Rodentia, Bowdich, 1821

Kurek, Przemysław, 2017, Rediscovery of the holotypes of Mustela africana stolzmanni Taczanowski, 1881 (Carnivora: Mustelidae) and Cuniculus taczanowskii Stolzmann, 1885 (Rodentia: Cuniculidae) at the Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland, Zootaxa 4311 (3), pp. 447-450 : 449

Rodentia

Cuniculidae

Coelogenys taczanowskii Stolzmann 1885 [= Sztolcman 1885]: 161–167.

NOW: Cuniculus taczanowskii Stolzmann, 1885 [= Sztolcman 1885].

HOLOTYPE: MIZ PAS (MIZ 77780), sex unrecognized, collected by Jan Sztolcman in 1884 in „habite les montagnes de l’Equadeur entre 6000 et 10,000 pieds au dessus de niveau de la mer. Elle n’est pas tres rare dans les forets des deux versants des Andes.” ( Stolzmann 1885) [= Sztolcman 1885] ( Fig. 1 . C), labelled: “ Agouti taczanowskii Stolzm. Coelogenys taczanowskii Stolzm. Kalelnik Taczanowskiego *. Coll. J. Sztolcman. Typus. San Rafael Ekw. 3000 m n.p.m. 1884r. ” ( Fig. 1 . E). * “ Kalelnik Taczanowskiego” is a Polish archaic name proposed by J. Sztolcman. Nowadays, out of use.

REMARKS: Two specimens of the Mountain paca (a male and a female) were obtained near San Rafael in Ecuador [=San Rafael, Tungurahua Province, Ecuador], at the altitude, as provided by the author (on the label), about 3000 m a. s. l. The animals were not sampled by J. Sztolcman but provided to him by local Indians. J. Sztolcman named this species Coelogenys taczanowskii to honour W. Taczanowski, his teacher and master in the field of natural sciences ( Stolzmann 1885) [=Sztolcman 1885]. Only one specimen with a label has been preserved till today, whereas the fate of the second specimen is unknown ( Piechnik & Kurek 2016). Some researchers ( Cabrera 1961; Woods & Kilpatrick 2005) reported incorrectly the date of the description of Coelogenys taczanowskii as 1865 instead of 1885 ( Patton et. al 2015; Piechnik & Kurek 2016).

Despite the fact that MIZ PAS was firmly linked with Polish explorers working in South America, during the last quarter of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century ( Kazubski 1996; Mlikowský 2009; Mierzwa-Szymkowiak & Breure 2017; Piechnik & Kurek 2016) the number of neotropical mammalian type specimens in this institution is scarce. This poor number of mammal types is not due to previous deficiencies in the collection. Almost from the beginning of the exploration of South America by collectors associated with the Zoological Cabinet its curators (Władysław Taczanowski and his successor Jan Sztolcman) exchanged many undetermined small mammals collected by Polish explorers from Peru for bird specimens from the Natural History Museum in London. Oldfield Thomas from the Natural History Museum in London described new species among them. Therefore most of the types of mammals discovered by Polish explorers in South America are now deposited in London. Only some specimens from the series sent to O. Thomas were kept in Warsaw. This enabled to determine several topotype specimens of neotropical mammals collected by the Poles in the collection of MIZ PAS. These specimens, all sigmodontine rodents, were described on the basis of a series sent to the London Museum where they are stored today as holotypes or paratypes: Calomys lepidus Thomas 1884 , Auliscomys pictus Thomas 1884 , Euryoryzomys nitidus Thomas 1884 , Abrothrix jelskii Thomas 1894 and Aegialomys xanthaeolus Thomas 1894 .

A small number of types of mammals at the Museum in Warsaw was influenced by such factors as transfer of part of the collection by the Russians to Rostov on the Don River in 1915, a fire in museum in 1935 and the destruction by Germans shortly after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 ( Gardner & Carter 1972; Kazubski 1996). These factors caused the loss from the collections of the Warsaw Museum subsequent holotypes of neotropical mammals: Dinomys branickii Peters 1873 , Amorphochilus schnablii Peters 1877 and Platyrrhinus infuscus Peters 1880 .

Only two holotypes of neotropical mammals in the MIZ PAS— Mustela africana stolzmanni Taczanowski 1881 and Cuniculus taczanowskii Stolzmann 1885 —were not sent for their determination to Oldfield Thomas to London. Both of them were described by Poles: W. Taczanowski and J. Sztolcman ( Taczanowski 1881; Stolzmann 1885) and deposited at the Warsaw Museum. The results of the revision presented above revealed that holotypes of Amazon weasel and Mountain paca still exist as deposits of the Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.

Figures

FIGURE 1. A) Holotype of Amazon weasel Mustela africana stolzmanni Taczanowski, 1881 (MIZ 83480), B) Jaw and part of skull of holotype specimen of Amazon weasel (MIZ 79411), C) Holotype of Mountain paca Cuniculus taczanowskii Stolzmann, 1885 (MIZ 77780), D) A label of holotype specimen of Amazon weasel (MIZ 83480), E) A label of holotype specimen of Mountain paca (MIZ 77780).