Article ID: CBB120889227

The green mole, Astromycter prasinatus T. M. Harris, 1825 (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Talpidae): an origin story (2021)

unapi

Thaddeus William Harris described the green mole of Maine, Condylura prasinata (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Talpidae), in the July 1825 issue of the Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts, and this was considered the original description of the species throughout most of the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, taxonomists began instead to cite an earlier notice in the June 1825 issue of the American Journal of Science and Arts. This short article also described the species, but also established a separate genus for it, Astromycter, despite Harris’s indications elsewhere that the species was congeneric with the star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata ( Linnaeus, 1758). Moreover, the American Journal of Science and Arts article cited as its source the “Machias Star”, indicating the possibility of an even earlier description of the animal. With Astromycter prasinata in synonymy with C. cristata for over a century, little effort has been exerted to determine whether earlier source materials exist or why, within two months, the green mole was allocated to two different genera by its describer. The question is taxonomically relevant today because C. prasinata predates C. cristata nigra Smith, 1940, as an available name for north-eastern populations of star-nosed moles. If subspecies of C. cristata are to be recognized, the north-eastern subspecies should correctly bear the name C. cristata prasinata. In fact, authority for both genus- and species-group names for the green mole have been misattributed since 1825. The descriptions of C. prasinata by Thaddeus William Harris in the Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts and American Journal of Science and Arts were preceded by at least three published descriptions of A. prasinatus by Thaddeus Mason Harris, his father.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB120889227/

Similar Citations

Article Jenna Tonn; (2019)
Domesticated Animals on Exhibit at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1900–1928 (/isis/citation/CBB243265408/)

Article Miracle, M. Eulàlia Gassó; (2011)
On Whose Authority? Temminck's Debates on Zoological Classification and Nomenclature: 1820--1850 (/isis/citation/CBB001220949/)

Article Kownacki, Andrzej; Slusarczyk, Janusz M.; (2009)
Faunistical Researches on the Tatra Mountains' Lakes Until 1914 (/isis/citation/CBB000932725/)

Book Veuille, Michel; Drouin, Jean-Marc; Deleporte, Pierre; Silvain, Jean-François; (2008)
Linnaeus: Systématique et biodiversité (/isis/citation/CBB001221073/)

Chapter Brian W. Ogilvie; (2013)
Beasts, Birds, and Insects: Folkbiology and Early Modern Classification of Insects (/isis/citation/CBB186772179/)

Chapter Miller, John; (2012)
Representation, Race and the Zoological Real in the Great Gorilla Controversy of 1861 (/isis/citation/CBB001250737/)

Article Hess, Volker; Mendelsohn, J. Andrew; (2013)
Fallgeschichte, Historia, Klassifikation (/isis/citation/CBB001420951/)

Article Ovidiu Babeş; (2022)
Playing with the Ancients: The Cosmology of Gilles Personne de Roberval (/isis/citation/CBB618042661/)

Article Ebach, Malte C.; Williams, David M.; (2007)
An Outline of the Foundations of Systematics and Biogeography (/isis/citation/CBB000831354/)

Article Martín Albaladejo, Carolina; Sanchiz, Borja; (2013)
Acotaciones a un manuscrito inédito de M. P. Graells (1859) sobre medicina e historia natural de las víboras españolas (/isis/citation/CBB001200197/)

Article Futuyma, Douglas J.; (2012)
Robert R. Sokal (1926--2012) (/isis/citation/CBB001320465/)

Article Andrew C. Kitchener; James G. Sanderson; (2022)
When did Alexander Philipp Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied-Neuwied, first describe Felis macroura? (/isis/citation/CBB889793217/)

Article Breidbach, Olaf; Ghiselin, Michael T.; (2006)
Baroque Classification: A Missing Chapter in the History of Systematics (/isis/citation/CBB000933663/)

Article Oddone Longo; (2010)
Entomologia aristotelica (/isis/citation/CBB729178109/)

Book Hans-Jörg Wilke; (2018)
Die Geschichte der Tierillustration in Deutschland 1850–1950 (/isis/citation/CBB437285752/)

Authors & Contributors
Daniel Gamito-Marques
Tonn, Jenna
Ovidiu Babeş
Michael Köhncke
James G. Sanderson
Hans-Jörg Wilke
Concepts
Zoology
Classification in biology
Biology
Systematics (biology)
Animals
Natural history
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
17th century
Early modern
Ancient
Places
Boston (Massachusetts, U.S.)
United States
Tatra Mountains (Slovakia and Poland)
Lisbon (Portugal)
West Africa
London (England)
Institutions
Harvard University
Museu Bocage, Museu Nacional de História Natural
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment