[Nhcoll-l] Seeking Info. on Whale Skeleton

Sun Jan 10 20:38:00 EST 2016

Barry,

Thanks so much for the clarification!

Cheers,
eric

----

*Eric Archer, Ph.D.*
Southwest Fisheries Science Center
NMFS, NOAA
8901 La Jolla Shores Drive
La Jolla, CA 92037 USA
858-546-7121 (work)
858-546-7003 (FAX)

Marine Mammal Genetics Group: swfsc.noaa.gov/mmtd-mmgenetics
ETP Cetacean Assessment Program: swfsc.noaa.gov/mmtd-etp

"

*The universe doesn't care what you believe. The wonderful thing about
science is that it   doesn't ask for your faith, it just asks   for your
eyes.*"  - Randall Munroe

"*Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.*"
   - Benjamin Franklin

   "*...but I'll take a GPS over either one.*"
       - John C. "Craig" George

On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 4:49 PM, Barry OConnor <bmoc at umich.edu> wrote:

> Just a clarification here regarding the use of "type" terminology. A
> lectotype is a specimen chosen by a reviser of an original syntype series
> to be a single specimen that will represent the name. This is typically
> done when the original syntype series turns out to contain more than one
> species. In the case presented, a holotype was designated originally, not
> syntypes, so there can be no lectotype. In the case of a lost holotype, the
> proper procedure if there is confusion over the use of a name (in this case
> "velifera"), a neotype should be designated.  The ICZN has rules covering
> how this is to be accomplished.
> All the best! - Barry
>
> On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 7:37 PM, Casey Tucker <tuckercasey at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I'm passing this along. Please contact Eric Archer directly (see below).
>>
>> C. Tucker
>> *************************************************************
>>
>> I am trying to track down the skeleton of a fin whale (*
>> *Balaenoptera physalus**) that was once hanging at the Wistar Institute
>> in Philadelphia,PA USA.
>>
>>
>> The skeleton was collected by Edward Cope from San Clemente, California
>> in 1895 and donated to the Wistar a few years later. It was described in
>> True 1904. "The Whalebone Whales of the Western North Atlantic" as
>> measuring 62 feet, 10 inches long. The name applied by Cope for this
>> specimen was *Balaenoptera velifera*, originally described in 1869,
>> currently synonymized with *B. physalus*. As there doesn't appear to be any
>> surviving material for the holotype of*Balenoptera velifera*, the specimen
>> from the Wistar Institute would be the next candidate to designate as a
>> lectotype for a new subspecies of fin whales in the eastern north Pacific:
>> *Balaenoptera physalus velifera*.
>>
>>
>> The skeleton is no longer at the Wistar Institute. I have been in
>> touch with directors at the Wistar and scoured the internet and the
>> evidence is that sometime soon after a new director, Hilary Koprowski,
>> arrived in 1957, the skeleton was shipped to the Field Museum in
>> Chicago. However, the current curator of the mammal collection at the
>> Field Museum says that the skeleton is not in their collection nor does
>> anyone there have any recollection or knowledge of it. It is also not in
>> the Smithsonian or at
>>
>> the American Natural History Museum.
>>
>>
>> If anyone has any knowledge of this specimen or knows of someone who
>> might, I would greatly appreciate their contact information. I am
>> currently working on writing up the description for this subspecies and
>> would like to
>> identify the lectotype as well as potentially obtain some bone sample for
>> mitochondrial DNA sequencing. Thank you in advance.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>> Eric Archer
>>
>> ----
>> *Eric Archer, Ph.D.*
>> Southwest Fisheries Science Center
>> NMFS, NOAA
>> 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive
>> La Jolla, CA 92037 USA
>> 858-546-7121 (work)
>> 858-546-7003 (FAX)
>>
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__swfsc.noaa.gov_mmtd-2Dmmgenetics_&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=RBj3tsLICy7qgCFkj53BIfJi6uVDDTDx0Y_M4sG92ro&s=u9dSk4uBqftX8g_VDCG6LNaPmjx1zwXr2LRQNbrEtvo&e= 
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__swfsc.noaa.gov_mmtd-2Dmmgenetics_&d=AwMFAw&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=urj-nPNBvi1KUTrvsyPq3H_WkBsscHHQXPTpL5s_-QI&s=rXMJURbueUmVlCsAO9yL9yWVg9phR3h1sNuCsZnufrQ&e=>
>>
>> eric.archer at NOAA.GOV
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nhcoll-l mailing list
>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>> http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
>> society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=RBj3tsLICy7qgCFkj53BIfJi6uVDDTDx0Y_M4sG92ro&s=rrsd1IwqA8RJfP-0lWyn5ioNitaWtTmQGwvHFV25FMY&e=  for membership information.
>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> -So many mites, so little time!
>
> Barry M. OConnor
> Professor  & Curator
> Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
> University of Michigan                  phone: 734-763-4354
> 1109 Geddes Ave.                          fax: 734-763-4080
> Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079          e-mail: bmoc at umich.edu
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20160110/33c23829/attachment.html 