The Bird Collections in the Museum Für Naturkunde Berlin Resulting From
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Zoosyst. Evol. 86 (1) 2010, 49–80 / DOI 10.1002/zoos.200900014 The bird collections in the Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin resulting from Ernst Schfer’s three expeditions to Tibet and Sikkim Michael Abs, Pascal Eckhoff, Jrgen Fiebig and Sylke Frahnert* Museum fr Naturkunde, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany Abstract Received 18 August 2009 Ernst Schfer (1910–1992), a German hunter and zoologist, became famous due to his Accepted 8 September 2009 zoological and ecological studies in Tibet (Xizang). The basis of these studies was his Published 17 March 2010 participation in three expeditions to Sikkim, Tibet and adjoining provinces in 1931/32, 1934–1936 and 1938/39. A large amount of birds obtained during these expeditions is housed in the Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin. Most of them were neither inventoried nor integrated in the museum’s collection. As there is still a big interest in these birds because of their origin of the transition zone from the Palearctic to the Indo-Malayan, we aimed to make these birds available for the scientific community. We compiled an updated list of all the 3,520 birds collected by Schfer in Tibet and Sikkim. Summariz- Key Words ing, we found 5 specimens of the expedition 1931/32, 230 of the expedition 1934–36 and 3,285 specimens of the expedition 1938/39. From Schfer’s last expedition we in- Aves ventoried 650 specimens of 58 species collected in Tibet from January to the end of Himalaya June 1939, and 2700 specimens of 278 species collected in Sikkim in 1938 and the Catalogue first half of 1939. Important collecting localities are Gangtok (939 specimens), Lachen Type (369 specimens), Gogong (300 specimens), Thanggu (259 specimens), Lhasa (133 spe- Dolan cimens), Chuntang (103 specimens) and Xigaze (102 specimens). Introduction collections)). Furthermore, the teams of these expedi- tions collected a cross section of the local fauna, espe- Ernst Schfer (1910–1992), a German hunter and zool- cially insects and during the 1938/39 expedition also ogist, became famous due to his zoological and ecolo- seeds, plants, minerals as well as ethnological objects. gical studies in Tibet (Xizang). The basis of these stu- The collected material of these expeditions was spread dies was his participation in three expeditions to over several institutions according to the aims of the Sikkim, Tibet and adjoining provinces. Together with particular expedition. Particularly, birds and mammals H. Weigold (1886–1973), E. Schfer started his first were sent to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- expedition to Western China and Eastern Tibet in 1931/ delphia ( 3,000 birds) and to the Museum fr Natur- 32. This expedition was organised by the Academy of kunde Berlin ( 3,500 birds), bees and butterflies to Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and guided by Brook the Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin, seeds to the Insti- Dolan (1908–1945). A second expedition to Western tute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research Gaters- China and Eastern Tibet under the direction of B. Do- leben and ethnological material to the Peabody Mu- lan followed from 1934 to 1936. E. Schfers activities seum Boston, the “Niederschsisches Landesmuseum in Tibet culminated in a third expedition to Sikkim and Hannover” and the “Staatliches Museum fr Vlker- Central Tibet 1938/39 (Fig. 1) guided by himself under kunde Mnchen”. Several scientists (e.g. Allen 1939; the sponsorship of the Third Reich as well as in a PhD Eidmann 1941; Kuhlmann 2002; Meyer de Schauensee thesis in 1937 and a habilitation in 1942 about his Ti- 1938; Schfer 1938a, b; Schfer & Meyer de Schauen- bet expeditions. During all his expeditions to Tibet, see 1939; Stresemann 1939, 1940) analyzed this com- E. Schfer collected especially birds and mammals. prehensive material. Although all these expeditions, (1931/32 900 birds, 1934–36 3,000 birds, 1938/39 their aims, political value, itineraries and their scientific 3,000 birds (Schfer 1938b, Weigold 2005, museums results have been described in several publications (e.g. * Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] # 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 50 Abs, M. et al.: Bird collections from Ernst Scha¨ fer’s expeditions to Tibet and Sikkim Figure 1. Team of the expedition 1938/39. From left to right: Edmund Geer, Bruno Beger, Ernst Schfer, Karl Wienert, Ernst Krause (Museum fr Naturkunde, collection of portraits, Zool. Mus., Signatur: B II/110) Figure 2. Sample of the bird collection of E. Schfer from Tibet and Sikkim in the Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin (C. Radke, Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin). museum-zoosyst.evol.wiley-vch.de # 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Zoosyst. Evol. 86 (1) 2010, 49–80 51 Allen 1939; Dolan 1939; Eidmann 1941; Kuhlmann throughout the whole year ( 1,000 specimens). Further 2002; Meyer de Schauensee 