The unknown Danish Mr. Andersen's Regal Sunbird and his Usambara Weaver (1 Viewer)

While checking up the Swedish Mr. Andersson's, commemorated in various birds, I stumbled across this Eponym:

anderseni as in:
● the subspecies Cinnyris regius (alt. Nectarinia regia) anderseni WILLIAMS 1950 (Note: OD unseen by me!) ... but "Collected for T. Andersen. Presented by the Coryndon Museum, Nairobi" (here)
● the subspecies Ploceus nicolli anderseni FRANZMANN 1983 (here):

This subspecies is named after the collector, the late Thorkild Andersen, whose collection of birds from Tanzania is one of the most extensive ever made.

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… which I assume (!) is the Danish (large-scale) collector Thorkild Andersen, who had a farm (Fatemi Sisal Estate) outside Kidugallo, in Tanganyika (British East Africa, today's Tanzania) between 1947 and 1967. He left his Sisal farm in 1967 (due to failing Economy hence the competition by Nylon).

This Thorkild Andersen collected several thousand of specimens (at least 8532, according to Britton 1981) for various German Museums (Munich, Bonn, Stuttgart, etc.) as well several to the (British) Natural History Museum and other dittos (Leiden, Basel etc.). Some of the many birds he delivered/sold to the Natural History Museum of Denmark is to be seen here. They have 4000 skins collected by the same Thorkild Andersen.

I haven´t found any years, neither of his birth nor his death, unless (of course) the "b.1912" found in both the HBW Alive Key and The Eponym Dictionary of Birds (2014). But what they based that claim on is unknown to me.

Even if he isn´t one of "my guys" (commemorated in any Swedish Common name), surely it must be possible to find both the birth and death of such a significant collector?

Anyone know?

Björn

PS. In any case: not to confuse with the Danish Geologist, pollen researcher, etc., Svend Thorkild Andersen (1926–2009) a k a Svend Thorkild "Høsterkøb".
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Calalp said:

● the subspecies Cinnyris regius (alt. Nectarinia regia) anderseni WILLIAMS 1950 (Note: OD unseen by me!) ... but "Collected for T. Andersen. Presented by the Coryndon Museum, Nairobi" (here)

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The OD says:

I have pleasure in naming this new sunbird

Cinnyris regius anderseni,​

in honour of Mr. T. Andersen as a recognition of his enthusiasm and energy in investigating the avifauna of the remoter mountain forests of Tanganyika Territory.

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And, further down, about the holotype:

Collector, Salimu Asumani, for T. Andersen.

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Thanks, Laurent, Salimu bin Asmani (a k a Salimu Asumani) , a trained native collector (employed also by Loveridge, here, p.7) could be linked (for example, here, and elsewhere) to the Uluguru Mountains from where some of Andersen's birds originated, thereby I think it's fairly safe to consider it linked to the latter.

This is what I have from years ago.....

ANDERSEN, Thorkild, accumulated large collection in Tanzania

Danish collector who extensively collected in Tanzania for 20 years (1947-1967), and collected (Copenhagen collection) West Lake (north of the Kagera River), Kigoma (Mahari Mountains), Njombe Highlands and Ruvuma (Songea) and eastern regions like Uluguru and Pare mountains, Mikindani, Soga, Kidugallo and Lembeni. The RMNH collections are mostly from Mikidani, through Morogoro and Rovuma regions. The Stuttgart skins orginate mainly from the Kilimanjaro region, and the Basel once originate from Soga. The collections accumulated numbered 11.400 specimens of 690 species.


Collections
Copenhagen: - 3949 skins
Bonn: - 1578 skins
Stuttgart: - 971 skins
Munchen: - 3200 skins
Basel: - 285 skins
AMNH: - 9 skins
RMNH: - 1749 skins (June 1965 250 skins, October 1965 610 and 15-11-1966 889 skins, all were purchased)

Literature
Andersen T., Knipper H. & Petri H-H. 1959. Ostafrikanische Tierfallen. Fallen der Wakwere. In veröffentlichungen aus dem Uberseemuseum (Bremen) 1: 189-191

Biographical details
1). Williams J.G. 1950. A new race of Cinnyris regius from Tanganyika. Ibis 92; 644-645; 2). Friedmann H. & Stager K.E. 1964. Results of the 1964 Cheney Tanganyika Expedition. Ornithology. Contributions in Science, Los Angeles: 84. 3). Britton P.L. 1978. The Andersen collection from Tanzania. Scopus 2: 77–85; 4). Britton P.L. 1981. Notes on the Andersen collector and other specimens housed in some West German museums. Scopus 5; 14-21; 5). Jensen F.P., Tøttrup A.P. & Christensen K.D. 2005. The Avifauna of coastal forest in Southeast Tanzania, Scopus 25: 1-22.

