Browsing by Author "Olson, Storrs L."
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Item Amerigo Vespucci and the rat of Fernando de Noronha : a new genus and species of Rodentia (Muridae, Sigmodontinae) from a volcanic island off Brazil's continental shelf. American Museum novitates ; no. 3256(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 1999) Carleton, Michael D.; Olson, Storrs L.; Vespucci, Amerigo, 1451-1512."Noronhomys vespuccii, a new genus and species (Muridae: Sigmodontinae), is described from Ilha Fernando de Noronha, a small volcanic island located 345 km northeast of Cabo de São Roque, Brazil. The abundant cranial and postcranial material of the fossil rodent was recovered from old beach dunes that are late Quaternary in age (probably late Holocene). Noronhomys vespuccii retains incomplete mesolophs on its moderately hypsodont molars and is compared with other tetralophodont oryzomyines (sensu Voss and Carleton, 1993), especially Lundomys molitor and species of Holochilus. Morphometric analyses conducted separately on craniodental, mandibular, and femoral measurements reveal the sample of Noronhomys to be equally differentiated from those of Lundomys and Holochilus. Based on the criterion of parsimony, phylogenetic analyses of 35 craniodental characters strongly support the recent common ancestry of the new form and Holochilus. The clade (Pseudoryzomys (Lundomys (Holochilus-Noronhomys))) appears to represent a lineage of semiaquatic rodents that differentiated from an oryzomyine ancestry in savanna landscapes of southern South America. Morphometric results and anatomical details of the pelvic limb, however, suggest that Noronhomys was not a semiaquatic form. It is hypothesized that such aquatic skeletomuscular adaptations were lost (reversed) when the progenitor of Noronhomys became stranded on a small oceanic island where palustrine habitats were scarce or absent. The specific patronym of the extinct rodent refers to Amerigo Vespucci's disputed landfall on Fernando de Noronha in 1503 and his possible sighting of 'very large rats' on that island. If the species Noronhomys vespuccii were alive in 1503, it became extinct shortly thereafter due to the usual anthropogenic causes that have extirpated so many vertebrate species on islands"--P. 2.Item Falsified data associated with specimens of birds, mammals, and insects from the Veragua Archipelago, Panama, collected by J.H. Batty ; American Museum novitates, no. 3620(New York, NY : American Museum of Natural History, 2008) Olson, Storrs L.The professional collector Joseph H. Batty obtained birds, mammals, and insects in Panama in 1901 and supposedly 1902, at least some of which have long been thought to have been labeled with suspicious locality information. Examination of catalog records for birds and mammals, the labels of hundreds of specimens of birds, and archival material provided no concrete evidence of Batty collecting anywhere in Panama except on Isla de Coiba and in the vicinity of Boquete and Boquerón in mainland Chiriquí Province. His series of birds from Coiba contains some taxa that are recognizable as endemic subspecies from Coiba but also contains many specimens of the same species belonging to mainland subspecies in addition to species not known to occur on the island. Analysis of the types of labels used by Batty on birds proved useful for determining which Coiba specimens are the more likely to have authentic locality information. Batty's series of mammals from Coiba, upon which four new taxa were based, also probably contains mislabeled specimens. The series of birds and mammals labeled by Batty as having come from the smaller, low-lying Pacific islands of Chiriquí and Veraguas (Veragua Archipelago), with dates of 1902, contains specimens of many taxa that either are highland species or do not occur in the only habitats likely to be present on some of the islands, or that have never been found on any island elsewhere in Panama, including the very large Isla de Coiba. The itinerary reconstructed from specimen labels as well as the number of specimens are not consistent with the realities of transportation or human capabilities. It is concluded that the specimens in this series probably came from the general area of Batty's two mainland localities in Chiriquí and that he never went to the smaller islands. Accordingly, the type locality of the porcupine Coendou rothschildi Thomas, 1902, should be altered from Isla Sevilla to the vicinity of Boquerón, Chiriquí. With very few exceptions, all of Batty's specimens with questionable locality were sold by him to the private collector Walter Rothschild and do not involve specimens that Batty provided to other museums. Another small series of birds, including some very rare ones, obtained through Batty and labeled as from Chitra, Veraguas, also have untrustworthy date and locality information.