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Mr. Wollweber, Mr. Alxandre/Alexander and Mr. Rieffer (1 Viewer)

Björn Bergenholtz

Björn Bergenholtz

(former alias "Calalp")
Sweden
Taphrospilus said:
P. S. Apart from that there are still a lot of mystery persons e.g. wollweberi, alexandri, riefferi we know nothing or nearly nothing about.
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Ok … let´s have quick a look at those ones. I started a separate thread, not to interrupt Mr. Jobling's search for his last missing OD's.

Now, let's see if we together can add something, whatever small or large, on those obscure Eponyms, first: Mr. Wollweber

Today explained in the HBW Alive Key as follow:
wollweberi
Wollweber (fl. 1850) German traveller, collector in Mexico for the Darmstadt Mus. (see Mearns & Mearns 1992) (Aphelocoma, Baeolophus).
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Richmond Cards, here and here, as in:

● Mexican Jay Aphelocoma wollweberi KAUP 1855 (1854?, here, only in the foot-note) as "Aphelocoma Wollweberi"

● Bridled Titmouse Baeolophus wollweberi BONAPARTE 1850 (here) as "Lophophanes wollweberi"

In either case no dedication nor explanation (from what I can tell), and the Bird Collection of the Darmstadt Museum (where both those types was held) was destroyed during WW2 … however also see this link (here), a text by A. J. van Rossem 1947. Apparently, according to the original specimen label, it does look like the type of the Titmouse was collected by and in "Westerm[ann] Mexico" (not by Wollweber), but "Geschenk des Herrn Wollweber" (Gift of Mr. Wollweber) to the Darmstadt Museum… !?

Maybe of some help?

Is there possibly a local bird collector in Darmstadt by the name Wollweber?

Also consider Hellmayr's Birds of the Americas 1934 (page 84, here, have patience it´s a large pdf-file), with a reference to an article by "Westermann" (most likely the same guy? Or not?) in Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 1851 (attached, but written by "G. F. Westerman"*). If it adds anything? You need to know Dutch to find out!

On top of that see the following links; here, here, [URL="https://books.google.se/books?id=IJYVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA112&dq=Friedrich+Wollweber+Darmstadt&hl=sv&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiL8KOu1sDLAhUqMZoKHWGCC9AQ6AEIQzAF#v=onepage&q=Wollweber%20&f=false"]here[/URL] and here (If the latter two are relevant I do not know? A Mr. "Wollweber, Mitprediger in Butzbach", "Willhelm Wollweber … " whatvever that means? Is Wollweber a common name?

I guess you need to know German, or Dutch, to search any further …

_____________________________________________________________________________
*most likely the Dutch zoologist Gerardus Frederik Westerman (1807–1890) … but did he travel?
 

Attachments

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Dr. Alexandre and Professor Alexander … and yet another Dr. Alexander (Smith)

Regarding alexandri I assume Martin mean either one of these guys (from todays HBW Alive Key):
alexandri / alexandrii
[...]
● Dr Alexandre (fl. 1840) who practised in Mexico and sent specimens to Paris; the “Alexandre” of Bourcier & Mulsant 1846 (Archilochus).
[...]
● A. H. Alexander (fl. 1878) US taxidermist (syn. Heliodoxa xanthogonys).
[...]
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As in:
● Black-chinned Hummingbird Archilochus alexandri BOURCIER & MULSANT 1846 (here) as "T. [Trochilus] Alexandri" a k a Alexander Hummingbird
Nous avons dédié cette espèce au naturaliste qui Ta découverte, M. le docteur Alexandre, de Mexico.
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Nothing additional on this guy I´m afraid.

● or the invalid "Aphantochroa alexandri" BOUCARD 1891, here (syn. Heliodoxa xanthogonys SALVIN & GODMAN 1882)
I have dedicated this species to Mr. Alexander, of New York, who discovered it in 1878
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According to the Richmond Card (here) we´re looking for a Mr. Alexander, of Hoboken, New York. That gives us, with only minor parts added…
= the US taxidermist Professor A. H. Alexander, of West Hoboken, New York.

See the following links; here and here.

If of any help?

--------------------

But what about this one!?

Yet another alexandri, this one not listed in the HBW Alive Key:

● the invalid "Lobornis alexandri" SHARPE 1874, here (i.e. a juvenile specimen of Parmoptila woodhousei CASSIN 1859)
I name this bird after Dr. Alexander Smith, to whom the Museum has often been indebted for additions to its collection.
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Who´s he!?
-
 
Mr. Rieffer

And, at last, the obscure Mr. "Rieffer" (alt. "Riéffer" or "Riéfer"), last year also dealt with in the thread riefferi / riefferii ...

