As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology
The majority of birds lay eggs of a colour and maculation “typical” of their species, but very occasionally individual females produce eggs of unusual colours. In the past, such eggs were often the target of egg collectors. Four trays of unusually coloured northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus eggs ori...
Published in: | The European Zoological Journal |
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Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 https://doaj.org/article/4024bd2e12734f308ac04616c3d46643 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:4024bd2e12734f308ac04616c3d46643 2023-05-15T18:42:33+02:00 As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology T. R. Birkhead 2022-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 https://doaj.org/article/4024bd2e12734f308ac04616c3d46643 EN eng Taylor & Francis Group https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 https://doaj.org/toc/2475-0263 doi:10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 2475-0263 https://doaj.org/article/4024bd2e12734f308ac04616c3d46643 The European Zoological Journal, Vol 89, Iss 1, Pp 152-166 (2022) Alfred Denny Museum cynanic erythristic oology Vivian Hewitt Jordain Goodall Zoology QL1-991 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 2022-12-31T08:23:07Z The majority of birds lay eggs of a colour and maculation “typical” of their species, but very occasionally individual females produce eggs of unusual colours. In the past, such eggs were often the target of egg collectors. Four trays of unusually coloured northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus eggs originally accumulated by two notable collectors, F.C.R. Jourdain and J. M. Goodall in the late 1800s and early 1900s, were recovered from the home of David Wilson after his death in 2020. Wilson had acquired this lapwing material, comprising 91 clutches and 347 eggs in total, from the avid collector and millionaire, Captain Vivian Hewitt after Hewitt’s death in 1965. The lapwing clutches are unusual both in terms of their colours, ranging from pale blue with almost no maculation (“cyanic”), through to red (“erythristic”), but also in terms of the completeness of their accompanying data. During the 1800s and early 1900s, hundreds of thousands of lapwing eggs were collected annually in Britain and the Netherlands for human consumption, providing egg collectors, like Goodall and Jourdain, the opportunity to screen large numbers of clutches and acquire rare types. The occurrence of rare egg types in museum egg collections have the potential to provide opportunities to better understand the normal physiological and genetic bases of avian egg colour. Article in Journal/Newspaper Vanellus vanellus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The European Zoological Journal 89 1 145 159 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Alfred Denny Museum cynanic erythristic oology Vivian Hewitt Jordain Goodall Zoology QL1-991 |
spellingShingle |
Alfred Denny Museum cynanic erythristic oology Vivian Hewitt Jordain Goodall Zoology QL1-991 T. R. Birkhead As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology |
topic_facet |
Alfred Denny Museum cynanic erythristic oology Vivian Hewitt Jordain Goodall Zoology QL1-991 |
description |
The majority of birds lay eggs of a colour and maculation “typical” of their species, but very occasionally individual females produce eggs of unusual colours. In the past, such eggs were often the target of egg collectors. Four trays of unusually coloured northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus eggs originally accumulated by two notable collectors, F.C.R. Jourdain and J. M. Goodall in the late 1800s and early 1900s, were recovered from the home of David Wilson after his death in 2020. Wilson had acquired this lapwing material, comprising 91 clutches and 347 eggs in total, from the avid collector and millionaire, Captain Vivian Hewitt after Hewitt’s death in 1965. The lapwing clutches are unusual both in terms of their colours, ranging from pale blue with almost no maculation (“cyanic”), through to red (“erythristic”), but also in terms of the completeness of their accompanying data. During the 1800s and early 1900s, hundreds of thousands of lapwing eggs were collected annually in Britain and the Netherlands for human consumption, providing egg collectors, like Goodall and Jourdain, the opportunity to screen large numbers of clutches and acquire rare types. The occurrence of rare egg types in museum egg collections have the potential to provide opportunities to better understand the normal physiological and genetic bases of avian egg colour. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
T. R. Birkhead |
author_facet |
T. R. Birkhead |
author_sort |
T. R. Birkhead |
title |
As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology |
title_short |
As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology |
title_full |
As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology |
title_fullStr |
As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology |
title_full_unstemmed |
As rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology |
title_sort |
as rare as hen’s teeth: aberrantly coloured eggs of the northern lapwing (vanellus vanellus) and the interface between oology and ornithology |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 https://doaj.org/article/4024bd2e12734f308ac04616c3d46643 |
genre |
Vanellus vanellus |
genre_facet |
Vanellus vanellus |
op_source |
The European Zoological Journal, Vol 89, Iss 1, Pp 152-166 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 https://doaj.org/toc/2475-0263 doi:10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 2475-0263 https://doaj.org/article/4024bd2e12734f308ac04616c3d46643 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/24750263.2022.2029588 |
container_title |
The European Zoological Journal |
container_volume |
89 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
145 |
op_container_end_page |
159 |
_version_ |
1766232257212710912 |