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С. S. Rafinesque as a carcinologist : an annotated compilation of the information on Crustacea contained in the works of that author
No full textI.
INTRODUCTION
In the last tens of years more and more attention has been paid to the much neglected and ignored publications written by the eccentric early American naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. Until now, however, Rafinesque's work in the field of carcinology has received but little attention from modern authors. In 1905 Ortmann (1905, p. 107) pointed out that the name Astacus limosus Rafinesque, 1817, is older than the name Astacus affinis Say, 1817, for the same species, and that consequently the former name has to be used. In the same year Richardson (1905, p. 10) replaced the invalid generic name Ligia Fabricius, 1798, by Ligyda Rafinesque, 1815.
M. J. Rathbun (1937, p. 63) substituted the generic name Thelxiope Rafinesque, 1814, for the name Homola Leach, 1815. Finally, in 1949 Hubricht & Mackin (1949, p. 334) dropped the generic name Mancasellus Harger, 1876, in favour of Lirceus Rafinesque, 1820, at the same time changing the species name Mancasellus macrourus Garman, 1890, to Lirceus fontinalis Rafinesque, 1820. I know of no other names given by Rafinesque to Crustacea that have been adopted by modern authors, though many of the names given by him to genera and species of that group antedate names which now are currently in use. Since the acceptance of most of Rafinesque's valid generic and specific names would greatly upset the stability of carcinological nomenclature, the present author has submitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature a proposal in which is asked the suppression of those of Rafinesque's Decapod and Stomatopod names that might cause undesirable nomenclatorial confusion.
Since most of Rafinesque's papers were not available to me in Holland,
The authorship of the names of species of Crustacea Decapoda published in 1835 By S. Hailstone and J. O. Westwood
No full textThe amateur naturalist S. Hailstone, who lived in Hastings, England, was much interested in the Crustacea of his area and made collections of these.
At several occasions in 1834 and 1835 he sent observations on interesting specimens, often together with the material, to J. C. Loudon, the editor of "The Magazine of Natural History, and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Meteorology", one of the forerunners of the well known "Annals and Magazine of Natural History". Hailstone often accompanied his notes with requests for identification of the species, which he had either not at all or only tentatively identified. Loudon passed Hailstone's notes and the material (if the latter was available) on to J. O. Westwood, the well known entomologist, who at that time lived in Hammersmith. Westwood gave his remarks on the material and in some instances provided new names when he thought the species to be new and at several occasions he made illustrations of the species.
Loudon published Hailstone and Westwood's observations in his Magazine interspersed with his own remarks. He very carefully identified the author of each piece of text by giving the name and/or address of Hailstone and Westwood at the end of their text, and by placing his own words in square brackets. It is clear that he furthermore also inserted Westwood's new names and Westwood's figures in Hailstone's text. The first observations were published in the May issue of 1835 of the Magazine of Natural History (vol. 8 no. 49) as Article V of that issue, under the title "Descriptions of some Species of Crustaceous Animals; by S. Hailstone, Jun. Esq.: with Illustrations and Remarks, by J. O. Westwood, Esq. F. L. S. &c". The article starts on p. 261, but it is extremely difficult to find out where it ends
A revision of the Indo-West Pacific spiny Lobsters of the Panulirus Japonicus group
No full textINTRODUCTION
As a result of separate investigations on Panulirus japonicus (sens, lat.), the present authors independently came to the conclusion that more than one species was included under that name. The first author (George), when in 1958 studying specimens of the Western Australian spiny lobster which at that time was indicated by the name Panulirus longipes (A. Milne Edwards) (a species considered by many authors to be synonymous with P. japonicus), was dissatisfied with that identification and obtained material of the typical P. longipes from Zanzibar. Comparison with this material showed that the Western Australian spiny lobster represented an unnamed species, which he then described as P. cygnus. He also arrived at the conclusion that P. japonicus and P. longipes are separate species and that the latter perhaps should also be split up.