As of today's HBW Alive Key (still) explained as:
riefferi / riefferii
Gabriel Rieffer (fl. 1840) French explorer, collector in tropical America (syn. Amazilia tzacatl, Chlorornis, Pipreola).
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● Green-and-black Fruiteater Pipreola riefferii BOISSONNEAU 1840 (here) as "Ampelis Riefferii"
Nous lui avons conservé le nom que M. Temminck nous avait proposé de lui donner.
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● Grass-green Tanager Chlorornis riefferii BOISSONNEAU 1840 (on the next-following page, or here) as "Tanagra Riefferii"

● the invalid "T. [Trochilus] Riefferi" BOURCIER & MULSANT 1843, here, a k a "Le Rieffer", alt. here (syn. Amazilia tzacatl DE LA LLAVE 1833)
BOURCIER & MULSANT 1843: Nous avons dédié cette espèce à M. Rieffer, voyageur dans cette partie de l’Amérique méridionale, d’où il a rapporté de riches collections.
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BOURCIER 1843: Nous avons dédié cette espèce à M. Rieffer, voyageur dans cette partie de l'Amérique méridionale, qui , le premier, a rapporté de riches collections d'oiseaux de différents genres.
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Richmond note here. Anyone know of any such book?

If he truly was French, or Dutch is beyond my knowledge. His name has also been written: Riéffer, with accent and double-f (see here,p.460 alt.in the following Wiki-pages; here and here). Isn´t that the spelling that Mearns & Mearns use in their book The Bird Collectors (1997)? I read it, once again, not long ago, however I don´t have it at hand, but that´s how I remember it …?

If of any help?

Björn

PS. I´ve seen no trace (other than the one we know of since last year's thread) of his first name being "Gabriel". Maybe we´re simply looking for: Charles Marie JuIes Louis Riéfer (Charles-Marie-JuIes-Louis Riéfer)!? He apparently collected some Naturalia (at least snakes) together with Hippolyte Joseph Henri Goudot in South America during the early 1800's. Who knows?

PPS. That´s all I can find. Lucky for me none of those guys are present in my "List to check", that only deals with the Swedish Common Bird names.

Well that´s all I can find, this far. Good luck to anyone giving those obscure Eponyms another go!
--
 
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Calalp said:
PS. I´ve seen no trace (other than the one we know of since last year's thread) of his first name being "Gabriel". Maybe we´re simply looking for: Charles Marie JuIes Louis Riéfer (Charles-Marie-JuIes-Louis Riéfer)!? He apparently collected some Naturalia (at least snakes) together with Hippolyte Joseph Henri Goudot in South America during the early 1800's. Who knows?

--
Click to expand...

How did you come to this full name of Riéfer? I found this name only here and no Link to Colombia and the name there is in fact Kiéfer.
 
G F Westerman was the founder and first director (for 50 years) of Natura Arts Magistra, in short Artis, the Amsterdam Zoo. His paper on wollweberi mentions a Dr Kaup from Darmstadt so with Wollweber also linked to Darmstadt, surely there must be a connection between these two?
 
Kaup supposedly says in the OD of the jay, Zaccatekas, durch Hrn. Wollweber in hiesiger Sanimlung, ???
Kaup in 1850 names a bird after Lord Derby from Zacatecas and Wollweber.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/46212#page/473/mode/1up .
The Westerman picture of P. wollweber is the second ever published picture. Cassin was first.
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/17633#page/407/mode/1up .
The connection to the state of Zacatecas and Germans is silver. There were and still are silver mines in Zacatecas. There is evidence of German speaking people coming to work on the mines and to help modernize them. G. Meyer and Wollweber was a manufacturer of silverware from Berlin. Perhaps someone working for the silversmiths and living in Zacatecas sent birds to a rich Hern.. Wollweber who shared with Damstadt Museum?
http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Archiv-Naturgeschichte_16-1_0042-0043.pdf .
 
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V. Wollweber (teacher in Frankfurt near Darmstadt) and author or cartographer of Heimatkunde vom preußischen Regierungsbezirk Kassel Kurhessen or Kärtchen des Stadt- und Landkreises Frankfurt für die Heimatkunde or Schulkarte des Grossherzogtums Hessen für die Heimatkunde may also be a candidate. But just my guess.

