, and soft texture of the plumage in general strongly suggest the genus Scytalopus, and I was at first inclined to refer it to the Pteroptochidæ, to which Scytalopus belongs; the coloration of the head strongly suggests that of Basileuterus coronatus, and the loose-webbed rectrices with finely acuminate points, as well as the loosely-webbed remiges, slender bill, and long-booted tarsi with sharp posterior edge remind one of Catharus gracilirostris, to which genus Mr. Alfaro, the collector, had referred the bird. There are apparently only 10 rectrices, and I am able to count only 18 remiges, the latter being the number possessed by the above-mentioned Catharus, which, however, has 12 rectrices. The general resemblance to the genus Xenicus, of New Zealand, is very remarkable, X. longipes being of nearly the same size and proportions ... Xenicus is now referred to the Clamatores; but whether Zeledonia is a related form belonging to the same suborder or an aberrant oscinine type, can not, probably, be determined without examination of its anatomy. I have named this genus in honor of Señor Don José C. Zeledon, of San José, Costa Rica, to whom chiefly we are indebted for our knowledge of the richly diversified ornithology of that interesting country." (Ridgway 1889); "Zeledonia Ridgway, 1889, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 11 (1888), p. 537. Type, by monotypy, Zeledonia coronata Ridgway." (Ripley in Peters, 1964, X, p. 18). Recent work confirms that the distinctive Wren-thrush or Zeledonia, formerly regarded as a member of Parulidae or of Rhinocryptidae, is better separated in a monotypic family within the nine-primaried oscines, although Fjeldså, Christidis & Ericson (eds.), 2020, treat it at subfamilial level within the Icteridae.
Var. Zelenodia.
