Upucerthia
yoo-pyoo-SER-thee-uh
Genus
a hoopoe-like tree creeper
Literally: hoopoe (of the) tree-creepers
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upu- | a hoopoe (the bird Upupa) | Latin (upup, =a, -i) | Combining form of upupa, final -pa dropped before the next root; this is a hybrid Latin + Greek compound |
| -certhi- | a tree creeper | Greek (certh, -i) | Combining form certh-, with connecting -i- |
| -a | feminine singular nominative genus ending | New Latin | Standard New Latin feminine genus suffix |
Upucerthia is a New Latin genus name coined as a single compound noun. It fuses Latin upupa (the hoopoe, a long-billed bird) with Greek kerthia / certh- (tree creeper, the genus Certhia) plus the standard feminine genus ending -a. The name evokes a bird resembling both a hoopoe (in its long, decurved bill) and a tree creeper (in its bark-foraging habits). Upucerthia is the genus of South American earthcreepers (family Furnariidae). The compound is a hybrid (Latin + Greek), which was common in 19th-century bird taxonomy.
Pronunciation
- yoo-pyoo-SER-thee-uh Antepenult stress: the penult syllable (-thi-) has a short vowel not followed by two consonants, so stress falls on the antepenult (-cer-). The antepenult vowel 'e' is short (followed by single consonant r). 'c' before 'e' = 's'.
Other readings
One could read Upu- as simply the first syllable cluster of upupa rather than a clean combining form, but the intended reference to upupa is unambiguous.
The name is a deliberate Latin–Greek hybrid, combining Latin upupa (hoopoe) with Greek certh- (tree creeper); such hybrids were acceptable in 19th-century zoological nomenclature. The connecting vowel between the two roots is absorbed into the -i- combining form of certh-i. 'ch' does not appear here; 'th' in certhia follows the Greek theta and is pronounced as in 'thin' in careful scientific speech. Upucerthia was described by Lesson in 1826 for the earthcreepers of the Andes and Patagonia.