l_raty
laurent raty
The forgotten authorship of Sylvia melanocephala ("Gmelin") -- and a few other names
In 1774-77, Francesco Cetti published a 3-volume work in Italian, titled Storia naturale di Sardegna. The first volume covered mammals; the second one, birds; the third one, amphibians (incl. reptiles) and fishes. The 3 volumes can be seen at:
Cetti did not use scientific names in his text. At the end of the German version, however, the German editor and translator added [an Appendix] with a perfectly binominal list of the animals of Sardinia, which they had derived from Cetti's writings. In this list, they also introduced 9 new species names (4 birds, 2 lizards, 1 snake, 2 fishes), for forms which they thought undescribed, with diagnoses and references to the passages of Cetti's work where they appeared.
The Appendix was titled:
The new names were marked:
Eight of these names were adopted by subsequent workers, who cited them along with diagnoses that were clearly derived from those of the German edition (even if sometimes completed with information taken from the work itself) and gave "Cetti" as their source, adding, in most cases, a page number and the Italian title of the volume where the species was covered. (Of course, the names themselves did not appear in the Italian original version, which made these references quite misleading. It may be noteworthy that, in a number of cases, despite the Italian title, the cited page number corresponded to where the species appeared in the German version.) Five of these names are still in wide use nowadays (1 bird, 2 lizards, 2 fishes). With time, the actual source of these names was apparently lost and these five names are all universally (or nearly so) mis-attributed to later authors.
The bird names, however, all have two cards in the Richmond Index, one citing Gmelin 1788/89, the other giving the correct original source. (Richmond attributed the names in the German edition of Cetti's work to Piesch & Leske.)
The names are:
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Strix zonca Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:8 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA224
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Mergus imperialis Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:11 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA227
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Motacilla melanocephala Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:18 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA234
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Motacilla Moschita Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:18 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA234
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Lacerta tiliguerta Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:21 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA237
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Lacerta Tiligugu Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:21 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA237
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Coluber vipera Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:22 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA238
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Sparus pintazzo Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:28 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA244
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Scomber alalunga Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:31 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA247
(Fortunately, Bonnaterre was before Gmelin, who adopted this name in 1789 with the modified spelling Scomber alatunga - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656821 . Otherwise, the name would presumably be in use with this (incorrect) spelling.)
In 1774-77, Francesco Cetti published a 3-volume work in Italian, titled Storia naturale di Sardegna. The first volume covered mammals; the second one, birds; the third one, amphibians (incl. reptiles) and fishes. The 3 volumes can be seen at:
- https://books.google.com/books?id=eYtmuT-Gmq0C
- https://books.google.com/books?id=bhAAAAAAQAAJ
- https://books.google.com/books?id=ADTWeaXL5zcC
- https://books.google.com/books?id=ewfEHIX4q8IC
- https://books.google.com/books?id=yKdZByEkE90C
- https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC
Cetti did not use scientific names in his text. At the end of the German version, however, the German editor and translator added [an Appendix] with a perfectly binominal list of the animals of Sardinia, which they had derived from Cetti's writings. In this list, they also introduced 9 new species names (4 birds, 2 lizards, 1 snake, 2 fishes), for forms which they thought undescribed, with diagnoses and references to the passages of Cetti's work where they appeared.
The Appendix was titled:
(Appendix establishing a catalogue of the animals of Sardinia, mammals, birds, amphibians, fishes; built from Francesco Cetti's Sardinian fauna, and organized according to the standard of Linnaeus in System. nat. edit. 12.)
The new names were marked:
(We have marked the author's new species with asterisks.)
Eight of these names were adopted by subsequent workers, who cited them along with diagnoses that were clearly derived from those of the German edition (even if sometimes completed with information taken from the work itself) and gave "Cetti" as their source, adding, in most cases, a page number and the Italian title of the volume where the species was covered. (Of course, the names themselves did not appear in the Italian original version, which made these references quite misleading. It may be noteworthy that, in a number of cases, despite the Italian title, the cited page number corresponded to where the species appeared in the German version.) Five of these names are still in wide use nowadays (1 bird, 2 lizards, 2 fishes). With time, the actual source of these names was apparently lost and these five names are all universally (or nearly so) mis-attributed to later authors.
The bird names, however, all have two cards in the Richmond Index, one citing Gmelin 1788/89, the other giving the correct original source. (Richmond attributed the names in the German edition of Cetti's work to Piesch & Leske.)
The names are:
***********
Strix zonca Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:8 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA224
vs. Strix zorca Gmelin 1788:289 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2896889
(Note the corrupted spelling of Gmelin's version; "zonca" is a local Sardinian name for Scops Owl, see https://books.google.com/books?id=bhAAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA60 (Italian), or https://books.google.com/books?id=yKdZByEkE90C&pg=PA59 (German).)
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Mergus imperialis Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:11 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA227
vs. Mergus imperialis Gmelin 1789:547 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656040
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Motacilla melanocephala Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:18 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA234
vs. Motacilla melanocephala Gmelin 1789:970 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656465
This name is in use as Sylvia melanocephala (Gmelin 1789), despite it dates from Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784.
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Motacilla Moschita Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:18 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA234
vs. Motacilla Moschita Gmelin 1789:970 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656465
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Lacerta tiliguerta Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:21 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA237
vs. Lacerta Tiliguerta Gmelin 1789:1070 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656566
This name is in use as Podarcis tiliguerta (Gmelin 1789), despite it dates from Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784.
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Lacerta Tiligugu Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:21 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA237
vs. Lacerta Tiligugu Gmelin 1789:1073 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656569
This name is in use as Chalcides ocellatus tiligugu (Gmelin 1789), despite it dates from Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784.
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Coluber vipera Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:22 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA238
(This one was not used again, I think. The name is an obvious primary homonym of Coluber vipera Linnaeus 1758.)
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Sparus pintazzo Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:28 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA244
vs. Sparus Puntazzo Walbaum 1792:282 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41268659
This name is in use as Diplodus puntazzo (Walbaum 1792), despite it dates from Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784.
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Scomber alalunga Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784:31 - https://books.google.com/books?id=r4sFyyJfN3QC&pg=PA247
vs. Scomber alalunga Bonnaterre 1788:139 - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12059606
This name is in use as Thunnus alalunga (Bonnaterre 1788), despite it dates from Piesch & Leske (in Cetti) 1784.
(Fortunately, Bonnaterre was before Gmelin, who adopted this name in 1789 with the modified spelling Scomber alatunga - https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656821 . Otherwise, the name would presumably be in use with this (incorrect) spelling.)
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