Mr. Sjöstedt and "his" Owlet and Pigeon (1 Viewer)

Sometimes you think you will get a break, an easy topic to deal with, I thought I was in for a treat … but: No, no, no …

I ´ve been looking forward to this one for quite a while, one of very few, Swedish ornithologist commemorated in some Bird names:

● Sjostedt's Owlet (Taenioglaux) Glaucidium sjostedti REICHENOW 1893 a k a " Sjöstedt's Barred Owlet" or "Sjostedt's Barred Owlet" or simply " Sjöstedt's Owlet" but also "Cameroon Barred Owlet", " Chestnut-backed Owlet,", "Chestnut-backed Barred Owlet" or "Splendid owlet"
● Cameroon Olive-Pigeon Columba sjostedti REICHENOW 1898 a k a "Cameroon Mountain Olive Pigeon", "Cameroon Pigeon", "Cameroon Wood-Pigeon", "Cameroun Olive Pigeon", "Camroon olive pigeon" and "Ameron Rameron Pigeon" [sic], or "Sjostedt's Rameron Pigeon"

They both commemorate the (in Sweden fairly well-known) Swedish zoologist (most of all entomologist, he was a leading Termite-specialist), explorer and collector Bror Yngve Sjöstedt (1866–1948), of whom I know much more than I need for my entry regarding him, his life and career.

He is, for example, also commemorated in the butterfly "Kilimanjaro Swallowtail" Papilio sjoestedti AURIVILLIUS 1908, the ant Pachycondyla sjostedti MAYR 1896, the "stone fly" Megarcys sjostedti NAVÁS 1930, the " Blue Gularis Killifish" Fundulopanchax sjostedti LÖNNBERG 1895 and the endangered "four-digit toad" Didynamipus sjostedti ANDERSSON 1903 … etc. etc.

Yngve Sjöstedt himself, personally, described more than 1300(!) new taxon, mostly insects.

But solving "his" two birds, the above mentioned ones, wasn´t as simple as I hoped for!

Their commemoration is unquestionable, don´t worry, it´s Yngve Sjöstedt all right (even if the diacritic/umlaut, dots, over the o has been dropped in the scientific name since then), but the background, the story behind them, remains … and in trying to understand how it all went down I , of course, once again got stuck in the (far too, at least for me, tricky) German language.

Their respective dedications is fairly easy (even for me) to understand:

The Owlet: "Glaucidium sjöstedti … Diese Art ist zu Ehren des um die Erforschung der Vogelwelt des Kamerungebirges verdienten Reisenden YNGVE SJÖSTEDT bennant"

The Pigeon: "Die von Sjöstedt beschriebene Kamerunform der Columba arquatrix hält der Vortragende für eine gut gekennzeichnete Art, … als Columba sjöstedti ausgefürt"

Click to expand...

But, just to be on the safe side: Anyone, with better knowledge of German, feel like translating them properly, as accurate as possible?

PS. And don´t hesitate to remark on any obvious errors that I might have done transcribing them.

Well, here's my try:

The Owlet: This species is named to honour the merited traveller Yngve Sjöstedt, who explored the birdlife of Mount Cameroon.

The Pigeon: The Cameroon form described by Sjöstedt of Columba arquatrix is considered a well marked species by the lecturer, .... made (described) as Columba sjöstedti.

So the owlet was named after him while the pigeon was described by him (as a subspecies of Columba arquatrix) and then later by the lecturer (who ever that was) elevated to species rank.

André

Thanks André!

And welcome back to the "Etymologist's Club" ….

The lecturer (of the Pigeon) was Anton Reichenow himself, referred to by Paul Matschie, the Secretary of the meeting where Mr. Reichenow first told his audience about it.

But before we deal with the Pigeon: Let´s take a closer look at the how's, when's and why's; ot the first one of Mr. Sjöstedt's birds; the Owlet … the easy one of those two!

This species was described in a short note: Reichenow, A. 1893. Glaucidium sjöstedti n. sp. von Kamurun. Ornithologische Monatsberichte 1: 65. (attached). Link to full volume here.

Is there anything else noteworthy ,or added, (I don´t think so?) on that single page, regarding Sjöstedt and this "his" Owlet... ?

Cheers!

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PS. And just for the fun, and beauty, of it (attached) an illustration of the Owlet itself! (from Sjöstedt, KVAH 1895, ... we´re getting there soon)

Ok, this far we seem to be doing just fine

And now the Pigeon …

This species was named "Columba sjöstedti" in a short note from a meeting (published 1898) in Bereicht über die Oktober-Sitzung 1897. Journal für Ornithologie 46 : 138. (attached). Link to full volume (here).

