Christian Ludwig Brehm (1787–1864) über Spezies und Subspezies von Vögeln

Abstract

SummaryChristian Ludwig Brehm (1787-1864) on species and subspecies of birds C.L. Brehm's main ornithological objective was to increase the knowledge of the natural history of the European bird species including their seasonal migrations. For this reason he analyzed in detail the variation of birds and described many subspecies from different regions of Europe. 55 of his geographical subspecies have later been accepted as valid. In addition, Brehm suggested that, during the breeding season, most widely distributed species of birds form an ecologically determined microgeographical mosaic of slightly differentiated populations each of which he also distinguished by a separate subspecies name. However, these named groups later turned out to have been based on individual variants of widespread breeding populations which cannot be designated with separate taxonomic names. On the other hand, during the 20 th century, the existence of ecological forms within subspecies differing in certain biological characteristics has been confirmed for many bird species. Like his colleagues, Brehm distinguished species and subspecies of birds. Beginning in 1826, he treated the subspecies as separate reproductive communities conceptually like ,,species". At the same time, however, he grouped most of them into polytypic species. In his Handbook of the Natural Histoo' of all the Birds' of Germany (1831) Brehm numbered the subspecies of a particular species consecutively (e. g. 1-3) and gave each of them a Latin binomen followed in parentheses by their common species name. The sequence of subspecies composing the next species (e. g. 1-5) begins again with that species' subspecies number 1. Monotypic species are not numbered. In later lists ( 1855a, b) he presented the hierarchic system of genus, species and subspecies more clearly than in his earlier publications. Generally speaking, Brehm emphasized in his work the analysis of the smallest morphological-ecological units (subspecies), while his colleagues and adversaries E Faber and C.W.L. Gloger practiced the combination (synthesis) of subspecies into broadly delimited taxonomic species.

Classifying nature: Constantin W. L. Gloger's (1803-1863) tapestry of a “Natural System of the Animal Kingdom ”

“…For example, Gloger's approach to species, albeit he regarded them as reproductive communities, was essentially typological and he deliniated many bird species in polytypic fashion, which was quite in contrast to other ornithologists of his times, e.g. C. L. Brehm (see Haffer 2003Haffer , 2006Haffer & Hudde 2007: 12-13). In what we would call today "lumping" fashion Gloger subsumed many of the geographically variable climatic varieties (subspecies) of birds within one species.…”

The Nature of Race: the Genealogy of the Concept and the Biological Construct’s Contemporaneous Utility

“…For example, when, in 1844, Hermann Schlegel created the concept of conspecies, he included an intraspecific rank designated as "subspecies" or "local races" (Johnson, 2012). As noted by Haffer (2003), ornithologist Christian Brehm also placed "subspecies" in a hierarchical system. In the early 20th century, "subspecies" was officially recognized by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature as a zoological taxonomic rank.…”