Zeitschrift Für Zoologie
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~-\ ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at S70,{s SPIXIANA Zeitschrift für Zoologie Festschrift zu Ehren von Dr. Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix Herausgegeben von E. J. Fittkau Schriftleitung L. Tiefenbacher ^^^'^JiVTHSOlVlilA^ Zoologische Staatssammlung München, "^^^^ !!'-"' -^^"^j^L^ SPIXIANA Supplement 9 München, 15. Dezember 1983 ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at SPIXIANH ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR ZOOLOGIE herausgegeben von der ZOOLOGISCHEN STAATSSAMMLUNG MÜNCHEN SPIXIANA bringt Originalarbeiten aus dem Gesamtgebiet der Zoologischen Systematik mit Schwerpunkten in Morphologie, Phylogenie, Tiergeographie und Ökologie. Manuskripte werden in Deutsch, Englisch oder Französisch angenommen. Pro Jahr erscheint ein Band zu drei Heften. Umfangreiche Beiträge können in Supplementbänden herausgegeben werden. SPIXIANA publishes original papers on Zoological Systematics, with emphasis on Morphology, Phylogeny, Zoogeography and Ecology. Manuscripts will be accepted in German, English or French. A volume of three issues will be published annually. Extensive contributions may be edited in Supplement volumes. Redaktion - Editor-in-chief Schriftleitung - Managing Editor Priv.-Doz. Dr. E. J. FITTKAU Dr. L TIEFENBACHER Redaktionsbeirat- Editorial board Dr. F. BACHMAIER Dr. R. FECHTER Dr. G. SCHERER Dr. M. BAEHR Dr. U. GRUBER Dr. F. TEROFAL Dr. E. G. BURMEISTER Dr. R. KRAFT Dr. L TIEFENBACHER Dr. W. DIERL Dr.J. REICHHOLF Dr. I.WEIGEL Dr. H. FECHTER Dr. F. REISS Manuskripte, Korrekturen und Bespre- Manuscripts, galley proofs, commentaries chungsexemplare sind zu senden an die and review copies of books should be adressed to Redaktion SPIXIANA ZOOLOGISCHE STAATSSAMMLUNG MÜNCHEN Maria-Ward-Straße 1 b D-8000 München 19, West Germany SPIXIANA - Journal of Zoology published by The State Zoological Collections München ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at Festschrift zu Ehren von Dr. Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix Herausgegeben von E. J. Fittkau Schriftleitung L. Tiefenbacher Zoologische Staatssammlung München, 1983 ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at Gesamtherstellung: Gebr. Geiselberger, Altötting ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at Original im Besitz der Bayer. Akad. d. Wiss., München ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at SPIXIANA ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at Introduction The books by Spix (1824, 1825) and Wagler (1824) on, respectively, turtles and frogs, caimans and lizards and on snakes formed, together with Wied's (1820, 1821, 1825, 1822-31) books on the natural history of Brazil, the basis for the study of the BraziHan herpetofauna for many years. Although the books purportedly only described new species, they included many species that had been described earlier.In some cases this apparently was known to the authors, because they cite earher references, in other cases they described as new species individual variations or species already known to science. This was probably due to the fact that Spix was not a speciaUst in the study of reptiles and amphibians and was not abreast of the current literature . It also may explain his descriptions of individual variations as new taxa. The fact that Spix was in bad health and knew he had not much longer to live (Tiefenba- cher, 1982) possibly accounts for the hasty and in places careless descriptions. Anyhow, a substantial part of the descriptions (slightly more than 50% for frogs, lizards and snakes, about 25 % for turtles and caimans) were based on new taxa which currently are still recognised (table 1). Table 1 Author ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at über 30 Jahre lang ein Annex des Zoologischen Instituts und kam unter den Ordinarien desselben ganz herunter". In the same letter Müller comments upon the condition of some of the Spix specimens: "Die beiden Cotypen von Hyla ranoides Spix und der Holotypus von Hyla stercoracea Spix sind in ei- nem so schlechten Zustand, daß ich mir kein Urteil über ihre Artzugehörigkeit erlauben kann. Die Exemplare waren in zu schwachem Alkohol erst stark mazeriert und sind dann offenbar auch in halb ausgetrockneten Gläsern aufbewahrt gewesen. Die Muskulatur ist zum Teil aufgelöst, so daß die Haut in zahlreichen Falten zusammengeschrumpft ist; die Epidermis ist derart mazeriert, daß von einer Hautstruktur nichts mehr zu erkennen ist . Viele Spix'sche Typen sind in sehr schlechtem Zustande, einige, die noch W. Peters in Händen