Russian J. Theriol. 7 (1): 4150 © RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF THERIOLOGY, 2008 The Langsdorffs expedition to Brazil and its mammal collection kept in the Zoological Institute of St. Petersburg, Russia Alexei V. Abramov & Galina I. Baranova ABSTRACT. All the available collecting data on the mammal collection made during the 18221829 Brazil expedition under the leadership by G.I. Langsdorff are provided. The collection is kept in the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg and at present contains 184 specimens of 74 species and 26 families of the orders Didelphimorphia, Cingulata, Pilosa, Primates, Lagomorpha, Chiroptera, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, and Rodentia. KEY WORDS: Brazil, Langsdorff, mammals. Alexei V. Abramov [[email protected]] and Galina I. Baranova, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia. Êîëëåêöèÿ ìëåêîïèòàþùèõ, ñîáðàííûõ ýêñïåäèöèåé Ëàíãñäîðôà â Áðàçèëèè, õðàíÿùàÿñÿ â Çîîëîãè÷åñêîì èíñòèòóòå ÐÀÍ (Ñàíêò-Ïåòåðáóðã) À.Â. Àáðàìîâ, Ã.È. Áàðàíîâà ÐÅÇÞÌÅ. Ïðèâåäåíà èíôîðìàöèÿ î ìëåêîïèòàþùèõ, ñîáðàííûõ â 18221829 ãã. ýêñïåäèöèåé Ã.È. Ëàíãñäîðôà â Áðàçèëèè.  íàñòîÿùåå âðåìÿ â Çîîëîãè÷åñêîì èíñòèòóòå ÐÀÍ (Ñàíêò-Ïåòåð- áóðã) õðàíÿòñÿ 184 ýêçåìïëÿðà (74 âèäîâ, 26 ñåìåéñòâ) èç áðàçèëüñêèõ ñáîðîâ Ã.È. Ëàíãñäîðôà.  êîëëåêöèè ïðåäñòàâëåíû âèäû, îòíîñÿùèåñÿ ê îòðÿäàì Didelphimorphia, Cingulata, Pilosa, Primates, Lagomorpha, Chiroptera, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla è Rodentia. ÊËÞ×ÅÂÛÅ ÑËÎÂÀ: Áðàçèëèÿ, Ëàíãñäîðô, ìëåêîïèòàþùèå. Introduction Johann Baptist von Spix, Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, Augustin Saint-Hilaire, and others. In 1821, Langsdorff suggested the Russian Acade- The famous naturalist Baron de Langsdorff, Georg my of Sciences to organize a large scientific expedition Heinrich von Langsdorff (17741852), was born in to unexplored Brazilian inland areas. With approval by Germany. But he lived and worked in Russia for a long the Russian Tsar Alexander-the-First, he received a time and was better known by his Russian name, Grig- financial and administrative support for this grandiose orii Ivanovitch Langsdorff. He was a member of and project (see Bertels et al., 1973), which consisted of correspondent for the Russian Imperial Academy of several trips to various parts of Brazil (see Fig. 1) and Sciences. As a naturalist and physician, Langsdorff covered the period from 1822 to 1829. took part in the famous Russian scientific round-the- Besides Langsdorff, the expedition team included world expedition in 18031805 under the leadership of the zoologist Édouard Ménétries, the botanist Ludwig I.F. Kruzenshtern. Later, he explored Kamchatka and Riedel, the astronomer and cartographer Nestor Rubts- the Aleutian Islands. Yet, his most celebrated achieve- ov, and three painters, Johann Moritz Rugendas, Adrien ment seemed to be the expedition to Brazilian inland Taunay, and Hércules Florence. The splendid paintings areas. of Rugendas, Taunay, and Florence were just recently In 1812, Langsdorff was nominated the consul gen- published (Expedição , 1988). During 1822 the hunt- eral of Russian Empire in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He er and taxidermist Georg Freireis also took part in the acquired a fazenda Mandioca to the north of Rio de expedition. Rugendas left the expedition at the end of Janeiro where he spent time collecting plants, animals, 1824. In 1825, the physician and naturalist Christian and minerals. Mandioca became a sort of scientific Hasse replaced Ménétries who returned back to Russia. centre for the study of Brazilian flora, fauna, and geog- In the autumn of 1822, naturalists undertook a short raphy by many Russian and foreign travelers, natural- three-month trip to the mountainous area of Serra dos ists and scientists who happened to visit this place Órgãos near Rio de Janeiro. In 1823, Langsdorff and during the second decade of the XIX century. Amongst his companions travelled throughout Rio de Janeiro them were Faddey Bellingshausen, Vasily Golovnin, Province, collecting near Mandioca, Sumidouro, 42 A.V. Abramov & G.I. Baranova Figure 1. Map of the routes of the Langsdorffs expedition (18221829) in Brazil. 