Reichenow coined the name "sjöstedti" (later sjostedti) based on an article written three years earlier, by Mr. Sjöstedt himself – this one: Sjöstedt, Y. 1895. Die Kamerun-Form der Columba arquatrix Tem. Ornitologische Monatsberichte 3 (1) 156-158. (attached)

Anyone, understanding German, feel like giving a brief summary?

The minutes from the meeting:

"... Mr Reichenow gave a talk about the African pigeons, showing skins of the various species. Altogether there are 42 species and subspecies known from Ethiopia. Of these 38 are represented in the form of skins in the Berlin Museum. The speaker considers the Cameroon form of Columba arquatrix, described by Sjöstedt, a well marked species, and he listed it as Columba sjöstedti in his print-ready overview."

Sjöstedt's article:

He cites another of his works, "Zur Ornithologie Kameruns", in which he pointed out that the Cameroon mountain form of Columba arquatrix is quite different from the typical form, which he studied in Wahlberg's collection from Port Natal in the Stockholm museum. He says something about the differences, and then says: "When examining this closer I dicovered that the Camoroon birds, although significantly smaller, are in general fairly similar with the form thomensis, described by Prof. Barboza du Bocagne."

He then gives a more detailed description of the similarities and differences between the various forms, in particular his birds compared with thomensis, including measurements. It appears that he had four specimens from Cameroon, and was comparing against the description of thomensis. He concludes that sizewise, his specimens are much like the birds in the Swedish collection, but that their colouring is closer to thomensis.

He concludes:
"While pointing out these differences I keep the name of the main form for the time being.

"It would be of interest, by studying a greater number of specimens, to find out within which borders the Cameroon form changes [this is a bit vague - does he mean geographical or looking at specimens?], and whether it is a particular, persistent [lots of choice when it comes to translating `staendig'] variety."

He clearly points at the idea that this might be a separate subspecies, but doesn't seem to think he's got a species.

Andrea

Thanks, Andrea!

We´re apparently writing simultaneously …

And this far we´ve only dealt with the two Type descriptions (and its necessary references) … and "all is well".

Now it´s time to take a quick (?) look at Sjöstedt's own full account of his Expedtion, reported in the "Kongl. Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens handlingar" 27, No. 1, published by the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciencies (in 1895), and I thought I finally was in for some simple reading … but no! Not a chance.

Sjöstedt's own article is also in German! Why I do not know and cannot understand, but that´s the simple fact. I guess he couldn´t get it published in Germany!? (That´s the one, Andrea, that you mentioned as "Zur Ornithologie Kameruns"). It is a 120-pages-long article with the full title "Zur Ornithologie Kameruns nebst einigen Angaben über die Sügethiere des Landes". Link to full volume here.

Have I understood it correctly if he, Sjöstedt himself, in this article, lists 176 "Arten" (species) that was collected during a 15 month long Expedition [1890-1892]? Of those were 56 new for "Kamerungebiet" ["the Cameroon Area" or "in the vicinity of (Mount) Cameroon?] and 6 new to Science?

The six (according to him!) "…neu für dieWissenschaft …" was:
● "Podica camerunensis" [today the subspecies Podica senegalensis camerunensis SJÖSTEDT 1893]
● "Campothera [sic] Tullbergi" [today's Tullberg's Woodpecker Campethera (taeniolaema) tullbergi SJÖSTEDT 1892]
● "Dendropicus Reichenowi" [today the subspecies Dendropicos gabonensis reichenowi SJOSTEDT/SJÖSTEDT 1893]
● "Cuculus Aurivillii" SJÖSTEDT 1892 [synonymous to Cuculus clamosus gabonensis LAFRESNAYE 1853]
● "Xenocichla clamans" [today's Sjostedt's Greenbul Baeopogon clamans SJÖSTEDT 1893 a k a "White-tailed Greenbul" or " Sjöstedt’s Honeyguide Greenbul"]
● and "Symplectes auricomus" SJÖSTEDT 1895 [synonymous to Ploceus preussi REICHENOW 1892]

They´re all mentioned in the Introduction (pp. 3-4, attached) of this long article.

But; how come he didn´t mention the Owlet, among those six? Or does it say that Sjöstedt himself had described six new species from what was discovered during the Expedition?

