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HBWAlive Key; mission accomplished or mission impossible? (2 Viewers)

Anna's Palau Bush-Warbler

While recently dealing with Mr Hartlaub I decided to have a go at the remaining (the very last unsolved bird with this name), the all unexplained ...

annae as in:
• the Palau Bush-Warbler (Cettia) Horornis annae HARTLAUB & FINSCH 1868 (here, and Plate here), as "Psamathia annæ", [Psammathia (sic) ..., on the plate!], no dedication, nor any explanation, nothing ...

In today's HBW Alive Key we find the following:
annae
[...]
● Female eponym; dedication not given (Hartlaub & Finsch 1868, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 5, pl. 2); perhaps after a relative of Hartlaub or Finsch, or of the magnate Godeffroy, or, doubtfully, after Anna Kubary née Yelliott (d. 1937) daughter of US missionary on Ponapé and wife of Polish collector Jan Kubary (Michael Grayson in litt.) (Horornis).
[...]
Thereby, first, let's focus on the former guys (and their closest), mentioned in the quote above:

  • The wife of Carl Johann Gustav Hartlaub (1814–1900) was Caroline (1824–1900).
  • The ditto (i.e. first) wife of Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (1839–1917), was Josefina Wychodil*.
  • [Finsch's second wife was Elisabeth, (1860–1925), née Hoffman (they married in 1886)].
  • And the wife of Johan Cesar (Cæsar/César?) VI Godeffroy (1813–1885) was Emily (1815–1894).

No Anna found, at least not among the wives ... note; (this far) daughters, mothers, aunts, cousins, friends etc., etc., all unchecked.

To be continued ...

Björn
_________________________________________________________________________________
* Finsch's first wife Josefina ("Fine") was earlier (back in 2014) dealt with in thread Miss Josefin/a/e in Charmosyna josefinae (here)
 
Continuation of the search for the missing Anna ...

Without having seen Gabriele Hoffmann's book Das Haus an der Elbchaussee: Die Geschichte einer Reederfamilie, 2000 (and even if I had, I couldn't read it! ;)), I see no reason why this bird would/should be bamed after Godeffroy's mother-in-law!? That would be odd (sure, not unheard-of, but rare). I haven't thought that far, not of her. This far I haven't risen my field of vision above the/their closest family, though, of course, it could be. Or not.

However, with no apparent cause, to follow that trail, more than a (very, very Common) given name, I find nothing indicating that it would be fruitful. At this point I think we should stick close(r) to the Authors ... simply/possibly to find to (include, or exclude) any likely, more closely related dedicatee/s. In my experience (of most female names), if not named after a wife, the second-most-common would be a child, and then (in no particular order), a colleague, an assistant, a Field collector, a significant "big shot", like a Queen, or a Patron (Patroness), a Saint, (a mistress), ... and so on.

Thus, if we follow Mr Hartlaub's entry in Deutsche biographie (here) we find one kid, a Son; (by the name Carl).

For Otto Finsch the same source (here) gives us: "1 T.", i.e. "Eine Tochter/One daughter (no name), most likely from his second Marriage? According to Hilary Howes, 2018, (here), her name was; Esther*.

And for "Johan César Godeffroy, VI" we find five kids; three Sons and two Daughters (here) ... but no Anna in sight.

The remaining possibility (at this level, this close to the Family) is that Finsch could have had a daughter (by the name Anna) with his first wife Josefina, but if he/they did ... is unknown to me.

/B
__________________________________
*"Esther" is also found in Reiter, 2010; here (on p.48)
 
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Regarding a possible connection to Josefina (Finsch) ...

... of whom we know very little ["... apart from the approximate dates of their marriage (ca. 1873) and divorce (during Finsch’s 1879-82 Pacific voyage", according to Hilary Howes (2018), link in the preceding post].

Either way, see the old thread Miss Josefin/a/e in Charmosyna josefinae (again; here), where it was shown that Otto and Josefina (not Josephine) did have a child, who died, during Finsch's first South Seas voyage in 1881-82, resulting in their divorce.

I guess the Key question, at this point, is; if that poor child was, or could be, "our" Anna ...?

If Otto Finsch named a lorikeet for his (first) wife in 1872 (as he did), he (and Hartlaub) could very well (at least in my mind) have named a Bush-Warbler for a (his?) child in 1868.

But if he truly did ... I haven't got a clue! The name (and sex) of this child seems unknown.

