Señor Briceño's Birds ... or? (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Or maybe the heading of this thread ought to have been (better), in plural (?), as Señores Briceño's ... (or something similar), even if the scientific name itself clearly was/is written in its singular (masculine) genitive form ... ?!?

Thus, let's have a look (in chronological order) at the eponym ...

bricenoi as in:
• the invalid (Barred) Antshrike "Thamnophilus bricenoi" HARTERT 1898 (here, with a black-and-white Photo on the following page):

... the specimens sent to the Tring Museum by Mr. Salomon Briceño Gabaldón of Merida, ...

• the debated, or (by most) invalid [*], (White-booted) Racket-tail/Hummingbird ssp. (Ornismya/Ocreatus) "Spathura underwoodi bricenoi" HARTERT 1899 (here, in text, below Spathura underwoodi) [my blue bolds]:

... From Venezuela we have a fine series, collected in the Andes near Merida, [...] by Messrs. Salomon Briceño Gabaldón & Sons, ... [...], and I propose the name of

Spathura underwoodi bricenoi subsp. nov.​

for the Merida form.

• the Flammulated Treehunter subspecies Thripadectes flammulatus bricenoi" BERLEPSCH 1907 (here), as "Thripadectes bricenoi":

Typus: Mus. H. v. B. ♂ Culata, Merida, 22nd July 1886. [S. Briceño leg.]
[...]
I have named it in compliment of its discoverer, the successful collector, Mr. Salomon Briceño, of Merida.

In today's Key this eponym is explained as:

bricenoi
Salomón de Briceño y Gabaldón (1826-1912) Venezuelan collector (syn. Ocreatus underwoodii discifer, syn. Thamnophilus doliatus nigrescens, subsp. Thripadectes flammulatus).

But, one of the Sons that might have been included in Hartert's commemoration of the Racket-tail/Hummingbird was José Briceño (1872–1944), also he a zealous collector, and Son of the (far) more well-known Venezuelan collector Salomón Briceño (1826–1912) [the latter a k a "Salomón (de) Briceño Gabaldón" [either with or without the y part], as (for example) in the Key's explanation above]. José was about 27 years old at the time of the OD, and as such, quite likely (and able) to have joined his Father in his tasks of collecting.

For more information about those two guys see pp.329-331, and p.358, as well as p.368 in:
• Phelps, W H. 1945 ("Octubre-Diciembre 1944"). Resumen de las Colecciones Ornithológicas hechas en Venezuela. Boletin de la Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales IX (No. 61): 325–444 [Accessible here (all in Spanish)]. It also includes a Portrait of Mr "Salomón Briceño" (on p.330).

I don't know if Salomón Briceño had any other Sons, but I assume so, as Hartert clearly wrote " ... & Sons" (in plural). However, as Hartert dedicated the Antshrike to Salomón Briceño alone (in 1898), and used the exact same (singular) name for the Hummingbird, the year after, they both (and, if so, all) might be for Señor Briceño (Senior) himself. Who knows?

Either way, as far as I can tell, as I read it, the dedication of the Racket-tail/Hummingbird ssp. ought to have been (or at least it could be) intended to cover Señor Briceño "... & Sons". Or?

If so, yet another Scientific name that instead ought to have ended with a plural; -orum.

Either way, I'm pretty sure more knowledgeable readers understand this case (far) better than I do.

Cheers

Björn

PS. As well, see Harterts own comment (in Novitates zoologicae, Vol. 29, 1922) here:

Type: ... Salomon Briceño Gabaldron & Sons leg.

And note that also his "Thamnophilus bricenoi" was commented earlier in the same Journal (on p.391).

/B

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* See: Karl-L. Schuchmann, André-A. Weller & Dietmar Jürgens. 2006. Biogeography and taxonomy of racket-tail hummingbirds (Aves: Trochilidae: Ocreatus): evidence for species delimitation from morphology and display behavior. Zootaxa 4200 (1): pp. 83–108. [here]

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Just to be clear ...

Ernst Hartert was (certainly) aware of the plural form/ending -orum (at least in 1901).

Compare with Hartert's Pallid Swift ssp. Apus pallidus brehmorum of 1901 (here), as "Apus apus Brehmorum" (here), clearly a plural dedication [even if, of course, after completely different guys*]:

...benenne ich ihn Apus apus Brehmorum (HARTERT), zum Andenken an die Sammlungen von C. L. und ALFRED BREHM, die ...

In between a k a "Apus murinus brehmorum".

In 1905 Hartert also coined the (equally plural) name for the today invalid Goldcrest ssp; "Regulus regulus anglorum" (here), today included in nominate. For other examples, even if far later, Hartert as well coined the plural name for the invalid (Northern/Melanesian) Fantail ssp. "Rhipura rufiventris albertorum" in 1924 (here), and germanorum, for today's Forest Honeyeater ssp. Microptilotis montanus germanorum, in 1930 (here), as "Meliphaga montana germanorum".

Explanations in the Key; here, resp. here, and here. Also see the Key entry for amicorum, Hartert, 1923 (here).

But why Hartert, in 1899, preferred the (singular form) bricenoi for the Racket-tail/Hummingbird, when he clearly wrote that it was collected by by "Messrs. Salomon Briceño Gabaldón & Sons" ... well, I simply don't know.

Either way, take the above for what it's worth, if anything at all ...

On my part, it's just an observation. Neither one of those guys (nor their Birds) are included in my MS, thereby not checked any further than what's been shown in this thread.

/B

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*Christian Ludwig Brehm (1787–1864) and his son Alfred (Edmund) Brehm (1829–1884).

Not to confuse with the far later (and still unsolved) W. W. Brehm, recently dealt with in thread Amazilia tzacatl brehmi (here).

 

[l_raty]

"Messrs. Salomon Briceño Gabaldón & Sons"

Isn't that a fairly odd way to say "Salomon Briceño Gabaldón and his sons" in a piece of normal text ?
To me, this sounds more like the name of a company.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Isn't that a fairly odd way to say "Salomon Briceño Gabaldón and his sons" in a piece of normal text ?
To me, this sounds more like the name of a company.

Either way, it would still be plural, don't you think?

 

[PScofield]

Guy Kirwan and colleagues discuss in detail the business "Salomón Briceño Gabaldón é hijos". Ironically His son Jose and daughter Francisca were a part of this enterprise. I am confident that Hartert would have used -orum is he meant to honour the family however I believe I am correct in saying that although the genetive -i is generally is used to indicate a singular honouree it could also be used to indicate a singular thing - i.e. a business "Salomón Briceño Gabaldón é hijos".

e.g. The snail Charopa lafargei Vermeulen & Marzuki, 2014 was named after the Lafarge cement Company in Malaysia not after the companies founder Joseph-Auguste Pavin de Lafarge (1806-1877).

 

[njlarsen]

It is not frequent I have time to jump into this section of birdforum. Here I would like to remind that in Spanish, "hijas" means "daughters", but "hijos" is used for either "sons" or "offspring of both genders".
Niels

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Thanks Paul, for the Kirwan, Ramoni-Perazzi & Sharpe Paper, in Zootaxa (of 2023). I hadn't seen (or simply missed) that one before.

And indeed, just like Laurent commented in post #3, the (Messrs.) "Salomon Briceño Gabaldón & Sons", as it was written in the OD of the Racket-tail/Hummingbird ssp., does seems to have been a Company (see page 569):

Salomón Briceño Gabaldón was trained in avian taxidermy by the renowned German traveller and naturalist Anton Goering (1836‒1905), who visited Mérida during March‒October 1869 (Phelps 1944) and became well known as a trader in animal and plant specimens, particularly birds and insects. Briceño established the business enterprise ‘Salomón Briceño Gabaldón é hijos’ in 1880 (Viloria & Pyrcz 2001), through which, together with his son and daughter, José and Francisca, he supplied museums in Budapest, Genoa, Geneva, Tring, Washington, New York and Chicago ... and onwards

Thanks again!

Björn

PS. I also note that Kirwan et al. (on the preceding page, p.568) wrote the name, and years, of Salomón Briceño somewhat differently (in comparison to the Key), as: Salomón Briceño Gabaldón (1829–1912), neither with any 'de', nor 'y' parts ... ?!?

This far, for what it's worth, in my notes I will keep his Surname as such, just as it was written in the ODs.

Re. his Birth year ... well, I just don't know, I haven't got a clue.

/B