Another thing that I don´t feel sure about is if Sjöstedt included birds collected by others, as well, in this article, or if he only deals with the specimens collected during "his" own Expedition. If so, are those birds included, or excluded, in the numbers above!? What about the "… 52 Arten nicht weniger als 32, …" mentioned on page 4?

Anyone (Andrea, or someone else) feel like explaining?

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PS. The Pigeon (that Reichenow named, three years after this article was published) is found on page 37 (attached), as "Columba arquatrix TEMM." [today's African Olive-pigeon dito TEMMINCK 1809] and "his own", Sjöstedt's Owlet, is found on pp. 42-43 (attached as well, basically quoting Reichenow 1893) with the short additional information of the Owlets eye colour, type location and rightful collector's; "Kamerungebirge, Knutson und Valdau."

PPs. I don´t think those pages (Sjöstedt's pp.37, 42-43) add much more, or … ?

Well, first he talks about his expedition and the birds he found. He collected 176 species in around 400 specimens. 56 were new for the region and 6 new for science (the six you already described above). As far as I understand he described these six himself.
He also wanted to climb Mount Cameroon as he knew that the flora and fauna up there was quite different. However, due to political unrest, this was impossible. But (back home I guess) he could examine another collection from Mount Cameroon (collected by Knutson and Valdau) with 52 species. 32 of these 52 species were new for Sjöstedt (means he hadn't collected them himself in the lower parts). 11 of these species were not known yet from Cameroon, including Glaucidium Sjöstedti.

André

Thanks André!

I assumed something in those lines … how does that work in accodance with the review of Sjöstedt's publication: Schalow, H. 1895. Y. Sjöstedt, Zur Ornithologie Kameruns nebst einigen Angaben über die Sügethiere des Landes. Ornithologische Monatsberichte 3: 131. (attached). Link to full volume (here).

Anything added by Schalow? Or any contradictory alt. other claims compared to what we´ve found this far!?

What about the number of "Species" ….?

Cheers!

André has given a summary of the article. I think there are a couple of items I can add which may be of interest:

Publishing in German: I think the reason for this may well have been to increase the readership of the article. (We're all publishing in English these days so that as many people as possible may read what we produce, after all.) One assumes he that he was in reasonably good contact with the German crowd, given that Reichenow aimed the owlet after Sjöstedt, and given that Sjöstedt explicitly thanks Reichenow in this article. Publishing with the Swedish Royal society might have had something to do with his sponsors.

The owlet: This was in the collection of species (by Knutson and Valdau) found higher up in the Cameroon mountains where he was prevented from going. So it seems that while the owl was named after him, for the work he had done in the area, he never actually got to see it other than as a specimen. Notably the entry on the owlet is just a more detailed description of the type specimen.

The pigeon: Ironically, this was also in the Knutson and Valdau collection. So it seems that Sjöstedt was the one who looked at their specimens and wanted to note his observation that it looked different from the standard form.

In mathematics entities are surprisingly often named after people who didn't have too much to do with them - maybe there is a version of this in zoology too!

Andrea

Nothing new here. He says that Sjöstedt describes his trip and the collection he made and the one of Knutson and Valdau. The only thing I'm slightly irritated is "in total he discusses 212 species".
He collected 176, has seen another 3 (which he didn't collect) and there are an additional 32 from the other collection. If I add these figures I get 211.....B

André

counting-error?

Niels

Thanks André and Andrea!

Two short remaing questions ...

What does this mean (in this context)...

Calalp said:

was collected during a 15 month long Expedition [1890-1892] ... Of those were 56 new for "Kamerungebiet" ["the Cameroon Area" or "in the vicinity of (Mount) Cameroon?]

Click to expand...

And when did Sjösted's Expedition started and ended?

Cheers!

I think with Kamerungebiet he means the country itself. He's certainly not talking about the vicinity of Mount Cameroon, but always about Cameroon (as a country I guess).
The expedition started in late October 1890 and lasted 15 months, so we have to calculate the end date...

André

Thanks André!

Time to "wrap it up" ...

As a curiosity could be worth mentioning that the collector Knut Knutson who personally shot the Owlet was quite unhappy with its name, commemorating Yngve Sjöstedt. Mr. Knutson thought Sjöstedt was a coward that simply did not dare to climb Mount Cameroon. What Knutson felt about the name of the Pigeon, also collected by him (and Valdau), we do not know. I guess it didn´t make him any happier.

Neither Knut Knutson nor George Valdau never got commemorated in any birds. Anyway, not that I know of. Well,it´s not a fair world …

That´s about it.

Yngve Sjöstedt … over and out!