Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy 123

Birds of Oceania 147
1924 and 1957 by 14 authors and coauthors totaling 64 reports, 977 printed pages.
More than half of this total (61.5%) was written by Ernst Mayr, curator of the
Whitney and Rothschild Collections since 1932 and the first ornithologist able
to devote full time to the study of these collections. 28 new species and 247 new
subspecies have been described until 1953 (Murphy, unpubl. manuscript, 1953)
plus nine subspecies described by Mayr (1955a, 1957b). Comparative material for
Mayr’s taxonomic studies of the Whitney birds was contained in the Mathews
Collection of Australian birds at the AMNH and in the Rothschild Collection,
particularly the rich material from New Guinea, the Bismarcks, and the Solomon
Islands.
Significance of the Whitney South Sea Expedition
Islands and island faunas represent thousands of experiments by nature of assembling
animal communities (Mayr 1967f). There are many groups of fairly
similar islands in the tropical oceans which differ in area, isolation and elevation.
Islands have contributed decisively to the understanding of evolution and population
biology. Following research on the Canary Islands in 1815, Leopold von
Buch was the first to propose the theory of geographic speciation. The Galapagos
Archipelago opened Charles Darwin’s eyes to evolution and natural selection.
The Malay Archipelago gave Alfred R. Wallace his insights into biogeography. The
islands of the southwest Pacific and New Guinea taught Ernst Mayr geographic
variation and speciation of animals. In recent decades islands stimulated biologists
of the next generation to study ecology, behavior and conservation biology
(J. Diamond, R. MacArthur, S. Olson, E. Wilson).
The most complete exploration of the Pacific islands by the WSSE provided
the database for all subsequent studies of birds inhabiting the world’s most extensive
set of islands. This is the unique importance of this expedition. In particular
it provided the basis for Ernst Mayr’s analysis of variation and speciation
in birds (Mayr 1942e, Mayr and Diamond 2001g, Schodde 2005). Among the
phenomena discussed are many cases of simple and more complex geographical
variation, primary and secondary intergradation of populations. Numerous well
differentiated peripheral island forms represent borderline cases between subspecies
and species and between species and monotypic genera demonstrating
the continuity of the process of geographic speciation over time. Mayr realized
that geographic variation provides the two components of speciation-divergence
and discontinuity. Sympatry of distinct taxa indicates their status as species.
Moreover, out of the biology and systematics of Polynesian birds Mayr (1940i)
developed the basic tenets of “island biogeography” (p. 163). His detailed revisions
of all subspecies and species of birds in Oceania also provided the basis
for later conservation work in this region, particularly island endemics (Schodde
2005).
Not a single mountain bird was known from the Solomon Islands when the
Whitney Expedition arrived there in 1927. No less than 17 mountain species, 11 of
them new to science, were discovered. Of the 71 new taxa from northern Melanesia