Museum Of Natural History In Berlin Research Articles

Zur Erforschung der Käferfauna der afrotropischen Region durch das Museum für Naturkunde Berlin mit einem überblick über die coleopterologischen Ergebnisse der ersten gemeinsamen Expedition des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin und des State Museum Windhoek in Namibia

On the Research on the Coleoptera Fauna of the Afrotropical Region by the Museum of Natural History Berlin with a Review of the Coleopterological Results of the First Joint Expedition of the Museum of Natural History Berlin and the State Museum Windhoek in NamibiaThe paper presents a synopsis of the Coleoptera collection of the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and a detailed account of the African Coleoptera deposited in this collection, their origin and their collectors. The research on African Coleoptera which has been carried out by the coleopterologists of the museum in the past and present is summarized.The first part of the coleopterological results of the first joint expedition of the Museum of Natural History Berlin and the State Museum Windhoek to Namibia in 1992 is presented. 30,104 specimens of Coleoptera belonging to 78 families are available, 319 species, among them 31 new species described by various authors, are recognized after the study of 20 per cent of the material. More than 100 species have been reported for the first time for the Namibian Coleoptera fauna.

Die entomologischen Afrika‐Expeditionen des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin von 1992 bis 1995 als Grundlage für das Forschungsprojekt „Zur Biodiversität von Insekten in der afrotropischen Region”︁

The Entomological Expeditions of the Museum of Natural History Berlin to Africa from 1992 to 1995 as a Basis for the Project “Biodiversity of Insects in the Afrotropical Region”The Museum of Natural History Berlin initiated the research project “Biodiversity of Insects in the Afrotropical Region” and organized eight entomological expeditions to southern Africa (Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia) in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.The paper summarizes the objectives of the research project and lists the investigated insect groups, the specialists from the Museum of Natural History Berlin as well as the national and international partners cooperating in the research project, the travel routes of the eight expeditions and its main localities (locality names, geographical synonyms, coordinates, and short characterizations).Furthermore, the authors intend to draw the attention of the international community of entomologists to the availability of newly collected insect material from important localities of the southern afrotropical region and to invite interested researchers to take part in the study of these specimens.

Die Anthicidae der ersten entomologischen Afrika‐Expedition des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin 1992 nach Namibia und weitere Nachweise aus Namibia und Südafrika. 45. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Anthicidae (Coleoptera)

The Anthicidae of the First Entomological Expedition of the Museum of Natural History Berlin to Namibia in 1992 and other records from Namibia and South Africa. 45th Contribution to the Knowledge of Anthicidae (Coleoptera)48 Anthicidae species from Namibia (47 species) and South Africa (1 species) are recorded. Most of them have been collected by the participants of the First Entomological Africa Expedition to Namibia, organized by the Museum of Natural History in Berlin and the State Museum of Namibia in Windhoek. Three species are described as new and illustrated: Notoxus goellnerae sp. n. (locus typicus: Namibia: Mahango Game Reserve), Formicomus uhligi sp.n. (locus typicus: Namibia: Mudumu NP: Nakatwa), and Anthicus uhligi sp.n. (locus typicus: Namibia: Kaudom Camp).

Die Marienkäfer der entomologischen Namibia‐Expedition des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin 1992 mit Bemerkungen zu anderen afrikanischen Arten. (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae)

The Ladybird Beetles found by the Entomological Namibia Expedition of the Museum of Natural History Berlin in 1992 with Remarks on other African Species. (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae)In comparison with the results of the German‐Southwest African expedition in 1911 (11 species: Weise, 1914) this expedition yielded 42 species including the following new species: Rodolia nigra, Hyperaspis capriviensis, H. discomaculata, H. humerosignata, H. namibiensis, and Lotis goellnerae. The following taxon is a younger synonym: Scymnus wittei Mader syn. nov. of Scymnus pruinosus Weise. Hyperaspis discors Mader is a proper species. Synonymies of Rodolia obscura with R. iceriae and of Semichnoodes with Serangium (which have already been published) could be verified by type‐studies.

Arten der Gattung Cryptocephalus Geoffroy aus der Fauna des südlichen und östlichen Afrika (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae)

Species of the Genus Cryptocephalus Geoffroy from the Fauna of Southern and Eastern Africa (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae)Type specimens of seven species of Cryptocephalus are redescribed: C. dregii Suffrian, C. hereto Reineck, C. hildebrandti Harold, C. moseri Weise, C. nigricollis Weise, C. pauli Weise and C. usambaricus Weise. Lectotypes of C. dregii and C. moseri are designated. Faunistic data from the Africa expeditions of the Museum of Natural History Berlin and the Namibian National Insect Collection, State Museum Windhoek, Namibia, are added.

