The Key to Scientific Names
- Chionarchus
(Chionidae; syn. Chionis † Black-faced Sheathbill C. minor) Genus Chionis J. Forster, 1788, sheathbill < Gr. χιων khiōn, χιονος khionos snow; Gr. αρχος arkhos leader < αρχω arkhō to rule; "It seems worth while to note a generic distinction probably existing between Chionis alba and the so-called C. minor. ... the sheath of the bill in C. alba is flat and closely apposed to the upper mandible, as in Lestris, while in C. minor it is canted upward anteriorly and tubular, almost as in the petrels. These characteristics, among others, seem to us supra-specific; and in view of the fact that we consider Chionis minor to be undoubtedly nearest to the ancestral type, we propose to call it Chionarchus. Its name would then be in strictness Chionarchus minor (Hartl.)" (Kidder & Coues 1876); "Chionarchus Kidder and Coues, 1876, Bull. United States National Mus., no. 3, p. 116. Type, by monotypy, Chionis minor Hartlaub, 1841." (JAJ 2021).