/B

PS. Equally unknown is the age of this kid. I don't even know if it was born in (or pre-) 1868. Probably not. Who knows?
--
 
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First posting here after a long time lurking, so please be gentle :)

While researching Lanius shrikes for my blog, I couldn't come up with a convincing explanation for 'marwitzi' (as in Lanius collaris marwitzi). The Key points to Adalbert von der Marwitz (i.e. Georg Cornelius Adalbert von der Marwitz, 1856–1929).

Marwitzi is always used by Reichenow (e.g. for shrike, swallow, wood hoopoe sspp.) in honour of a 'Oberleutnant v.d. Marwitz'. I believe this is not Adalbert v.d. Marwitz but Lothar von der Marwitz. According to the French wikipedia page for Georg Adalbert (<https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_von_der_Marwitz>), Marwitz was stationed in Berlin in 1899; further, he was no longer Oberleutnant (which is Reichenow's address) but Major, and not yet Oberstleutnant.

The only other Oberleutnant von der Marwitz, stationed in the region, seems to be a Lothar von der Marwitz, of which is very little known, only that he was stationed in the region at the time the types were collected. He is most likely the Marwitz of Iringa garrison/Malangali station and the 'Uhehe' region, involved in the so-called Maji Maji rising, mentioned in various sources.

One source is https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14527399.pdf (search for marwitz): bibliographical entry of travels through German East Africa by a Oberleutnant Lothar von der Marwitz.

BTW I think the von der Marwitz in Cameroon might be someone else altogether again.

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

Joek Roex
http://birdsandwords.eu
 
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Thanks to readers, great inroads have been made to my original lists (see #1). To bring them up to date here are supplementary lists of (1) additional eponyms where the dedicatee has still to be found, and (2) additional epithets that remain unidentified (Gregory Mathews strikes again! see the various entries in the Key for further information);

1. disneyi, elvirae, emma/emmae, enidae, georginae, granti, livingstonei, sophia/sophiae, stokesii, sybillae, youngi.

2. acormus, Ateolepodes, bamba, bandi, benulasa, bilbali, braba, breda, brenda, burvedii, cela, chavaria, cherina, culequita, dingi, gangi, gonada, greda, harlic, impipi, ladasi, licua, maga, Maridus, melba, Misamichus, mugga, munna, musae, myrtae, neera, Polachio, publa, pyca, sala, sanctinicolai, sapiti, sephaena, shanbu, Siolia, tigus, tiphia, urica, velia, zamba, zarda.
 
disneyi

Here:


Etymology. Named for Henry John de Suffren Disney, formerly Curator of Birds at the Australian Museum, in honour of his contributions to the study of Australian birds, particularly another flightless rail, the Lord Howe Island Woodhen Gallirallus sylvestris.

Here as Henry John de Suffren Disney (1919–2014).
 
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Gallirallus disneyi is now called Australlus disneyi (Boles, 2005). The genus Australlus was created by Trevor Worthy and Walter Boles in 2011, the type species is Gallirallus disneyi Boles, 2005.

Enjoy,

Fred
 
Thanks, Martin. However, Henry John de Suffren Disney had not been born when Mathews (1912) described Ardeiralla flavicollis disneyi, and as yet I cannot reconcile the Rev. Young, who collected in tropical Africa, with the Australian Pachycephala gutturalis youngi Mathews, 1912.
PS. And Gallirallus (Australlus) disneyi falls outside the criteria for inclusion in the Key (i.e. earlier than the Pleistocene).
 
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sophiae

...the Russian one:
Haзываю ее въ память покойной моей дочери, имѣвшей нѣкоторое отношеніе къ добычѢ перваго экземпляра,
Sturnus sophiae, sp. n.​
...which should mean something like "I name it in memory of my late daughter, who was involved in obtaining the first specimen, Sturnus sophiae, sp. n."

Софья Валентиновна Бианки, 1881-1889 - https://www.geni.com/people/Софья/6000000079566181025
 
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Ateolepodes

Atéléopodes, Ateleopodes was the name of a "tribe" (in French tribu) in Vieillot's ornithological system -- e.g.: https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45177375
Vieillot's "tribes" were groups at a rank above that of family. Atéléopodes included what is now Procellariiformes and Alcidae.
(Idem for Téléopodes, Teleopodes -- https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45177373 -- which included the current Suliformes, Pelecanidae, Phaethontidae, Heliornithidae, Podicipedidae, Gaviidae, Anseriformes, Stercorariidae and Laridae.)
 
