Brachymelis garagassi Miklouho-Maclay, 1884b

Parnaby, Harry & Gill, Anthony C., 2021, Mammal type specimens in the Macleay Collections, University of Sydney, Zootaxa 4975 (2), pp. 201-252 : 241-242

Brachymelis garagassi Miklouho-Maclay, 1884b

Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (ser. 1) 9 (3), 715, plate 38, figs 1–6. (29th November 1884).

Description read at the 27th August 1884 meeting of the LSNSW.

Current name. Common Echymipera Echymipera kalubu kalubu ( Lesson, 1828) following Flannery (1995).

Taxonomic status. Treated as a synonym of E. kalubu kalubu by most taxonomists since Laurie & Hill (1954), before which it was considered either a valid species, or a synonym of several other species.

Syntypes. Whereabouts unknown. Not known to Tate (1948b), who visited the MAMU, and not located in earlier taxonomic literature. Probably three syntypes, all originally in alcohol, including a male and female considered by Miklouho-Maclay to be adult. Details are not recorded for the third specimen, which is of unspecified gender, and it is not clear whether it is the pouched young discussed by Miklouho-Maclay , or another individual. At least one specimen was prepared as a skin mount by Miklouho-Maclay in Sydney .

Type locality. Maclay Coast, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea.

Comments. There are no specimens of this taxon listed in the MAMU 1890s Catalogue, nor are there any listed under alternative names that might have been applied at that time. In his original account, Miklouho-Maclay noted that he had three specimens, all of which were in his private collection. We are not aware of any of these specimens having been transferred to Macleay’s Collection or the AM, although this remains a possibility.

Miklouho-Maclay implied that his three specimens were originally preserved in spirit and gave body measurements for an adult male and female, but no cranial measurements. At least one syntype was in Sydney in 1884. In a footnote on page 719 of his original account, Miklouho-Maclay stated that he exhibited a stuffed mount when he presented his paper to the LSNSW in Sydney, read at the August meeting in 1884. Miklouho-Maclay is not mentioned in the Notes and Exhibits for that meeting in the Society’s Proceedings ( Anonymous 1884a), presumably an oversight. A more detailed account of the meeting published in the Sydney Morning Herald ( Anonymous 1884b) reports that Miklouho-Maclay exhibited “a stuffed specimen” of the species.

Plate 38 of the original account illustrates the manus and pes of a male and the head of a female, all drawn soon after death. It is not clear whether the latter two specimens are amongst the three that he retained in his collection, given that he stated that he saw many specimens of this taxon but lack of alcohol prevented him from retaining more than three. His plate 38 illustrates only the rostrum and lower mandible and it would be tempting to speculate that Miklouho-Maclay did not have a complete skull. However, he presented similarly restricted views of the skull and mandible in the drawings he prepared for the description of “ Perameles broadbenti ” published by Ramsay (1879), drawn from a complete skull and mandible.

Miklouho-Maclay’s skull illustrations of this species appear to be freehand drawings, unlike many of the skull illustrations accompanying his other new species accounts. The skull of this species is much smaller than his wallaby species and drawing individual teeth in a tooth row only 4 cm long could have been more difficult.

To date we have not found documentation or indication in the English language taxonomic literature that syntypes have been sighted in the Collection since the original description. A search of the disassociated bandicoot skull and dentary fragments by a specialist in bandicoot taxonomy would be a valuable step in the search for missing type material. Perhaps some of the missing types were shipped to Russia when Miklouho-Maclay left Australia in 1886. A compilation of the works of Miklouho-Maclay (1950 –54: vol. 3, part 2: 363) contains a list of vertebrate specimens given by him to the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This lists skulls and skeletons, and stuffed specimens of “kangaroos”, which in this context would also include wallabies. The list appears to have been prepared by museum staff in 1950, suggesting that original documentation was not available (Dr Elena Govor, Australian National University pers. comm. 2017). Also listed are skulls, skeletons and stuffed specimens of “marsupial badgers” (an exact translation). Scientific names are not listed and the vernacular name “marsupial badgers” could apply to a range of marsupials including the Tasmanian Devil and possibly bandicoots, but in this case does not apply to wombats, which are listed separately. Text accompanying the list indicates that most of the vertebrate material was from New Guinea. Establishing the identity of these specimens would assist the search for Miklouho-Maclay’s unlocated type specimens .

Skull and dental measurements taken from the hard copy illustration are given in Table 10 .