No abstract

Evidence for the dates of the parts of C. J. Temminck's Histoire naturelle des pigeons was planted by the artist who, with the benefit of royal patronage, had earlier made herself the apparent architect of the work as a whole and renamed it Les pigeons. We here reveal the flaws in the planted evidence, available in Philadelphia, and how these flaws show when she committed the deed. Wrappers play a major role, and a set in Berlin reveals the true dates of publication. The consequence is that the work must be seen as two works: one, the combined issue of the last parts where the artist must be allowed her pride of place; the other, the bulk of the work where her evidence crumbles and Temminck is undoubtedly and lead player in the publication not just the author.

We describe a new species of Polynesian sandpiper from Henderson Island, Prosobonia sauli sp. nov., based on multiple Holocene fossil bones collected during the Sir Peter Scott Commemorative Expedition to the Pitcairn Islands (1991–92). Prosobonia sauli is the only species of Prosobonia to be described from bone accumulations and extends the record of known extinct Polynesian sandpipers to four. It is readily differentiated from the extant Tuamotu Sandpiper P. parvirostris in several features of the legs and bill, implying ecological adaptations to different environments. The geographically nearest Prosobonia populations to Henderson Island were found on Mangareva, where it is now extinct. A previous record of a species of Prosobonia from Tubuai, Austral Islands, is here shown to belong to the Sanderling Calidris alba. Our analyses of newly sequenced genetic data, which include the mitochondrial genomes of P. parvirostris and the extinct Tahiti Sandpiper P. leucoptera, confidently resolve the position of Prosobonia as sister-taxon to turnstones and calidrine sandpipers. We present a hypothesis for the timing of divergence between species of Prosobonia and other scolopacid lineages. Our results further provide a framework to interpret the evolution of sedentary lineages within the normally highly migratory Scolopacidae.

Intracontinental biotic divisions across the vast Palaearctic region are not well-characterized. Past research has revealed patterns ranging from a lack of population structure to deep divergences along varied lines of separation. Here we compared biogeographic patterns of two Palaearctic shorebirds with different habitat preferences, Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) and Eurasian curlew (N. arquata). Using genome-wide markers from populations across the Palaearctic, we applied a multitude of population genomic and phylogenomic approaches to elucidate population structure. Most importantly, we tested for isolation by distance and visualized barriers and corridors to gene flow. We found shallow Palaearctic population structure in subpolar bog and tundra-breeding whimbrels, consistent with other species breeding at a similarly high latitude, indicating connectivity across the tundra belt, both presently and during southward shifts in periods of global cooling. In contrast, the temperate grassland-breeding Eurasian curlew emerged in three distinct clades corresponding to glacial refugia. Barriers to gene flow coincided with areas of topographic relief in the central Palaearctic for whimbrels and further east for Eurasian curlews. Our findings highlight the interplay of historic and ecological factors in influencing present-day population structure of Palaearctic biota.

Abstract This paper is a follow-up to Jansen 2014 and Jansen 2016b. There are 228 Australian bird specimens preserved in European museums today, collected in 1801–1803 during the expedition commanded by Nicolas Baudin to Australia and Timor. No less than 397 specimens accumulated during the Baudin expedition still survive. The Australian bird collection made during and preserved from the Baudin expedition was the most significant up to that time, though subsequently surpassed by the collecting activities of John Gilbert (1838–1845), John Gould (1838–1840) and Jules Verreaux (1842–1852). The Baudin Timor (Moluccas) collection is likewise notable in size, with 117 bird specimens still preserved; it was the first collecting executed by Westerners and subsequently brought back to Europe, later surpassed by the collecting activities of Salomon Müller (1828–1829), Alfred Wallace (1858–1861) and Heinrich Bernstein (1860–1864). In this article, I present data on Baudin specimens in Europe’s oldest museum collections. I also traced other birds collected in Australia from the second half of the 18th century and first decade of the 19th century. I furthermore comment on the possible sources of some material, whether the specimens are still in existence, and finally, the importance of the Baudin expedition for Australian ornithology.