Gouverneur van Lansberge(n?), and "his" Venezuelan (Pygmy) Owl ... (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Who's the dedicatee in ...

langsbergii / lansbergii / lansberi / lansbergeni as in:
• the invalid (South American/Andean) Pygmy-Owl "G. [Glaucidium] langsbergii" RIDGWAY 1874 (here, p.98), ex (T. B) Wilson MS, but note that it's written/typed lansbergii on p.92 (here).

Also compare with "Glaucidium lansbergeni" SHARPE 1875 (here, in text), an "Emendation of "G. lansberi" Bonap. (in MS):

Venezuela. From this country Bonaparte named his G. lansberi, a MS. name attached to a specimen in the Leiden Museum, and adopted by Ridgway for the rufous phase of G. jardinii, is no doubt No. 1 of Schlegel's ‘Catalogue’ (p.31): “mâle, Caracas, présenté par Mr. van Lansbergen;” so that if the species were to stand, it would probably have to be called Glaucidium lansbergeni*.

With the footnote:
*More recently, however, Schlegel (Mus. P. B. Columbæ, p. 139) has named a Dove (Peristera lansbergi) after the same gentleman, whom he now calls M. le Gouverneur van Lansbergen.

Messy!

Apparently, a lot of typos (alt. Printer's errors), however, in today's Key we find the following explanation as:

langsbergii
Original spelling of specific name Glaucidium lansbergii Ridgway, 1874 (= syn. Phalaenopsis jardinii).

lansbergi / lansbergii
Reinhart Frans van Lansberge (1830-1873) Dutch naturalist, ambassador to Colombia, Gov. of Surinam 1859-1867 (syn. Claravis mondetoura, Coccyzus, syn. Phalaenopsis jardinii).

Not to confuse (which is easily done) with:

lansbergei
Johan Willem van Lansberge (1830-1905) Dutch colonial administrator, Gov.-Gen. of the Dutch East Indies 1875-1881 (syn. Ardea picata, syn. Geoffroyus geoffroyi floresianus, Pericrocotus).

But, what about Sharpe's (alt./or Schlegel's) alleged ending of the former's Surname: "... van Lansbergen" ... ?

Wouldn't the latter version be more Common in Dutch (or maybe even "... van Lansberger"), in favour of/versus the more French (-sounding) 'Lansberge' ... or?

Also compare with the equally invalid (Maroon-chested) Pigeon/Dove/Ground-Dove) "Peristera lansbergii SCHLEGEL 1873 (here, or/alt. here), mentioned in the footnote above:

M. le Gouverneur van Lansberge nous a fait parvenir cette belle espèce inédite. ...

As well, note that in W. H. Phelps (1945*) this, the latter taxon, was/is listed below "Reinhardt van Lansberge"!

Thus, which version/s to trust?

Was his name Reinhart, or Reinhardt, ... van Lansberge, or van Lansbergen?

Anyone who knows?

Björn

PS. Schlegel also named a Snake "Trigonocephalus Lansbergii" (in 1841) after: "... ...M. [Monsieur] Lansberge, consul néerlandais à Caracas." (here).

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*Phelps, W H. 1945 ("Octubre-Diciembre 1944"). Resumen de las Colecciones Ornithológicas hechas en Venezuela. Boletin de la Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales IX (No. 61): 325–444. [Accessible here, see p.377]

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

On top if this we might be able to stretch the dedicatee's presence/service in Surinam (with quite a few years) ... !?!

See Type specimens of non-passerines in Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Animalia, Aves), by Steven D. van der Mije, Pepijn Kamminga & Réne W. R. J. Dekker, 2023 (accessible for download here):

(Page 16) R.F. van Lansberge worked both in Caracas and Santa Fé de Colombia as consul for the Dutch government between 1826 and 1855 ...

Either way, in this Paper he's repeatedly mentioned, as such ("R.F. van Lansberge").

The (latter) Pigeon/Dove/Ground-Dove "Peristera lansbergii" is listed (on p.60) as a synonym of Claravis mondetoura (Bonaparte, 1856). Also the third bird, today's Grey-capped Cuckoo Coccyzus lansbergi Bonaparte 1850 is incl. in this Paper (on p.52): "Leg.: R.F. van Lansberge".

Hrmm ...

 

[Xenospiza]

Practice your Dutch here:

Van Lansberge - Wikipedia

nl.wikipedia.org

Having the name ending in -berge is certainly more "southern Dutch" than -bergen, but you would not hear much difference in pronunciation.

People misspelling Dutch names is so common even in these days of cutting and pasting, that it is no surprise that it was even worse in the past...

 

[Xenospiza]

This is your man:

Reinhart Frans van Lansberge - Wikipedia

nl.wikipedia.org

Well worth reading!

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Just for completeness sake, simply to be safe, (also) regarding the Scientific name ...

lansbergi as in:
• the Grey-capped Cuckoo Coccyzus lansbergi BONAPARTE 1850 (here):

Museo Lugdunensi missus a R. VAN LANSBERGE legato Neerlandiae apud Republicas Columbianas, Cultore et Fautore Scientiarum Naturalium.

