Grafisia (1 Viewer)

cuckooroller said:

Daniel,
Either I am totally in the fog, or you might have responded to the subject of another thread, in this thread?

Maybe you wanted this thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=223484

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Oops ! Thank you Steve, yes you are right ... this is because I am also expecting an answer for this thread, but I went too fast as often.

I will post it on the right thread.

Daniel, I thought your response looked familiar! I have been up all night, so I KNOW I am in a fog! I just got the following response from Isabel at the Senkenberg, so another option bit the dust. Is your information coming from the same source?

Dear Susan Manchester,

Thank you for sending further information about your request concerning the full name of Dr. H. Graf.

In the meantime my colleagues and me made extensive investigations about this in our archives. We checked the articles published by Senckenberg and made inquiries in old original correspondences between Dr. H. Graf and Dr. R. Mertens. In addition we checked our database and the historical chronics.
Unfortunatelly in all cases we found the first name was abbreviated (Dr. H. Graf). Always with an initial "H." as first name.

We are very sorry that we could not be further help in this matter.
Please do not hesitate to contact us in case of further questions.

With best regards
i.A. Isabell Clasen


--------------------------------------------
Isabell Clasen
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum
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Senckenberganlage 25
60325 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

E-mail [email protected]
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Susan Manchester said:

Is your information coming from the same source?

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No, it's coming only from the internet through Google ... and my subsequent request to knowledgable authorities hasn't been answered yet.

Is there any possibility that this genus was named for Johann Graf von Borcke? He was a herpetologist (Kentropyx borckiana was named for him), and he was alive at the right time.

Quite unlikely. As said by others before, in "H. Graf", Graf is a surname. In "Johann Graf von Borcke" it is a title of nobility, placed after the first name, as usual in Germany since 1919.

As still not solved give him a next try.

The Eponym Dictionary of Birds also only claims:

White-collared Starling genus Grafisia G. L. Bates, 1926
Dr H. Graf (fl.1909) was a German herpetologist who collected in the Cameroons.

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In 1929 there was a Pflanzungsarzt Dr. Graf , Buea ( Kamerun , Westafrika )

And that should be a

Graf , Hellmuth , Dr. med . , Pflanzungsarzt , Buea

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No idea about his life dates.

Hellmuth Graf

Not German but a British South African:

Birth 6 Dec 1899 Johannesburg, South Africa

Not a criminal but a suspected enemy national. Subsequently cleared and returned to Cameron till at least 1945. A Doctor in SW Africa till 1955.

PScofield said:

Birth 6 Dec 1899 Johannesburg, South Africa

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Apparently 6 Dec in the passenger list, but not really cleanly written; 7 Nov (am siebenten November) in the marriage record.

(Spouse: Hildegard Emilie PLANZ, stenotypist, b. in Barmen, Deutschland, 30 Dec 1903. His residence in 1929 -- when he got married -- was Buea in Kamerun. Hers was Berlin, Luisen Ufer 51.)

Some may wonder what he was doing in Berlin getting married. Attached is the 1942 British Medical Directory page showing he graduated MD from Hamburg got a degree in 1937 from Liverpool in 1932 and practiced in London in 1924.

As OD wasn't found in original thread we can find it here. Maybe more in The Ibis as OD gives no hint if the name is really for him.

Taphrospilus said:

As OD wasn't found in original thread we can find it here. Maybe more in The Ibis as OD gives no hint if the name is really for him.

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I find nothing in Ibis.

Trying to find his death date.

This is his brother:


and attached is his residence in 1955 where he was an ostrich farmer in Outjo, South West Africa (now Namibia)!

If he stayed in South West Africa during the SWAPO insurgency he may have been a victim. A Hellmuth Graf is a resident of Berlin from the 1950s till at least 1979 but it's not him as it says "BauDir. a.D.".

I was looking at this paper of Mertens (see post earlier) and it has collecting locality for a frog:

SMF 46334: 1 s. ad. Outjo; Dr. H. GRAF 1. 1952

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So this proves that we have the right guy!

For what it's worth, the Nature History Museum data portal also lists three specimens from Cameroon presented by "Dr H Graf" in Feb 1929 -- a crocodile (1929.2.27.2-4, Osteolaemus tetraspis), a chameleon (1929.2.27.1, Chameleo montium) and a mudskipper (1929.2.25.1, Periophthalmus koelreuteri).