The second author (Holthuis), during a year's visit (1952-1953) to the U.S. National Museum in Washington, D.C., was struck by the fact that the colour pattern of "Panulirus japonicus" from Hawaii is strikingly different from that of the typical Japanese P. japonicus, a difference that proved to be constant. He also found the colour pattern of P. longipes to be strikingly different from that of the typical P. japonicus, and further discovered constant morphological differences between the three forms, which convinced him that they represented three valid species. These finds were verified later with the collections of the Leiden Museum, where the types of P. japonicus are preserved; it was then decided to make a revision of the entire P. japonicus group. In the meantime E. P. Reed described a new species P. pascuensis from Easter Island, which also proved to belon
A note on an interesting association of the crab Platypodiella picta (A. Milne-Edwards 1869) and species of Zoantharia
No full textIn the framework of the CANCAP-Project, a long-term oceanographic collecting program performed by the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, extensive shore collections were made from 1976 onwards on most of the Macaronesian Islands. During the collecting trips, a very ornamental crab, Platypodi ella picta (A.MILNE EDWARDS, 1869) was found on three occasions by the senior author. In addition the species was collected on the coast of Senegal. In all cases it was found associated with species of Zoantharia
Notes on Stenopus Spinosus Risso and Engystenopus Spinulatus Holthuis (Crustacea, Decapoda, Stenopodidae)
No full textINTRODUCTION
During recent explorations off the Mediterranean coast of Israel several specimens of Stenopus spinosus were collected. When studying this material it was thought to be of interest to compare the Israel specimens with those that had been reported from the Red Sea. Although Stenopus spinosus has repeatedly been reported from the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, there is only a single record of the species from the Red Sea (Balss, 1914).
Due to the kindness of Dr. G. Pretzmann of the Vienna Museum it was made possible for us to examine these Red Sea specimens. These proved not to be Stenopus spinosus but to belong to the poorly known Engystenopus spinulatus.
In the first part of the present paper the Israel Stenopus material is dealt with, in the second part a description of the Red Sea specimens of Engystenopus is provided.
I. Stenopus spinosus, a species new to the eastern Mediterranean During 1977 a scientific investigation of the benthic fauna of the Mediterranean south of Tel-Aviv, Israel, sponsored by the Zoological Institute of the University of Tel-Aviv, was carried out by the first author (Ch. L.), ably assisted by Mrs. B. Galil of the Institute. Eleven stations at depths between 20 and 8o m were regularly sampled. One of the interesting finds here was that of Stenopus spinosus.
Stenopus spinosus Risso, 1827 Material examined. — Off Palmahim, south of Tel-Aviv; Sta. 1, 31°56'N 34°з6'Е, 35 m deep; 3 May 1977, 1 juvenile, NS 16328.
Off Palmahim; Sta. 2, 3i°5ó'N 34o35' E, 50 m; 30 June 1977, ι $, NS 16323
On the type of Antilope leucophaea Pallas, 1766, preserved in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden
No full textOne of the important features of the mammal collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie is its wealth in old types. This is mainly due to the fact that the first director of the Museum, Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), was one of the foremost mammalogists of his time, and during the entire period of his directorship (1820-1858) was very active in improving the mammal collection. He himself described numerous species based on material in the possession of the Museum, but he also acquired type specimens of species described by other zoologists, either through exchange or purchase, or as a gift. Temminck very well realized the importance of types, even though he did not attach to them the great value that we do now.
At that time it was not unusual for a museum to exchange or sell type material.