1938; Prinzinger 1993; important collecting localities are Lachen (369 speci- Schfer 1933, 1938a, b, 1942a, b, 1988, 1989a, b; Stre- mens), Gogong (300 specimens), Thanggu (259 speci- semann 1939, 1940; Weigold 2005), most of the birds mens), Lhasa (133 specimens), Chuntang (103 speci- which came to Berlin (especially of the third expedition) mens) and Xigaze (102 specimens). became not available for scientists until now. Before, only one third of them was incorporated in the inventory of the museum and a large amount of the collection was Methods housed separately. E. Stresemann started to work with the material and bequeathed an unfinished manuscript All specimens were prepared as skins in the field. of nearly 200 pages (ZMB archives, Zool. Mus. Sign. E. Schfer trained several local people who they hired S III, Schfer, E.). It is unknown why the manuscript as assistants for the expedition. That means that the was never finished, but the data of the collected birds skins were prepared and labelled by different people were included in the classical works about the ornitho- not all of them being ornithologists (Fig. 4). Conse- fauna of this region (Ali 1962; Vaurie 1972) as well as quently, the quality of the skins as well as the accompa- in the recent research projects of J. Martens (e.g. Mar- nying information is very different. For instance, most tens & Trautmann 2008). From a biogeographic point of of the specimens of Passer montanus tibetanus, Car- view North India and Tibet belong to a very interesting duelis flavirostris rufostrigata, Carpodacus rubicol- region at the transition from the Palearctic to the Indo- loides lucifer, Carpodacus pulcherrimus waltoni and Malayan. In the rugged area of the Himalaya, this tran- Leucosticte brandti audreyana were prepared as flat sition runs more or less along the level contours. There- skins. Today we are no more able to trace back who fore, there still is a large interest in birds of this region prepared a particular skin. Therefore an individual vali- and consequently we aim to make the important collec- dation of the reliability of special information is not tions of E. Schfer available for the scientific commu- possible, which would be especially important in the nity. We made an inventory of all the specimens of the case of contradictory information. Missing collecting Schfer expeditions (Fig. 2). Summarizing we found 5 information on the collector’s label was added from ad- specimens of the expedition 1931/32, 230 of the expedi- ditional sources like the collecting diary of E. Schfer tion 1934–36 and 3,285 specimens of the expedition from the Sikkim expedition (ZMB archives, Zool. Mus. 1938/39. During his visit in Lhasa and southern Tibet Sign. S III, Schfer, E.) what we recently detected in from January to the end of June 1939 Schfer collected the library of the ornithological collection, literature 650 specimens of 58 species. Further, in Sikkim 2700 (Ali 1962; Vaurie 1972) as well as through the knowl- specimens of 278 species were collected in 1938 and edge about the routes of the expeditions. Due to further the first half of 1939 (Fig. 3). Especially in the area identification work, roughly 90 % of the specimens pro- round Gangtok they sampled the avifauna nearly vides a sex determination and 60 % an age determina- Figure 3. Distribution of the skins on bird families (for all families with more than 50 specimens) # 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim museum-zoosyst.evol.wiley-vch.de 52 Abs, M. et al.: Bird collections from Ernst Scha¨ fer’s expeditions to Tibet and Sikkim pull(us) < , þ unsexed; undetermined age < , þ unsexed Registration number Region, number of specimens: Locality Month List Non-Passeres Phasianidae Lerwa lerwa (Hodgson, 1833) – Snow Partridge Lerwa lerwa lerwa (Hodgson, 1833) 1: ad. 1 , ZMB 43.657 Sikkim 1: Schapi camp XI. Tetraogallus tibetanus Gould, 1854 – Tibetan Snowcock Tetraogallus tibetanus aquilonifer R. & A. Meinertz- hagen 1926 1: 1 , ZMB 45.231 Sikkim 1: Gogong VII. Tetraogallus tibetanus przewalskii Bianchi, 1907 1: ad. 1 , ZMB 46.100 Qinghai 1: camp 77 IV. Figure 4. Examples of labels from the expeditions of E. Sch- fer, below: printed label, made in 2009 (H. J. Gtz, Museum Perdix hodgsoniae (Hodgson, 1857) – fr Naturkunde Berlin) Tibetan Partridge Perdix hodgsoniae sifanica Przevalski, 1876 tion today. As the routes of all three expeditions were 1: ad. 1 , described and mapped several times (e.g. Dolan 1939; ZMB 36.980 Eidmann 1941; Kuhlmann 2002; Schfer 1933) we re- Sichuan 1: Gaocheng X. frained from describing the routes again. But we brought the names of the locations up to date and Arborophila torqueola (Valenciennes, 1825) – added for the first time the geographical coordina- Common Hill Partridge tes. As a reference, we used the U.S. Dept of Surveys Arborophila torqueola torqueola (Valenciennes, 1825) gazetteer (http://gnswww.nga.mil/geonames/GNS/in- 8: 3 < 1 , þ 4 dex.jsp, BGN Standard, no diacritics) if possible, for ZMB 42.658–660, ZMB 2001.99–103 some cases we refered to Vaurie (1972) or approxi- Sikkim 8: Chuntang XI, Gangtok II, IV, Lachen IX.