Calalp said:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k63105124/texteBrut
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This link is the same as the one I mentioned. But if you look in the real scan of the book (your link without texteBrut) you will see the name is in fact Kiéfer and not Riéfer.
 
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Riéfer, Rieffer ...

Taphrospilus said:
... But if you look in the real scan of the book (your link without texteBrut) you will see the name is in fact Kiéfer and not Riéfer.
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Ok, fair enough, I´ll take your word for it, but it´s at least Riéfer in the other two. ;)

Remember, he might be of no relevance in connection to those birds.
---
 
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Sorry you misunderstood me. In the book you mentioned is no Riéfer. It is just a misinterpretation in the text mode. He is not at all the person we are looking for. And the other links do not contain the first name. But I agree Riéfer, Riéffer, Rieffer (or even Reiffer I have seen) collected as well snakes (and may be other natural history items).
 
I have this:
REIFFER, M. Philip Lutley Sclater described some birds collected by Reiffer at Bogota (Colombia).
°Col. several birds are present at RMNH for example, however the exact number is unknown. (Black-chested Jay)
°Bio. Stowell Rounds R., 1990. Men and birds in South America 1492 to 1900. --- Ford Bragg.
 
JustinJansen said:
I have this:
REIFFER, M. Philip Lutley Sclater described some birds collected by Reiffer at Bogota (Colombia).
...
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Thanks for your input Justin, but if it´s this article (here) by Sclater 1857 you mean, I think "Reiffer" is a typo (as well as the incorrect subsequent spelling of the scientific name "reifferi") as Sclater there refer back to "Bourcier R. Z. 1843, p. 103" (R. Z. = Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne), see second/alternate link for T. [Trochilus] Riefferi", in Post #3.

Also consider this text about Mr. Riéffer, by Voisin & Voisin 2009 (here, p. 476):
Riéffer séjournait à l’époque à Bogota en Colombie et voyageait dans la région à la recherche de spécimens qu’il faisait parvenir au MNHN, et sans doute aussi à des collectionneurs privés en Europe, dont Masséna (Boissoneau 1840). La seule indication donnée par Masséna et Souancé, en plus de la description, est « habite la Nouvelle Grenade et la Colombie ».
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He apparently delivered bird to Masséna as well! That connect him with three major Bird Collectors/Collections (Massena, Boissoneau & Temminck).

It sure is a mystery he is nowhere to be found!

Björn

PS. The MNHN (Muséum national d’histoire naturelle) is apparently not too consistent in their spelling themselves, see; Rieffer vs Riefer! Ought to be the same guy. ;)
--
 
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In Pamphlets on Biology: Kofoid collection Vol 1290 p. 33 and 40 is as well a link to Lafresnaye. It is just the question if they got their specimen from the natural history dealer Boissonneau or from anywhere else. Of course Verreaux got as well specimens from him. See here.

As well he is mentioned in Catalogue systématique des types de trochilidés du Muséum national d'histoire de Paris par Christian Jouanin. Iassume because of Amazilia riefferi or Rieffer's Hummingbird or l'Ariane de Rieffer.

P. S. Yes, it is Viceroyalty of New Granada (even if I am not sure if it still exists in 1838/39/40 when Riéffer collected). New Granada (only) might be correct.
 
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The "Kofoid collection" is a ragtag collection of small works on biology acquired by the American zoologist Charles Atwood Kofoid, that were apparently bound into volumes, grouping together works in a way where I often fail to see the logic. But it seems to include quite a few rare things. In the present case, the volume starts with reprints of some of Gregor Mendel's works on hybridisation; but the "part" where Google finds Rieffer is a re-paginated separate of a publication by Menegaux & Hellmayr, that appeared in the Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle d'Autun in 1906.

Original on Gallica: [p.73] (=p.33 of the reprint), [p.80] (=p.40 of the reprint).
 
Calalp said:
I think the "Kofoid collection Vol 1290 p. 33 and 40" (i.e. Lafresnay) refer back to Temminck's collection, here.
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Not really: Lafresnaye there merely compares his S. unirufus to another bird that is in Temminck's collection ("Il est voisin du Syn. ardent, Tem. Col." -- "It is close to the Synallax ardent, Tem. Coll." = Synallaxis rutilans Temminck [here]).
He doesn't suggest that the type of his new species (the one obtained by Rieffer fide Menegaux & Hellmayr 1906:73[=33]) is in Temminck's collection.
 
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