Mr. Jobling I sometimes think you are too hard on Mathews but then I saw gonada.
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/125292#page/45/mode/1up A new name for notabalis.
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/6441/B348.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y page 148.

William Elford Leach's Misamichus.
In Stephens and Brookes. A name for Pallas's Gull. I have always wanted to read Rifle-Green by Nature:
https://www.researchgate.net/public...aturalist_and_his_Family_William_Elford_Leach.
Pallas's Gulls are predatory, taking fish, crustaceans, insects, reptiles, bird eggs and even small mammals. I think all Leach in MS was trying to call them Mis- bad -amicus friend always stealing your eggs and small mammals.
Taxa named by Leach:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Taxa_named_by_William_Elford_Leach .
Many other genera created by Leach have classical names such as Hippolyte, Eurydice and Palaemon.
 
Mark
Thanks for the useful comment on Misamichus, which I have added to the Key entry.
Mathews's creations add spice to our lives in etymology. I have this feeling that gonada is a corrupted anagram of ??.
 
Just a guess same original as the moth genus Gonada? Maybe from this text any useful input for the etymology?

Not sure if here has any relation to the bird:


late 19th century: from modern Latin gonades, plural of gonas, from Greek gonē ‘generation, seed’
 
Mark
Thanks for the useful comment on Misamichus, which I have added to the Key entry.
Mathews's creations add spice to our lives in etymology. I have this feeling that gonada is a corrupted anagram of ??.

Re gonada: did he come across a bird with enlarged gonads and was that the origin of the name?

Niels
 
Regarding; gonada, livingstone/ii, emmae and sophia

Too busy at work this week, and now; Wow! Even more long lists, of unidentified names :eek!: ... and full activity in this (what I believed) slumbering thread ... and I wasn't even finished with post #1 (or #19), sigh. Like you recently noted James; "So much to do, so little time".

Well, well, here goes (from the hip, after a quick look/search), here's my attempt on four of the new ones;

1. gonada as in:
• the invalid "Glycifohia gonada" MATHWS 1829 (OD, first link in Mark's post #236), new/replacement name for "Glyciphila notabilis" SHARPE 1899 (here), from "Vanua Lava", in today's Vanuatu (alt. here, from 1900).

Could it possibly, simply have something to do with the Greek γονή (gonḗ), as in offspring ... (according to here) ... ?


2. And regarding "livingstonei" (though livingstonii)
•... at least if the unexplained one is the subspecies Oenanthe pileata livingstonii TRISTRAM 1867 (here), as "Campicola livingstonii", no dedication, nothing but: "Hab. Murchison Falls, Zambesi River."

As David Livingstone, in those days, was The talk-of the-town (read; London), and among other merits known as the one who "discovered" the Murchison Falls, a k a the Murchison Cataracts (during his 1858–1864 Expedition), I would say he's a highly likely dedicatee. See for example; here.


3. emmae as in:
• the invalid "Pratincola emmae" HARTLAUB 1890 (here), no dedication [Syn. Saxicola torquatus axillaris (Shelley, 1885)]
... how about Hartlaub's alleged Daughter "Emma Emilie Hartlaub" (here, apparently born 27 September 1860, in Bremen) ... !?

Disclaimer: This Daughter is not mentioned in Hartlaub's entry in Deutsche Biographie! If she indeed existed, or not, is unknown to me (nor can I find her in my Notes).


4. And finally regarding sophia, as in:
• the invalid "Psaltria Sophia" DAVID 1874 (here, in text), from "Kiang-si", China (no dedication) [Syn. Psaltria exilis TEMMINCK 1836], described by the French missionary Abbé (Father) Armand David (1826–1900).

Could it possibly be from the Greek sophia σοφία (wisdom), as in (Sophia, capitalized) the Personification of Wisdom (Koinē Greek: Σοφία), as of here ... ? Just an idea.

If not, I would try to find his Mother. Years would/could/might fit. As Abbé/Père (Father) David was a (devout) Catholic Priest, I don't expect there's a Wife to be found (nor any kids/daughters) ;). According to French Wiki Armand David was born "7 septembre 1826 à Espelette en Pays", (i.e. Espelette/Ezpeleta), in the Southwest of France (on the very Border to the Basque Country, today's Spain), Son of "Dominique David, est médecin et maire du village". Surely a wife of a maire (Mayor) ought to be possible to find?

Could be worth a try? Or not.

However; enjoy (for whatever it's worth)!

Björn
--
 
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