1 itinerary to the Minas Gerais Province, 2 itinerary across the São Paulo up to the northern Brazil, 3 itinerary to the northern Brazil covered by Riedel (see text for details). Sumambaia, and also visited River Paraíba (Paraíba do elled by sea from Rio to the village of Santos. The Sul). second group consisted of Riedel and Hasse and trav- The next trip started from Mandioca in May 1824. elled to São Paulo by land. For a few months the Naturalists travelled over different parts of Minas Gerais expedition worked in São Paulo Province. In June 1826, Province, working around Barbacena and investigating after extensive preparations, the fluvial phase of Langs- Rio das Mortes and Rio das Pombas. In August 1824, dorff expedition to the Amazon started, with 40 people the expedition moved to Ouro Preto, then went to Serra and 7 boats departing from Porto Feliz by the River da Lapa and the vicinities of Tijuco. In February 1825, Tietê. In seven months, in January 1827, and having the expedition came back to Mandioca after covering travelled over 4000 km, naturalists had reached Cuiabá over 1000 km. in Mato Grosso Province, where they would then have The largest of Langsdorffs trips started in August worked until November 1827. The expedition was then 1825. Langsdorff, Rubtsov, Taunay, and Florence trav- divided into two groups. The first party which consisted The Langsdorffs expedition to Brazil and its mammal collection kept in the ZIN RAS 43 of Langsdorff, Rubtsov, and Florence crossed Pantanal in the Matto Grosso following the rivers Arinos, Jurue- na, and Tapajós. This group was able to reach Santarém on the River Amazon in July 1828. The second party of Riedel and Taunay had the task of following the rivers Guaporé and Madeira in order to reach Manaus on the River Amazon. Both parties eventually met, but with enormous difficulties and sufferings during their trips. Adrien Taunay drowned in the River Guaporé. Most of the participants became ill with tropical fevers (most probably, the yellow fever), including Langsdorff him- self. As a consequence of the febrile attacks, the Baron became insane at the River Juruena in May 1828. The parties joined in Belém do Pará and returned to Rio de Janeiro on shipboard on 13th March 1829, almost three years after the start of the expedition and having cov- ered a distance of over 6000 km. Thereafter, in 1830, Figure 2. Some collection labels of the Langsdorffs speci- Langsdorff returned to Europe and died in Freiburg, mens. Germany, in 1852. His serious illness prevented him from doing any research, and this was an irreparable loss for the science. Enormous scientific collections made by Baron de Langsdorff and his companions were brought to St. Petersburg during 18221830 and originally preserved in the Kunstkamera. Later on, they formed the basis of We have revised the taxonomy of all the collected South American collections of several Russian scien- specimens; the taxonomic order of species and com- tific museums. The zoological collections, including mon English names follows Wilson & Reader (2005). mammals, were moved to the Zoological Museum (recently Institute) of the Russian Academy of Sci- Order Didelphimorphia ences founded in 1832. Family Didelphidae A checklist of the collected mammals Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus, 1758 com- mon opossum (4 specimens). C.1002, stuffed specimen with skull inside, female. The checklist given below is based on specimens C.1004, stuffed specimen with skull inside, male ad. labels, inventory books and records in the catalogue of C.1005, stuffed specimen with skull inside in Muse- the Laboratory of Theriology, Zoological Institute of um exposition. the Russian Academy of Sciences. Only a few original O.425, def. skull, sad. labels and field collection numbers, i.e. those that came with the specimens, have survived. Most of the speci- Metachirus nudicaudatus (É. Geoffroy, 1803) mens possess simple labels such as Brasilia, Langs- brown four-eyed opossum (1 specimen). dorff (Fig. 2). In order to clarify the collecting data we C.1007, stuffed specimen with skull inside, ad. have examined the published expeditionary diaries (Di- aries , 1995) and the information from the Scientific Micoureus cf. paraguayanus (Tate, 1931) Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Tates woolly mouse opossum (1 specimen). Petersburg, but no relevant references for Langsdorffs C.1013, stuffed specimen with skull inside in Muse- mammal specimens were available. Traditionally, large um exposition, male ad. mammal specimens (representatives of the carnivores, ungulates, proboscideans, whales, and others) in the Monodelphis domestica (Wagner, 1842) gray collection of the Zoological Institute Russian Academy short-tailed opossum (1 specimen). of Sciences are provided with two different catalogue C.1016, stuffed specimen with skull inside in Muse- numbers: one for the skulls/skeletons (with the prefix um exposition, ad. O to the collection number) and another for the skins/ stuffed specimens (prefix C). Small mammals (ro- Philander opossum (Linnaeus, 1758) gray four- dents, lagomorphs, insectivores, bats) have the C- eyed opossum (4 specimens). kind of catalogue numbers only. Most of the specimens C.1010, stuffed specimen. are kept in the collection of Laboratory of Theriology, C.1011, stuffed specimen with skull inside in Muse- but