Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum
Alexander Wilson (1766–1813) based his description of the “Slate-colored Hawk / Falco atricapillus” (=Accipiter gentilis atricapillus) on a single specimen collected near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which he deposited for posterity in the Philadelphia (Peale) Museum. Wilson's illustration of th...
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ftbioone:10.1635/053.167.0114 2023-07-30T03:55:23+02:00 Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum Matthew R. Halley Matthew R. Halley world 2022-01-26 text/HTML https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114 en eng The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia doi:10.1635/053.167.0114 All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114 John Cassin Text 2022 ftbioone https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114 2023-07-09T10:27:35Z Alexander Wilson (1766–1813) based his description of the “Slate-colored Hawk / Falco atricapillus” (=Accipiter gentilis atricapillus) on a single specimen collected near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which he deposited for posterity in the Philadelphia (Peale) Museum. Wilson's illustration of the specimen was engraved and hand-colored prints were published in American Ornithology vol. 6 (1812b, Pl. 52) to accompany his scientific description of the species. However, the path of Wilson's type specimens became difficult to trace after the Peale Museum closed in 1846 and its collections were sold and dispersed. Wilson's holotype of F. atricapillus was presumed lost or destroyed until November 2020, when I rediscovered it in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP), thanks to a penciled note made by the late Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee, former ANSP curator of birds. This research also sheds new light on the history of the Peale Museum bird collection, exposing a basic misunderstanding about the “Peale numbers” cited by Wilson, which has broad implications for the history of American ornithology. In short, “Peale numbers” were assigned to species (not specimens) held in the Peale Museum. Text Accipiter gentilis BioOne Online Journals Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 167 1 |
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John Cassin |
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John Cassin Matthew R. Halley Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum |
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John Cassin |
description |
Alexander Wilson (1766–1813) based his description of the “Slate-colored Hawk / Falco atricapillus” (=Accipiter gentilis atricapillus) on a single specimen collected near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which he deposited for posterity in the Philadelphia (Peale) Museum. Wilson's illustration of the specimen was engraved and hand-colored prints were published in American Ornithology vol. 6 (1812b, Pl. 52) to accompany his scientific description of the species. However, the path of Wilson's type specimens became difficult to trace after the Peale Museum closed in 1846 and its collections were sold and dispersed. Wilson's holotype of F. atricapillus was presumed lost or destroyed until November 2020, when I rediscovered it in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP), thanks to a penciled note made by the late Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee, former ANSP curator of birds. This research also sheds new light on the history of the Peale Museum bird collection, exposing a basic misunderstanding about the “Peale numbers” cited by Wilson, which has broad implications for the history of American ornithology. In short, “Peale numbers” were assigned to species (not specimens) held in the Peale Museum. |
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Matthew R. Halley |
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Text |
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Matthew R. Halley |
author_facet |
Matthew R. Halley |
author_sort |
Matthew R. Halley |
title |
Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum |
title_short |
Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum |
title_full |
Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum |
title_fullStr |
Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson's contributions to the Peale Museum |
title_sort |
rediscovery of the holotype of the american goshawk, accipiter gentilis atricapillus (wilson, 1812), and a commentary about alexander wilson's contributions to the peale museum |
publisher |
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114 |
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world |
genre |
Accipiter gentilis |
genre_facet |
Accipiter gentilis |
op_source |
https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114 |
op_relation |
doi:10.1635/053.167.0114 |
op_rights |
All rights reserved. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114 |
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Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |
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167 |
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1 |
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1772821020225306624 |