Die Hydrophilidae und Spercheidae Namibias Unter Berücksichtigung des Materials der Namibia‐Expedition des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin 1992, ergänzt durch Nachweise aus früheren Namibia‐ und Kalahari‐Expeditionen (Coleoptera, Hydrophiloidea : Hydrophilidae et Spercheidae)

The Hydrophilid and Spercheid Beetles of Namibia In Consideration of the Material of the Namibia Expedition of the Museum of Natural History Berlin in 1992, Supplement by Results of Former Namibia and Kalahari Expeditions (Coleoptera, Hydrophiloidea: Hydrophilidae et Spercheidae)The results of the Namibia Expedition 1992, carried out by the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt‐Universität Berlin and the State Museum of Namibia, Windhoek, supplement by the results of several former missions of the Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, and the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria (Kalahari Expedition), are listed and discussed concerning the water beetle families Spercheidae and Hydrophilidae.Altogether 4 species of Spercheidae and 81 species of Hydrophilidae are proved for Namibia and the Kalahari Desert up to now, including 5 species new to science described in this paper as Amphiops namibicus sp. n., Amphiops uhligi sp. n., Chasmogenus omissus sp. n., Helochares (Hydrobaticus) conformis sp. n., Laccobius uhligi Gentili sp. n.; one additional new species Berosus (Enoplurus) wewalkai described by S. Schoedl, Vienna, in a separate paper.One new synonym is established: Enochrus (Methydrus) rubidus Knisch (= E. meineli Hebauer syn. nov.).

Ernst Mayr, naturalist: His contributions to systematics and evolution

Ernst Mayr's scientific career continues strongly 70 years after he published his first scientific paper in 1923. He is primarily a naturalist and ornithologist which has influenced his basic approach in science and later in philosophy and history of science. Mayr studied at the Natural History Museum in Berlin with Professor E. Stresemann, a leader in the most progressive school of avian systematics of the time. The contracts gained through Stresemann were central to Mayr's participation in a three year expedition to New Guinea and The Solomons, and the offer of a position in the Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, beginning in 1931. At the AMNH, Mayr was able to blend the best of the academic traditions of Europe with those of North America in developing a unified research program in biodiversity embracing systematics, biogeography and nomenclature. His tasks at the AMNH were to curate and study the huge collections amassed by the Whitney South Sea Expedition plus the just purchased Rothschild collection of birds. These studies provided Mayr with the empirical foundation essential for his 1942Systematics and the Origin of Species and his subsequent theoretical work in evolutionary biology as well as all his later work in the philosophy and history of science. Without a detailed understanding of Mayr's empirical systematic and biogeographic work, one cannot possibly comprehend fully his immense contributions to evolutionary biology and his later analyses in the philosophy and history of science.

A Survey of the Fossil Vertebrates of Kansas: Part IV: Birds

Despite the fact that birds have long been among the most common vertebrates, their fossil remains are very rare and are, therefore, highly prized when found. The rarity of avian fossils is due in part to the tree-dwelling habit, so that when overtaken by death their bodies drop to the ground and have slight chance of burial before destruction. Even water-birds, because of the lightness and buoyancy of their bodies, float rather than sink after death and so rarely find burial before disintegration. As a rule, fossil bird remains consist mostly of the ends of the long bones of legs and wings, which have been chewed off and scattered by some scavenger. Extremely rare are those cases where the entire skeleton of a bird, or even the major part of it, has been quickly interred and preserved. The earliest known birds in Kansas are found in the Niobrara chalk, upper Cretaceous (Gulfian) deposits of the western part of the state, perhaps more of them from Gove, Logan and Wallace Counties than anywhere else. Old as they are, however, these are not the oldest known, for the upper Jurassic at Solenhofen in Bavaria, southern Germany, has yielded three specimens-one of them a single feather !-notable for an astonishing mixture of reptilian and avian characters. One of these, practically complete except that the skull is missing, is in the British Museum of Natural History in London. Another, with the skull, was in the Natural History Museum in Berlin, but is reported to have been destroyed by the bombing to which that institution was subjected. While similar in many respects, these two specimens were sufficiently unlike to be assigned to different genera-the specimen in London is called Archaeopteryx, while that formerly in Berlin was known as Archaeornis. Both these genera had rather short, incompletely developed wings with which there were on either hand a thumb and two other free fingers, each provided with a claw, and the whole well adapted for clasping twigs or small limbs as they climbed about in the bushes or trees. There were teeth in both the upper and lower jaws, but probably no horny beak. Feathers, too, may have been lacking on the head and parts of the body, though the legs, as well as the wings,