Odoardo Beccari and Enrico D’Albertis in Australia and New Zealand, 1878: botanical and zoological collections

Dowe, John Leslie (2016) Odoardo Beccari and Enrico D’Albertis in Australia and New Zealand, 1878: botanical and zoological collections. Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 150 (2). pp. 27-41.

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Abstract

Though acclaimed for his scientific exploration and botanising in Borneo, New Guinea and Sumatra, Odoardo Beccari travelled briefly through Australia and New Zealand between 19 January and 5 April 1878. During this time, Beccari was in the company of navigator and ethnologist Captain Enrico Alberto D’Albertis. Although primarily a leisure tour, Beccari and D"Albertis engaged in botanical and zoological collecting when circumstances allowed. Specimens were collected in Queensland at Percy Islands and the Brisbane Botanic Garden; in New South Wales at the Blue Mountains; in Tasmania at Launceston, Corra Linn, Mount Wellington and Huon Road and in New Zealand at Bluff, Napier, Moeraki and Titirangi. Of the Australian and New Zealand specimens that have been located, the main life-form is bryophytes, with about 46 taxa of which 11 were described as new based on their collections. Only 13 herbarium specimens of vascular plants have been located and two of these were described as new taxa and represent type specimens. Of the zoological collections, about 20 ant (Formicidae) specimens were collected of which three were described as new taxa. Also collected were two specimens of earthworms(Lumbricidae), both of which were described as new, and three crustaceans (Amphipoda), two of which were described as new. This paper outlines their travel itinerary, provides a critical assessment of the collections, and examines the collaboration between Beccari and Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, Victorian Government Botanist at the time.

Item ID: 50200
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 0080-4703
Keywords: Arecaceae, Australia, botanical and zoological collections, bryophytes, Captain Enrico D’Albertis, Ferdinand von Mueller, Formicidae, New Zealand, Odoardo Beccari, Tasmania
Copyright Information: Copyright The Royal Society of Tasmania
Date Deposited: 08 Sep 2020 01:10
FoR Codes: 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3104 Evolutionary biology > 310411 Plant and fungus systematics and taxonomy @ 50%
43 HISTORY, HERITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 4303 Historical studies > 430302 Australian history @ 50%
SEO Codes: 95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9503 Heritage > 950399 Heritage not elsewhere classified @ 50%
96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960803 Documentation of Undescribed Flora and Fauna @ 50%
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