Some "unseen" descriptions … now seen! (2 Viewers)

[l_raty]

I have nothing tricky to suggest here, I'm afraid.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

The idjenensis from, on Java, Indonesia

Here´s a possible explanation on yet another "unseen" one, this time an "unseen" location …

idjenensis
Toponym; location unseen (Hoogerwerf 1962, Treubia, 26 (1), 11+) (syn. Anthus richardi malayensis).

● as in the invalid "Anthus novaesealandiae idjenensis" HOOGERWERF, 1962 [Syn. Anthus richardi malayensis EYTON 1839 alt. "Anthus richardi idjenensis" (listed by Howard & Moore 2003)].
= most likely Ijen Highland a k a Ijen Plateau, on East Java, Indonesia. I doubt it´s Mount Ijen itself?

Note: However; OD* unseen by me, but see here, pp.9-10, or here, p. 21.

The lectotype, a male, was apparently collected at "Blawan, Ijen Highland, alt. 950 m, East Java, collected on 9 June 1924 by K.W. Dammerman".

See Wiki, here or/and here (in German); "(frühere Schreibweise „Idjen“)"

Take it for what it´s worth!

Björn

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*Hoogerwerf, A. 1962. Notes on Indonesian birds with special reference to the avifauna of Java and the surrounding small islands (I). Treubia, 26 (1): 11-38.

 

[mb1848]

A search of the right Treubia on Google books shows: male symbol, female symbol "nov. idjenensis from Mts. Idgen and Tengger. (East Java)"
https://books.google.com/books?id=n...f+Java"&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=idjenensis .

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Quiriwa that somehow became guiriva!?

Here´s yet another of James's "unseen" ones, now (hopefully!?) seen …

guiriva
Etymology undiscovered; description unseen (Hartlaub 1849); probably based on a Namaqua name; ex “Coliou Quiriwa” of Levaillant 1808, pl. 258 (syn. Urocolius indicus).

I think (!?) it´s this one:
Hartlaub, G. 1849. A Systematic Index to a Series of Descriptions of Birds, published by C. J. Temminck, in his 'Calalogue Systématique du Cabinet d'Ornithologique, etc.,' of the year 1807. In: William Jardine's Contributions to Ornithology 1849 (here).

If so it´s most likely another typo alt. printers error, or possibly an attempted amendment, which I assume simply give us yet another "incorrect subsequent spelling" (and as such, as James earlier have told us) normally not incl. in the HBW Alive Key, only as the earlier quiriwa, here), hence Levaillant (in French, no scientific name) did write it like that (here) in 1808 (Note: as "Le Coliou Guiriwa" on the plate, here, i.e. the following page!). How Temminck spelled it in 1807? And in what context? I haven´t got a clue!

Also compare with the spelling "Quiriva Coly" of Latham, apparently of 1802 (? … unseen by me, simply trusting the HBW Alive Key et al, for example: this link; here.

However enjoy!

Björn

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

A small continuation alt. side-track

quiriwa
“Le nom de quiriwa, donné par M. Levaillant, a aussi l’inconvénient de n’exprimer qu’un cri peu différent de celui du coliou à dos blanc; mais il embrasse des oiseaux dont M. Vieillot a fait deux espèces, et l’on a pensé qu’il étoit plus convenable de l’adopter en les réunissant” (Dumont 1818); ex “Coliou Quiriwa” of Levaillant 1808, pl. 258; the “Quiriva Coly” of Latham 1802 (syn. Urocolius indicus).

By the way, as indicated by Dumont in the quote above (as far as I understand French, which is close to nothing, but helped by Google translate) the Original "Quiriva"/"Quiriwa" might be onomatopoetic ... !?

Also here is written (in easier English): "… the trivial name is taken probably from its note …"

And it very well might be! If so I think it´s referring to its "Flight call", not the regular song. Listen here to the sound of today´s Red-faced Mousebird Urocolius indicus LATHAM 1790. Not all that hard to interpret as: Quu-irrrri-wa … or likewise!
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[James Jobling]

Quiriwa
Thanks for the Hartlaub 1849 paper, Björn. As you surmise, guiriva is a misspelling, therefore now deleted from the HBWAlive Key.
All serenity (despite the indignity of England being kicked out of the Rugby World Cup by the Land of Oz!!!)

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

What´s a "Skua Hojeri" … !?!

While checking up on Gunnerus (for the skoorra thread) I happened to notice a name I´d never seen before …

But this is way, way, far beyond my league; Der Drontheimischen Gesellschaft Schriften (aus dem Dänischen übersetzt) from 1767 … in German, and in that close-to incomprehensible Fraktur typeface! I´m not even sure if it really is a scientific name?

