Mammals collected by Johann Jakob von Tschudi in Peru during 1838-1842 for the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Abstract

During his first trip to Latin America (1838-1842), the Swiss naturalist Johann Jakob von Tschudi collected a large series of Peruvian fauna, including birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, and mammals. On this last group, Tschudi published two pioneering works, “Mammalium conspectus” and “Untersuchungen über die Fauna Peruana”, in which he described new species and presented the first systematic lists of the Peruvian fauna. Despite the relevance of Tschudi’s work, his lists of mammals have been poorly consulted in contemporary research. In order to rectify and update these lists, we reviewed all of Tschudi’s writings on mammals, situating his expedition in its global context. Additionally, we looked and reviewed the material collected by Tschudi, including types, held at the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Neuchâtel (Neuchâtel, Switzerland). Of the 119 species listed by Tschudi, approximately 87 are currently recognized as valid. Furthermore, at least 21 type specimens representing 14 of the 24 species described by Tschudi are still held at Neuchâtel’s collection. We finally corrected and clarified the date of publication of Tschudi’s new species. Tschudi’s Peruvian expedition drew international recognition in his days, being a milestone in the history of scientific institutionalization in Switzerland, and remains as a relevant legacy for the study of Peruvian biodiversity

An Annotated Checklist of Recent Opossums (Mammalia: Didelphidae)

“…Phylogenetic analyses of multilocus sequence datasets either recover M. incanus as the sister taxon to all other members of the nominotypical subgenus (Diaz-Nieto et al, 2016a, 2016b or as the sister taxon of M. paulensis (see Amador and Giannini. 2016) Serrano-Villavicencio et al, 2020), and a fourth is in Berlin (ZMB 3375). The Berlin specimen (consisting of the skin and skull of an adult female) is the one upon which Tate (1933) based his concept of the species, and so would be a logical choice as lectotype.…”

“…The Berlin specimen (consisting of the skin and skull of an adult female) is the one upon which Tate (1933) based his concept of the species, and so would be a logical choice as lectotype. Tschudi's subsequently published travelogue and correspondence-cited by Tate (1933: 154-155) and Serrano-Villavicencio et al (2020)-suggest that his type series was collected near "Vitoc" (= Pueblo Nuevo: ca. 11.17° S, 75.27° W; ca.…”

Disseminating “hidden” scientific collections: the medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals at the Museo di Anatomia Comparata “Giovanni Battista Grassi”, Roma, Italy

“…Some attempts to solve this issue are the selected catalogues of specimens published by curators and/or expert taxonomists (e.g. Bezerra et al 2004 , Calvini et al 2016 Bezerra and Bordallo 2018 , Nascimento and Vendramel 2020 , Serrano-Villavicencio et al 2020 , Ghiraldi et al 2021 , Lo Brutto et al 2023 ), which provide revised and detailed information on one or more taxa, generally at the order and family levels.…”

Abundance and spatial distribution of baleen and sperm whales in the Peruvian sea: a historical review

“…In 1960, early references of oil use from stranded whales in Peru were reported (Cobo, 1964). Later, Tschudi (1844a, b) described the presence of sperm whales (Catadon macrocephalus) and mysticetes such as bowhead whales (Balaena mysticeta = Balaena mysticetus Linnaeus, 1758) or North Pacific right whale (B. lunulata = Eubalaena japonica Lacepède, 1818) (Serrano-Villavicencio et al, 2020), although this was a misidentification since both species are not distributed in the Southern Hemisphere (Cooke & Clapham, 2018;Cooke & Reeves, 2018).…”