Andersen's Pied Bushchat

Well, two months's gone and nothing new, nothing added on Mr. Andersen, time to push on ...

Thereby let´s take a quick look at the only other Dane by the name Andersen, commemorated in yet another bird, this time in:

● the subspecies Saxicola caprata anderseni SALOMONSEN 1953 (here):

Named in honour of Mr. Torben Andersen, member of The Danish Philippine Expedition 1951-52

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He is also mentioned in Finn Salomonsens book Mindanao: Oplevelser og Hændelser under Den danske ekspedition til Philippinerne 1951-52 (1952):

"Torben Andersen, ekspeditionens Benjamin, lige færdig med første del af sin embedseksamen, efter at have været medlem af Peary Land ekspeditionen året før …" [(in English) "Torben Andersen, the youngest of the expedition, as well finished with the first level of his scholarly degree, after having been a member of the Peary Land Expediton the year before …"]

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He apparently participated in the Danske Peary Land ekspedition 1947–50, and he was later titled: mag. scient., (thereby I guess he did finish his degree on all levels), on top of that, he was the Leader of the Danish Arctic Station (on Greenland) between 1964 and 1967. And in those years Editor of Meddelelse om Grønland. A photo of this guy is published here, on p.7.

But that´s about it, that´s all I can find on that particular Andersen.

Anyone know anything more on this guy?

Björn
_________________________________________

Not to confuse with Torben M. Andersen, professor in economics, nor with today's Arctic researcer Torben Bo Toldam-Andersen. Or with any other Dane by the same name. There´s quite a few of them.

Not to confuse with Torben M. Andersen, professor in economics, nor with today's Arctic researcer Torben Bo Toldam-Andersen. Or with any other Dane by the same name. There´s quite a few of them.

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I bet that is right!

Your translation into English, I get the feeling that the intent was to say that he had just finished the first part/level of his education, the one that later was completed as a Mag Scient.

I wonder if someone within DOF (Dansk Ornitologisk Forening) would know more.

Niels

njlarsen said:

... the intent was to say that he had just finished the first part/level of his education, ...

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Niels, and I bet that you´re right. Your Danish is far better than mine! :t:

Forhåbentlig ... Let´s hope there is any DOF members reading this.

Björn

All,

I stumbled upon this thread while doing a search in Google, hence the very late reply.

Thorkild Andersen was/is my maternal grandfather.

He was born on the 30th of November 1912 in Anna Sogn, Copenhagen, DK
He died in 1981 in Sorö, DK

Besides a prolific collector of birds and small mammals, he was also an avid big game hunter and fisher during his time in East Africa.

Picture attached from one of his expeditions.

Please let me know if you would like further information.

Kind Regards
Adam Griffiths

Welcome to BirdForum, Adam ...

And what an entrance! :t:

Much appreciated

Björn

To the other Mr Andersen (i.e. Torben Andersen, as in post #5-7) we might add a few years, on top of the "fl.1967" (as per today's Key), this as he seems to have been around also in 1971/72 ... (see here and/or here).

He also seems to have been consulted in preparation of this paper; Zur Biologie, insbesondere Ethographie der Polarmöwe (published in 1986), see p.115.

Other than that, nothing new.

Still no Danish readers here on BirdForum that might know of him?

/B

As I came accross him in Eponym I give the person discussed in #5 and #10 a restart. Perhaps there are new findings on Torben Andersen?(But no obvious to me)

The Key state:

Thorkild Andersen (1912-1981) Danish sisal planter in Tanganyika 1947-1967, collector, big-game hunter and angler (Adam Griffiths in litt.) (subsp. Cinnyris regius, Cisticola (Tom Schulenberg in litt.), subsp. Ploceus nicolli).

recently commeratored with the White-tailed Cisticola Cisticola anderseni "Fjeldså, Dinesen, Davies et al.", 2021

Sorry Melanie, I don't get what you tried to insert with the post above ...

Note that the Key also has:

● Dr Torben Andersen (fl. 1967) Danish zoologist, explorer and researcher in ... (subsp. Saxicola caprata).

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And I think this is the guy we've tried to focus on lately.