● the "Skua Hojeri" GUNNERUS 1767 (here, p.96) … not listed in the HBW Alive Key!? And not on any Richmond card. Thereby presumably also "unseen". This also goes for the Generic name "Skua".

What bird is that? I assume it´s a Skua, but of what species? If one of today's Skuas/Jaegers and anything other than the earlier Parasitic/Arctic Skua/Jaeger Stercorarius parasiticus LINNAEUS 1758 or the Great Skua Stercorarius skua BRÜNNICH 1764, I guess we might be looking at a case of precedence!?

And, in any case, regarding the etymology (even if of a junior synonym); who is the mentioned "Hr." (Mr.) "D. Höeier"? (here)

Could it be a Mr. Hojer, Höjer, Højer alt. Høejer? If so we´ve got a few to choose among.

Anyone know?

Björn

PS. Laurent, Der Drontheimischen Gesellschaft Schriften seem to be yet another German source not listed in Zoonomen's Citational Index (like the recently found Das Ausland)! Who knows what other names (and birds) is hidden in the other volumes?

 

[l_raty]

The name is actually by Clusius 1605 [here] (pre-Linnaean), who, as far as I understand, applied it to a bird he had been sent by Henricus Hoierus / Henrik Højer, a Norwegian physician from Bergen. ("Hr. D." is "Herr Doktor", I think.)

Gunnerus discusses it, but I'm not convinced he really treats it as a binomen -- note, for example, in the title, "Vom diebischen Joen (Laro Parasitico Linnaei) [...] und von der Skua Hojeri": if the first part refers to "Larus Parasiticus" (here in the ablative case--it's funny how he declines Latin words even when they appear in the German text) as a name by Linnaeus, then the second presumably refers to "Skua" as a name by Højer. (Which was probably the meaning it had under Clusius' pen.)
This would probably not make the name nomenclaturally available, whatever the support of publication.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Ok, Laurent, fair enough.

Thereby I will leave Dr. Højer's skua as pre-Linnaean/pre-1758.

Thanks!

:t:

 

[mb1848]

The letter from Hojer to Clusius concerning seabirds and Faeroes is no. 7 here:
https://socrates.leidenuniv.nl/R/QAJA2NU4BI68VJ328EF1KVS3GRXC484388BBVTCXCM9DDGY4CF-00451 . I think you have to type in Hojer?

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

= the Norwegian Doctor Henrik Højer or Höjer, who excanged letters and Naturalia with Clusius between 1597 and 1604.

However, still pre-1758 and of minor importance in scientific nomenclature.
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[l_raty]

Am I crazy but does not the genus of walik-mehra start with an H.? I have seen a citation to a drawing of walik-mehra Novit C. pl. 5 figure 29. I would like to see this but Reichenbach confuses me so.

Macropygia Walik-mehra Rchb:

• Tauben, erste Abteilung (1861), p.86 - description (the name is available from here): #191.
• Tauben, zweite Abteilung (1862), p.197 - "Enumeratio": #191.
• Tauben, zweite Abteilung (1862), p.203 - "Nachweisung der abgebildeten und beschriebenen Arten": #29.
• Tauben, zweite Abteilung, tab. Novit. III (1862): f. 29.

I find it quite intriguing.
This name seems universally synonymized with M. unchall Wagler 1827 but, to me, the plate doesn't look like one. Also the description is odd:

Oberkopf lebhaft braunroth, Kehle weisslich, Hals kragen und ganze Unterseite ledergelb, schwarz gebändert; Rücken, Flügeldecken, Bürzel und Mittelschwanzfedern dunkelbraun, jene mit breiten schwarzen, beiderseits zimmt-roth eingefassten Endbande, Seitenschwanzfedern am Grunde zimmtroth, spitzewärts mit herablaufender schwarzer Binde auf der Innenfahne; Unterseite fahl schillernd; Schwingen braunschwarz, Innenfahne zunehmend zimmtfarbig; Schnabel schwarzbraun. -- So gross als Phasianella, also die grösste indische Art: 1' 4'' 4''', Schnabelfirste 7''', -spalte 10¾''', -höhe 2½''', Mundbreite 6½''', Fittig 7'' 2''', Schwanz 8'' 5''', über die Flügel 5'' 4''', äusserste Federn 4''. Die bedeutendere Grösse und ganz verschiedene Färbung unterscheiden sie hinreichend von folgender Art [note: M. amboinensis] und ich finde sie noch nirgends erwähnt. -- Ich erhielt sie unter obigem Namen aus Java: Oberst V. SCHIERBRANDT.

