Temminck's new bird names introduced in the early parts of the Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux in 1820–22

Abstract

In deciding to provide a complement to Buffon's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux, Temminck, who had not previously published a ‘part work’ on this scale undertook to do so under the name Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d’oiseaux. At the start Temminck did not provide texts; each part included six plates. Of the many problems to solve the three main ones seemed to be: (i) the number of plates per part, (ii) the dates of publication, and (iii) the need to discover the wrappers issued with parts 1–20. The plates carried French names, but for these 20 parts the wrappers provided the new scientific names and attributed authorship. From previous studies we conclude that the Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées must be considered as two works, and that the first of these (livraisons 1–20) must be seen as complete with the inclusion of the wrappers. We then examine all names applicable to images in these 120 plates, assessing authorship, date of publication and date precedence. We identified three cases where names long in prevailing usage require application to the ICZN for a ruling on reversal of precedence. We list 15 names that have been in widespread use over the last 60 years that risk changes if the names on the wrappers are judged unacceptable. Our Appendix deals with the 86 names Temminck thought new: (a) 27 of Temminck’s own names with precedence; (b) 19 manuscript names for which Temminck is the author; (c) 27 Temminck names which are junior synonyms; (d) 12 manuscript names from Temminck that are also junior synonyms; (e) one name used for two specimens Temminck thought were of the same species but proved different.