The present note deals with one of the oldest mammalian type specimens present in the Leiden Museum, namely that of Antilope leucophaea, described by Pallas (1766: 4) and based by him on skins from South Africa. As far as known to us, Temminck (1853: 192, footnote) is the first author who explicitely mentioned that the specimen of Antilope leucophaea preserved in the Leiden Museum is the type of Pallas' species. Temminck's statement has been accepted by later authors, e.g. Jentink (1892: 166), Sclater & Thomas (1899: 7) and Lydekker (1914: 133). Recently, however, Mohr (1967) casted doubt on the authenticity of this type specimen. In a highly readable and most interesting monograph of the Blaauwbok (or Blue-buck) she discussed the only four existing mounted specimens of the species, viz., those in the Museums of Stockholm, Paris, Vienna, and Leiden. In her paper (pp. 32-37, figs. 16-18) the Leiden specimen is extensively dealt with and some illustrations are given. Mohr remarked that this specime
Original watercolours donated by Cornelius Sittardus to Conrad Gesner, and published by Gesner in his (1558-1670) works on aquatic animals
No full textSome original watercolours, that were donated by the sixteenth century physician Cornelius Sittardus, to Conrad Gesner, who published them in his "Historia Animalium Liber IV(1558), at present are kept in the National Museum of Natural History of Leiden. These watercolours are discussed here, as well as the other figures of the Sittardus collection published by Gesner
West Indian Crabs of the genus Calappa, with a description of three new species
No full textIn recent years several extensive collections of West Indian Decapod Crustacea have been received for identification by the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. On various visits to the Netherlands Antilles Dr. P. Wagenaar Hummelinck, Curator of the Zoological Laboratory at Utrecht, collected numerous Decapoda including many most interesting forms. Dr. J. S. Zaneveld, Director of the Caribbean Marine Biological Institute at Curaçao, not only assisted Dr. Hummelinck on his last (1955) visit to that island, but also sent in to the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie important material which he had collected before and since; furthermore, during my own stay in the Netherlands Antilles (November 1956 to April 1957), Dr. Zaneveld did everything in his power to enable me to get together a fully representative collection of Decapoda of the region. Important material of Decapoda from St. Eustatius was received from Mr. P. A. van den Heuvel, Oranjestad. Through the kindness of Dr. D. C. Geijskes, Director of the Surinaams Museum at Paramaribo, Suriname, the Decapoda collected by the trawler “Coquette” during trawling experiments off the coast of Suriname were placed at my disposal. In all of these collections the genus Calappa is well represented.
A study of this Calappa material revealed that until now at least three species have been confused under the name Calappa flammea (Herbst), and that a fourth species of the flammea-group occurs off the Suriname coast. Furthermore some interesting observations on Calappa sulcata Rathbun could be made
Cavernicolous And Terrestrial Decapod Crustacea From Northern Sarawak, Borneo
No full textDuring the 1977-1978 Royal Geographical Society Mulu (Sarawak) Expedition a number of Decapod Crustacea was obtained. Some were collected by Mr. Philip Chapman in the course of studies of the invertebrates of the limestone caves in the Gunong Mulu National Park, 4th Division of Sarawak, and the Niah National Park south of Miri. Another expedition member, Dr. N. M. Collins, collected several crabs in pitfall traps and one in a soil core in the course of studies of terrestrial invertebrates of the Mulu area.
I am most indebted to Messrs Chapman and Collins for placing this interesting collection of cavernicolous and terrestrial Decapoda at my disposal, and for the extensive information on the localities, habitats and the biology of the species, as well as for descriptions of the colour of living specimens.
The material, including holo- and allotypes, now forms part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden. Paratypes of the new species and duplicates of others are deposited in the British Museum (Natural History).
After the report on the above collections was written, three more freshwater crabs, this time collected by the botanists of the expedition, were received through the kind offices of Dr. R. W. Ingle, British Museum (Natural History). As these specimens provided important additional information (two specimens were males of a new species, which in the other material was only represented by females; the third was a species not collected by either Mr. Chapman or Dr. Collins), they are included here.
The material (a female of Palawanthelphusa pulcherrima and the male holoand paratypes of Sundathelphusa tenebrosa) forms part of the collection o
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