Abstract
The Fishing Cat is not a species known to inhabit Singapore. However, a historical specimen stated to have come from Singapore in 1819 and attributed to Pierre-Médard Diard (RMNH.MAM.59688) is now housed at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. Two hundred years after it was obtained, the mounted skin and skull of this specimen, including specimen labels, were photographed and digitally catalogued. Four sets of annotations from labels and a document detailing records and a receipt of specimens sent by Diard to Leiden are presented to ascertain the specimen’s identity, followed by a historical account of Diard based on a reconstruction of the timeline of key events of Singapore’s natural history. Subsequently, the specimen is examined to confirm its taxonomic identity using comparative morphometrics with other museum specimens, and data associated with the specimen are analysed to determine the origins of this specimen. We conclude that the current evidence does not allow confirmation of the specimen’s status as having been collected in Singapore or being obtained from the pet trade. If the specimen was an imported specimen, it would point towards a trade in rare and large animals in Singapore and the region from as early as 1819. Presently, the specimen remains one of the few extant zoological specimens obtained in Singapore in 1819 and the only one currently known outside of England.
Highlights
The Fishing Cat, Prionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833) is a medium-sized, nocturnal species of the family Felidae
These records from the Malay Peninsula that were based solely on museum specimens have generally been assumed to have been the result of mislabelling, misidentification or material obtained from the pet trade (Duckworth et al 2009)
This study concludes that: (1) the Diard specimen is a Fishing Cat, Prionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833); (2) that the label was almost certainly written by Diard himself and that the Singapore locality was intended; (3) the 1819 date when it was obtained coincides with Diard’s visits to Singapore
Summary
The Fishing Cat, Prionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833) is a medium-sized, nocturnal species of the family Felidae. The authors further stated that the specimen is “presumably the Malacca specimen(s) examined by Swinhoe (1862)” which suggests that they may not have known that there were labels associated with the Singapore specimen and were only aware of the collector, leading them to infer the date and locality. The origin of this Singapore specimen of the Fishing Cat in the RMNH has not been resolved
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