Sorry guys, but I have to return to this one, as the dedicatees are mentioned in my MS entry for the today (extinct) species Hodgen's Waterhen alt. New Zealand Native-hen
Gallinula/Tribonyx hodgenorum (Scarlett, 1955), as "
Rallus hodgeni" (emended into
hodgenorum by Storrs L. Olson, 1986), a k a Hodgen's Rail (in Swedish we call it
maorirörhöna, meaning Maori + moorhen/waterhen/gallinule).
The very first OD (as Martin's link in post #1 doesn't seem to work any longer) was/is:
• R. J. Scarlett. 1955. A New Rail from South Island Swamps in New Zealand. Records of the Canterbury Museum 6 (4) pp.265–266, and it's to be seen (in full) in Fred's Paleontology collection (
here), alt. (in excerpts) below:
[...]
Altered/Amended by Storrs L. Olson, in
Notornis (Journal of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand) 33 (1) p.32, of March 1986):
[...]
Commented by Ernst Mayr (in a letter) published in
Notornis 33 (4), p.268:
Response, by Storrs L. Olson, in Notornis 34 (2), 1987 (p.167-168), full piece
here:
Also consider the Editor's note (on p.168):
Either way, back to the Etymology itself, according to English
Wikipedia (
here; last edited 17th of August 2024 [my
blue bold]:
Its name commemorates the Hodgen brothers who were owners of the Pyramid Valley swamp where the holotype was discovered.
... a claim that also have found its way to
Avibase here.
The same is told in German
Wiki (
bearbeitet 22 Februar 2023):
Das Artepitheton bezieht sich auf die Hodgen-Brüder, die die Eigentümer des Pyramid-Valley- Sumpfes waren, wo der Holotypus gefunden wurde.
Both clearly claiming it's named after "the Hodgen brothers" ...
why?
As far as I can tell the OD doesn't say anything about any brothers, but only refer to the (two) "Owners of the Pyramid Valley Swamp."
Does the
Wiki Authors maybe know something more (than we do), or were/are they simply trusting, blindly following, all relying, on (the Great German-US ornithologist) Ernst Mayr [Ernst Walter Mayr (1904-2005)] ...
?
However, compare with today's
Key:
hodgeni / hodgenorum
Joseph Hodgen (1882-1965) and his son Robert Joseph Hodgen (1913-2000) New Zealand farmers and owners of the Pyramid Valley swamp, South Island, renowned as a palaeontological site (Paul Scofield in litt.) (‡Tribonyx).
If we're to trust (nothing but) the OD itself, I guess it all depends on who, "Messrs J. and R. Hodgen", the "owners of the Pyramid Valley swamp" truly were (in the early/mid-1950's)?
Paul, how sure are you about the dedicatees (as of post #3) ... ?
As I myself haven't access to
Ancestry: Did Robert ('Rob'?) Joseph Hodgen (1913–2000), possibly have a Brother?
Or did his Father [Joseph Hodgen (1882–1965)] ... ?
Grave, of the latter;
here, alt.
here. Also see
MyHeritage (if accessible?),
here. Looks like he had seven Siblings ...
Couldn't it be that the dedicatees were the Senior Joseph Hodgen, and
his Brother (
if such a Brother exist, of course – preferably one whose name starts with the letter R (as in a plausible older Robert) ... or
?!?
Either way, isn't a Guy (the Son) born in 1913 a bit unlikely to have been one of the Land owners, in the early/mid 1950's. When his Father was still going ... ?
Alt. the main question, in short (following the brief info we were given in the OD itself):
Who owned the Pyramid Valley (swamp), in North Canterbury, (South Island) New Zealand, at the time of when this particular taxon was found?
Paul, did you check the Land registry (as well)?
Björn