...M. unchall has no vivid red-brown cap; its tail feathers are thinly and regularly barred black-and-cinnamon, which is not at all what I understand from the above text. The bird seems too large and long-tailed for this species (as large as M. phasianella, which is much larger than unchall; also larger than M. amboinensis, wich is larger than unchall as well; tail 8'' 5''' = 213 mm; unchall: 135-170!). Reichenbach also had specimens sent by the same collector from Java, that he identified as M. leptogrammica Temminck ([text]; [plate]: f. 1402), another synonym of M. unchall, with strikingly distinct description and measurements (i.a.: "6 Mittelschwanzfedern zimmtroth und schwarz gebändert"; tail: 6 '' 6 ''' = 165 mm, which is normal for the species), and which he classified in another subgenus.
But I understand (Eck & Quaisser 2004 [pdf]) that the type is extant...?

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

"Macropygia Walik-mehra" ...

Tauben, zweite Abteilung, tab. Novit. III (1862): f. 29.

Isn´t that (fig. 29) simply a female specimen of Slender-billed Cuckoo-dove Macropygia amboinensis, possibly of the Sulawesi subspecies M. a. albicapilla … ? Compare with the attached Photo ...

With the following hesitation: note that the Macropygia amboinensis Complex includes at least eighteen subspecies! And quite a few suggested alt. intermediate forms, thereby I think its hard to be accurate in telling exactly which one this somewhat crude illustration depicts.

Even if the name apparently came from Java, do know, for certain, that bird itself originated there? Does the German text tell us either way?

This said without understanding the German text, so ... take it for what it´s worth!
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[l_raty]

The German text says more or less (I'm sure someone will correct any imprecision/inaccuracy; the bracketed 'note' in blue is mine):

Upper-head vivid red-brown, throat whitish, neck collar and whole underparts leather-yellow, banded black; feathers of the back, wing coverts, rump and central tail dark brown, these with a broad black terminal band, bordered on both sides with cinnamon-red, lateral tail feathers cinnamon-red at the base, towards the tip with a black band running down on the inner web; underside pale iridescent; flight feathers brown-black, inner vanes becoming cinnamon-red; bill brown-black. -- As big as Phasianella, also the largest Indian species: 1' 4'' 4''', bill ridge 7''', gape 10¾''', height 2½''', mouth width 6½''', wing 7'' 2''', tail 8'' 5''', to the wings 5'' 4''', outermost feather 4''. The larger size and very different coloration differ sufficiently from the next species [note: next sp is M. amboinensis] and I don't find it mentioned anywhere yet. -- I received it under the above name from Java: Colonel von Schierbrandt.

Reichenbach's amboinensis is #1395 [here].

 

[mb1848]

Thanks Laurent for finding this. Wolf Curt von Schierbrandt (sometimes Schierbrand ) lived and collected from Batavia, now Jakarta north-west Java in 19th century. He gave zoological and ethnological objects to Dresden museum and died in Dresden. Jakarta is far from Sulawesi.
https://books.google.com/books?id=W...888+Dresden+Schierbrand&source=gbs_navlinks_s . Page 18. Maybe an extinct subspecies?

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Acloque 1900, Faune de France, I, 99 = seen!

From today’s HBW Alive Key:

Euaquila
(syn. Aquila Ϯ not seen (Acloque 1900, Faune de France, I, 99) Gr. ευ eu fine; genus Aquila Brisson 1760, eagle.

Faune de France, contenant la description des espèces indigénes disposées en tableaux analytiques... : mammifères, oiseaux, poissons, reptiles, batraciens, protochordes, by Alexandre Acloque, 1900, is found … here.

Enjoy!

 

[James Jobling]

Björn,
Many thanks for Acloque 1900, which revealed the type of Euquila. The same reference also has Eucircus and Eufalco, although the types of those genera had already been divined (altho' I now believe that possibly the type of Eufalco should be Falco cherrug and not Falco peregrinus). The Key has been updated. I appreciate your sleuthing skills.
James

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

And yet another one ...

You´re welcome James, also have a look at:

Rauenia
(syn. Thraupis Ϯ NOT FOUND) No expl. (Wolters 1980); eponym: dedication undiscovered …

”Thraupis: Tan. archiepiscopus Desm.” ... is to be FOUND (here) ex ”Tanagra archiepiscopus” DESMAREST 1805 (here, here & here)

However; enjoy!

 

[James Jobling]

Thanks, Björn,
I have taken the opportunity to add a quote from Desmarest to the archiepiscopus entry in the Key, but, alas, am no further forward in finding the type of Rauenia Wolters, 1980.
James

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Rauenia ”Type by original designation: Loxia bonariensis Gmelin, 1789” (J. Mlíkovský, 2012) p.122 (here)