The Key to Scientific Names
- promerops
- Gr. προ pro close to, similar; genus Merops Linnaeus, 1758, bee-eater.
● ex “Promerops superne fuscus, inferne albus, pectore rufescente” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Promerops cafer). - PROMEROPS
(Promeropidae; Ϯ Cape Sugarbird P. cafer) Gr. προ pro close to, similar; genus Merops Linnaeus, 1758, bee-eater; "Rostro gracili, parum arcuato: ... Capite simplici......Promerops. Genus 28. Sectio II. ... XXVIII. Le genre du Promérops.(1) Genus Promeropis ... Le bec menu, & un peu courbé en arc ... 1. LE PROMÉROPS. ... On le trouve au Cap de Bonne Espérance, d'où il a été envoyé à M. le Comte de Bentinck qui en a fait présent à M. de Reaumur. ... 2. LE PROMÉROPS DU MEXIQUE. ... Avis, Ani, Mexicana, cauda longissima. Seb. ... 3. LE PROMÉROPS HUPÉ DES INDES. ... Upupa Manucodiata. Klein. ... 4. LE PROMÉROPS DES BARBADES. ... Rhyndace. Moehr. ... 5. LE PROMÉROPS JAUNE DU MEXIQUE. ... Cochitototl, seu Avis florida. Fern. ... (1) Promérops, nom que M. de Reaumur a donné à ce genre d'Oiseaux." (Brisson 1760); "Promerops Brisson, 1760, Ornithologia, 1, p. 34; 2, p. 460. Type, by tautonymy, "Le Promérops" Brisson = Merops cafer Linnaeus." (Salomonsen in Peters, 1967, XII, p. 449). Formerly an otherwise unrelated assortment of curve-billed birds was included here (e.g. hoopoe, wood-hoopoes, riflebirds, scimitarbills, honeyeaters, thrashers). The affinities of the curve-billed sugarbirds are unclear; they could have no close relatives, although the Modulatricidae may possibly belong here, and I was struck by the resemblance of immature Cape Sugarbirds to certain honeyeaters.
Synon. Falcinellus, Pseudomerops, Ptiloturus.
● (Phoeniculidae; syn. Phoeniculus † Green Wood-hoopoe P. purpureus)“PROMEROPS, Brisson. Bill with the under mandible, at its base, thicker than the upper; the margins acute. Nostrils corneous; the aperture lateral and oval. Hind claw curved. Tail long, cuneated. P. erythrorynchus. Ois. dorés, pl. 6.” (Swainson 1837); “Promerops “Brisson” Swainson, 1837, Nat. Hist. Classification Birds, II, p. 331 (not of Brisson, 1760). Type, by monotypy, Promerops erythrorynchus, i.e. Upupa erythrorhynchos Latham, 1790 = Promerops purpureus J. Miller, 1784.” (JAJ 2023).