... a k a 'Lansberg's Cuckoo' [!?], according to AviBase (here).

However ... in the (Spanish) Book Los Nombres de las Aves de Venezuela ... primera parte: No Passeriformes (2018)* we find the following explanation for Coccyzus lansbergi [my blue and bold]:

... en honor al diplomático, político y naturalista neerlandés Reinhart Frans Cornelis van Lansberge (1804–1873).

He's also presented/introduced (even if without the Cornelis part) as:
Reinhart Frans van Lansberge (1804–1873) fue un destacado diplomático y político del norte de Suramérica. En 1822 fue enviado a las Indias Occidentales (Curazao) como oficial extraordinario (no residente) del gobierno neerlandés, pero tras el asesinato del Vicecónsul De Stuers en Bogotá (1827), debe ocuparse formalmente del Consulado de los Países Bajos en Colombia. Luego (1841–1855) se traslada a Caracas como Cónsul General en Venezuela. Tras una destacada carrera diplomática, es nombrado Gobernador de Curazao (1855–1859) y posteriormente Surinam (1859– 1867), lugar donde lleva a cabo la abolición de la esclavitud. Durante su estadía en Colombia, colecta el ejemplar tipo del Cuclillo acanelado, del cual el ornitólogo francés Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1803–1857), durante la descripción de la especie en su “Conspectus Generum Avium (1850)”, comenta: “Enviado al Museo de Lyons [Francia] por R. van Lansberge, Embajador de los Países Bajos en la República de Colombia, agregado cultural y de ciencias naturales” (Bonaparte 1850: 112; van Dijk 1952, Beolens et al. 2014: 318).

Compare the two entries in today's Key (for the two different guys mentioned above):

lansbergi / lansbergii
Reinhart Frans van Lansberge (1830-1873) Dutch naturalist, ambassador to Colombia, Gov. of Surinam 1859-1867 (syn. Claravis mondetoura, Coccyzus, syn. Phalaenopsis jardinii).

lansbergei
Johan Willem van Lansberge (1830-1905) Dutch colonial administrator, Gov.-Gen. of the Dutch East Indies 1875-1881 (syn. Ardea picata, syn. Geoffroyus geoffroyi floresianus, Pericrocotus).

To me it looks like the Birth year, in the Key, of the latter (Johan Willem ...) somehow have ended up also on the former (R. Frans ...), the "ambassador to Colombia, Gov. of Surinam".

Anyone who knows (exactly) when, and where, the former guy was born?

/B

PS. A Birth in '1830' sure doesn't add up with the claims above; (in Steven D. van der Mije, et al., 2023) that he'd: " ... worked both in Caracas and Santa Fé de Colombia as consul for the Dutch government between 1826 and 1855 ...". Even worse with the claim in Verea et al. (2018): "En 1822 fue enviado a las Indias Occidentales (Curazao) como oficial extraordinario (no residente) del gobierno neerlandés, ..."

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*Verea, C., E. J. Calvo & M. A. Pacheco. 2018. Los Nombres de las Aves de Venezuela: Comunes, Científicos, Aborígenes. Primera Parte: No Passeriformes. Instituto de Zoología Agrícola, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela.

 

[Xenospiza]

Just for completeness sake, simply to be safe, (also) regarding the Scientific name ...

lansbergi as in:
• the Grey-capped Cuckoo Coccyzus lansbergi BONAPARTE 1850 (here):

... a k a 'Lansberg's Cuckoo' [!?], according to AviBase (here).

However ... in the (Spanish) Book Los Nombres de las Aves de Venezuela ... primera parte: No Passeriformes (2018)* we find the following explanation for Coccyzus lansbergi [my blue and bold]:


Compare the two entries in today's Key (for the two different guys mentioned above):



To me it looks like the Birth year, in the Key, of the latter (Johan Willem ...) somehow have ended up also on the former (R. Frans ...), the "ambassador to Colombia, Gov. of Surinam".

Anyone who knows (exactly) when, and where, the former guy was born?

/B

PS. A Birth in '1830' sure doesn't add up with the claims above; (in Steven D. van der Mije, et al., 2023) that he'd: " ... worked both in Caracas and Santa Fé de Colombia as consul for the Dutch government between 1826 and 1855 ...". Even worse with the claim in Verea et al. (2018): "En 1822 fue enviado a las Indias Occidentales (Curazao) como oficial extraordinario (no residente) del gobierno neerlandés, ..."

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*Verea, C., E. J. Calvo & M. A. Pacheco. 2018. Los Nombres de las Aves de Venezuela: Comunes, Científicos, Aborígenes. Primera Parte: No Passeriformes. Instituto de Zoología Agrícola, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Maracay, Venezuela.

The Dutch wikipedia entry will show that Reinhart Frans Cornelis was born in Olst, 6 March 1804.
(I guess you were typing your entry while I provided the links).

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

...
(I guess you were typing your entry while I provided the links).

That I was!