A re-examination of C. J. Temminck's sources for his descriptions of the extinct Japanese wolf

Abstract

Unpublished manuscripts sent from Japan by the German physician and naturalist Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796–1866) to the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778–1858) show that Siebold possessed exclusive information about the now extinct Japanese wolf. This was confounded or ignored by Temminck when he used Siebold as source for his section on Japanese dogs and wolves in the volume on mammals in Fauna japonica with Siebold as general editor (1842). Temminck had used Siebold's information for his naming of the Japanese wolf as Canis hodophilax in 1839. Temminck's descriptions are analysed in comparison with Siebold's manuscripts to clarify how Temminck obscured Siebold's information. This paper includes reproductions of two unpublished drawings from Siebold's draftsman in Japan and a brief discussion of the zoological status of the Japanese wolf. Additionally, a translation of the most important of Siebold's manuscripts is appended.