Major specimen fraud in the Forest Owlet Heteroglaux (Athene auct.) blewitti

Abstract

The Forest Owlet Heteroglaux (Athene auct.) blewitti is known from central India from seven old specimens, four of which were taken in northwest Maharashtra in 1880‐83 by J. Davidson and the last purportedly in Gujarat over 30 years later by R. Meinertzhagen. Because of recently documented specimen fraud by Meinertzhagen, we subjected his Forest Owlet specimen to scrutiny (Iincluding X‐rays) and established that it had been extensively remade in a way that transformed its original appearance. Moreover, it shows several features ‐ tying of distal humeri from the outside, cotton wing‐stuffing identical to that from a Davidson bird, original retention of humerus and formerly a stretched neck ‐ that identify its true collector as Davidson. Examination of the Natural History Museum's catalogue reveals that a fifth Davidson specimen, collected in 1884 in the area where his first four were taken, was registered in 1925 but is now missing, although not logged as lost, sold or exchanged. Meinertzhagen's diary and specimen catalogue strongly suggest that he was not in Gujarat on the date given for his 1914 specimen, and he surprisingly never published the record, despite its exceptional rarity. We conclude that he stole the fifth Davidson Forest Owlet specimen from the Natural History Museum, and remade and relabelled it to conceal its origin, thereby compromising the geographic and temporal record of this critically threatened species.