hatte, sind nicht mehr vorhanden." From these sad remarks it is clear that the material collected by Spix and Martius was put to a harsh test during the first 100 years of its stay in Munich, though thisis not veryclear from the studiesby Peters (1862a, 1862b, 1873a, 1877) and Jan (1859). Peters (1873 a) described the coUection as well preserved, with partly faded colours, af- ter 50 years in preservative, although he stated that several specimens appeared to have been partly dried out and that several had been badly preserved from the Start. This would indicate that the events as described byL. Müller took place between 1820 and 1872, whereaspartof the material was lost dur- ing the last quarter of the nineteenth Century. Müller's remark that "Die Spix'schen Typen waren zum Teil wohl bereits durch Spix schlecht präpariert" does agree with Peters' remarks, but certainly is not applicable to the RMNH material, which is in good condition, though faded. Towards the end of the twenties of the present Century, the Munich coUections of natural history were separated from the University institutions and subsequently formed an independent Museum of Natural History in the centre of Munich. During this period the zoological coUections as a whole and particularly the herpetological ones under the care of L . Müller developed and prospered. This period rudely came to an end by the outbreak of World "War II, and the worst ordeal for the Spix coUection was to come. As a precation against war damage, in early 1944, a large part of the scientific material of the State Zoological CoUections in the socalled "Old Academy" had already been moved to places outside Munich. The coUections of fish and that of crocodilian skeletons and skuUs were packed ready for re- moval, when during the night of 24/25 of April 1944 a bombing-raid destroyed the entire museum completely with firebombs (also see Lutz, 1973 : 26). The entire fish coUection and most of the crocodi- lian skeletons and skuUs were burnt. But also the herpetological material already stored elsewhere, would not survive the war undamaged. It was stored in several cellar-rooms of the big brewery restau- rant Heide-Volm in Planegg, south of Munich. On one of the last days of the war, AprU 11, 1945, a small demoUtion bomb feil through an airduct into one of the rooms and destroyed one third of the herpetological coUection, including most of the chelonians, the mediterranean Island lizards, a large part of the amphibians and parts of the Spix coUections. It was to the credit of L. Müller and of the le- pidopterologist W. Forster, who estimated the damage the next morning and arranged for immediate Clearing, that the losses did not become heavier. After the war aU shifted zoological coUections were again assembled in rooms of the castle of Nymphenburg, which was to serve as a provisional accomo- dation, but where they remained tiU the present day. However, a satisfactory Solution for the definite housing of the zoological coUections in Munich is in sight, because a new building for the Zoologische Staatssammlung München is now under construction. Thus, the Odyssee of the herpetological coUec- tions in Munich, and the detrimental effects thereof, finally will come to an end. After World War II there was a general connotation among herpetologists that all Spix- and Wagler- types had been destroyed in Munich (Vanzolini, 1977; 1981 a) whereas it was not known that at least part of the coUection had been safely stored in Leiden for 120 years. Nevertheless, in post-war years several authors studied Spix/WAGLER-types, but their efforts apparently did not succeed in making clear the fact that a considerable part of those types had escaped destruction. Cochran (1955) reported on several of Spix's frog types, but apparently she saw these during her visit to Munich in October 1938 (W. R. Heyer in litt.; Duellman, 1971b) and part of these were obviously lost during the subsequent years. Hellmich (1960) reported extensively on part of the lizard types in the Spix coUection, at the same time indicating which specimens had been saved and which had been destroyed. Gans (1961) 321 ©Zoologische Staatssammlung München;download: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/; www.biologiezentrum.at commenting upon Hellmich's (1960) paper wrote: "Since the Munich Museiun has apparently saved a number of Wagler's original types of wide ranging forms that enter the Gran Chaco, it would have been more useful to include a brief redescription than to repeat the 1882 opinions of Strauch", but he failed to give more details on the type specimens. Gans (1967) in his check Ust of amphisbaenians gave the