Browsing by Author "Angermann, Renate."

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    A revision of Philander (Marsupialia, Didelphidae). Part 1, P. quica, P. canus, and a new species from Amazonia. (American Museum novitates, no. 3891)
    (American Museum of Natural History., 2018-01-31) Voss, Robert S.; Díaz-Nieto, Juan F.; Jansa, Sharon A.; Angermann, Renate.
    This is the first installment of a revision of the didelphid marsupial genus Philander, commonly known as gray four-eyed opossums. Although abundant and widespread in lowland tropical forests from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, species of Philander are not well understood taxonomically, and the current literature includes many examples of conflicting species definitions and nomenclatural usage. Our revision is based on coalescent analyses of mitochondrial gene sequences, phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, morphometric analyses, and firsthand examination of relevant type material. Based on these results, we provisionally recognize eight species, of which three are formally treated in this report: P. quica (Temminck, 1824), an Atlantic Forest endemic formerly known as P. frenatus (Olfers, 1818); P. canus (Osgood, 1913), a widespread species formerly treated as a synonym or subspecies of P. opossum (Linnaeus, 1758); and P. pebas, a new species endemic to Amazonia. The remaining, possibly valid, species of Philander can be allocated to two clades. The first is a cis-Andean complex that includes P. andersoni (Osgood, 1913); P. mcilhennyi Gardner and Patton, 1972; and P. opossum. The second is a trans-Andean complex that includes P. melanurus (Thomas, 1899) and P. pallidus (Allen, 1901). Among other nomenclatural acts, we designate a neotype for the long-problematic nominal taxon Didelphis superciliaris Olfers, 1818, and (in an appendix coauthored by Renate Angermann), we establish that Olfers' coeval binomen D. frenata is based on an eastern Amazonian type and is a junior synonym of P. opossum.
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    Revisionary notes on neotropical porcupines (Rodentia, Erethizontidae). 1, Type material described by Olfers (1818) and Kuhl (1820) in the Berlin Zoological Museum. American Museum novitates ; no. 3214
    (New York, N.Y. : American Museum of Natural History, 1997) Voss, Robert S.; Angermann, Renate.; Zoologisches Museum (Berlin, Germany)
    In this report we identify the original material of the Brazilian erethizontids that Olfers (1818) and Kuhl (1820) described as Hystrix tortilis, H. subspinosa, H. insidiosa, and H. nycthemera. Based on our examination of the types and associated archival documents in the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, many problems concerning the type localities, diagnostic characters, and nomenclature of these species can now be resolved. Among the principal conclusions from our study are the following. (1) The collection of Brazilian mammals donated to the Berlin Zoological Museum by Count von Hoffmannsegg in 1810 is the only known source of specimens of the new erethizontid species described by Olfers (1818). (2) The names Hystrix tortilis and H. subspinosa are objective synonyms based on the same type material, the lectotype and a paralectotype, both collected at Salvador in the state of Bahia by F.A. Gomes; preserved as skins and skulls in good condition, these specimens exhibit all of the characters hitherto regarded by authors as diagnostic of the species currently known as Chaetomys subspinosus. (3) Hystrix tortilis and H. subspinosa are both available from Olfers (1818); to preserve current usage, we select subspinosa as the senior name. (4) The specimen hitherto labeled and cataloged as the type of Hystrix insidiosa and reported as such in the literature does not correspond to Olfers' and Kuhl''s descriptions and was not part of Hoffmannsegg's original collection; the real holotype, misidentified by Lichtenstein and subsequently cataloged by Peters as Cercolabes affinis Brandt, was probably also collected at Salvador by Gomes. (5) We redescribe the characters of Coendou insidiosus and comment on its complicated nomenclatural history; in particular, we confirm previous hypotheses that Coendou pallidus (Waterhouse) is a junior synonym, and that Coendou melanurus (Wagner) is not. (6) A widespread complex of small, long-furred porcupines tentatively referred to Coendou spinosus (F. Cuvier) (including villosus F. Cuvier, couiy Desmarest, nigricans Brandt, sericeus Cope, and roberti Thomas) is diagnosed and contrasted with Coendou insidiosus; although these species appear to be distinct based on available museum specimens, unvouchered field identifications should be regarded with caution. (7) Hystrix nycthemera, based on a single specimen collected by F.W. Sieber in eastern Amazonia, appears to be the oldest available name for the species currently known as Coendou koopmani Handley and Pine. We provide formal synonymies for Chaetomys subspinosus (Olfers), Coendou insidiosus (Olfers), and Coendou nycthemera (Olfers), wherein many additional details of taxonomy and nomenclature are summarized.