3 The New York Years (1931–1953)

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162 4 Ornithologist and Zoogeographer Fig.4.11. Ernst Mayr named 26 new species (dots) and 445 new subspecies of birds (histograms) between 1927 and 1986. Subspecies accepted in Peters’ Check-list are shaded, those synonymized are blank. For further details see text from Mayr and he named only forms which Zimmer approved of. Admittedly, like the best taxonomists of the day, he was also a splitter. Several of Mayr’s newly described subspecies, particularly among the insular forms, probably will be raised to species status when more details on their life history and behavior are known, e.g., Phalacrocorax melanoleucos brevicauda, Eurostopodus mystacalis exul, and others. Mayr described 376 taxa (including 26 species) alone and 95 in coauthorship with his colleagues A. Rand (33 taxa) during the 1930s, D. S. Ripley (15 taxa) in 1941, and T. Gilliard (29 taxa) during the 1950s. Other coauthors with whom he described one or several new subspecies were Birckhead, Greenway, Serventy, Meyer de Schauensee, K. Jennings, Gyldenstolpe, Van Deusen, and McEvey. From the birds which Mayr collected in former Dutch New Guinea, Hartert (1930) described three valid new species and 28 valid new subspecies. Like many contemporary ornithologists (e.g., Hartert, Stresemann) Mayr also delimited polytypic species taxa rather broadly, in a few cases including in one species an allopatric representative as a new subspecies which, on the basis of additional evidence, is considered a full biological species by today’s somewhat narrower standards. Examples are Phalacrocorax melanoleucos brevicauda Mayr 1931 (Rennell Island), possibly Eurostopodus mystacalis exul Mayr 1941 (New Caledonia), and also Rallina rubra [leucospila] mayri Hartert 1930 (northern New Guinea). The number of full biological species described by Mayr will probably increase when, in the future, genera of birds will be revised which comprise well-differentiated subspecies that he described. Of course, such taxa represent phylogenetic “species” under that “species” concept (p. 204). The authors of J.L. Peters’ Check-list of Birds of the World (1931–1987) accepted most of Mayr’s new taxa. They and several authors of more recent monographs combined (synonymized) only 26 of Mayr’s 445 subspecies with previously described forms. Among the authors of the Check-list is also Ernst Mayr himself who synonymized or accepted the synonymy of 12 forms which he had described in
Zoogeography 163 previous years (among which are five in Pachycephala and two Amblyornis bowerbirds). B.P. Hall synonymized a Mayr subspecies in Pericrocotus ethologus,G.Mees synonymized four other Mayr subspecies in the following species: Rallina tricolor, Charmosyna placentis, Cinnyris sericea, and Zosterops novaeguineae. C. Vaurie did the same with one form in Cecropis striolata. In one case (Melanocharis striativentris albicauda) an earlier available name was found. Seven forms, one in each of the following species, need additional study and are, at best, “weak” subspecies: Butorides striatus, Rallina tricolor, Ducula aenea, Micropsitta bruijnii, Prunella rubeculoides, Staphida castaneiceps, and Melidectes leucostephes (M. LeCroy, pers. comm.). One reason for the high percentage of valid taxa in Mayr’s work, besides his clear principles for recognizing subspecies, is the fact that he dealt mostly with island faunas composed of geographical isolates. Populations on islands often show more clear-cut geographical variation compared to continental faunas and to a lesser extent smooth and gradual variation; if so, it is in the form of a stepped cline. Smooth clinal variation of continuous continental populations often presents more problems for a subdivision into discrete subspecies than island faunas and, therefore, leads to more disagreement among workers about the validity and delimination of certain subspecies. Zoogeography Basic Concepts Mayr’s systematic studies of Pacific island birds soon led him to consider general zoogeographical topics, particularly in conjunction with the problems of dispersal, range disjunction, endemism, insular speciation, faunal turnover on islands and of continental speciation in ecological refuges during the Pleistocene. In later years, he made important contributions to historical-dynamic analyses of world faunas. He combined a series of miscellaneous papers on biogeography in his essay volume, EvolutionandtheDiversityofLife(1976m) which is a convenient summary of his major ideas on zoogeography, but he never published a book on this portion of evolutionary biology. From his extensive work on Pacific island birds, Mayr (1933j, 1940i) established the basic principles of an equilibrium theory of biogeography, however in nonmathematical terms 5 , as he stated himself in retrospect: “My thesis that the size of an island fauna is the result of a balance between colonization and extinction was long ignored, but is now accepted, after it was transformed into graphs and mathematical formulae. It is the basic thesis of MacArthur 5 Mayr (pers. comm.) had copious data on island sizes, distances from mainlands or other islands, number of species, etc. When he tried to determine relations among all these figures he got into mathematical problems and turned this material over to a graduate student with mathematical abilities. However, this student got sidetracked into other problemsandthismaterialwasneverexploited.
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Jürgen Haffer Ornithology, Evoluti
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Jürgen Haffer Ornithology, Evoluti
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Preface Ernst Mayr (1904-2005), emi
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Contents Introduction 1 Part I The
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Contents IX 2 Bibliography of Ernst
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2 Introduction and speciation, the
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4 Introduction (1928-1929) to repla
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Ernst Mayr has been an observer all
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The Family 9 court system. He had a
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The Family 11 Fig.1.1. Family genea
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The Family 13 where they learned La
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Birdwatching 15 even finishing befo
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Birdwatching 17 Fig.1.5. ErnstMayr
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Birdwatching 19 Fig.1.6. Ernst Mayr
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Birdwatching 21 he simply smoked ci
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University Student in Greifswald an
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Friendships at School and Universit
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2 The Budding Scientist PhD Thesis
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TheInfluenceofTeachers 37 excellent
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Erwin Stresemann—Teacher and Frie
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Erwin Stresemann—Teacher and Frie
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Assistant Curator at the Museum of
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Expeditions to New Guinea and the S
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Part II Ornithologist and Evolution
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Page 192 and 193: 184 5 Biological Species and Specia
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212 5 Biological Species and Specia
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6 Life in North America during Worl
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244 6 Life in North America during
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Part III Professor of Zoology at Ha
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256 7 The Harvard Years (1953-2005)
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8 Evolutionary Biology— Mayr’s
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268 8 Evolutionary Biology—Mayr
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284 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man his coll
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300 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man Fig.9.4.
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306 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man 2005. Me
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308 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man Fig.9.5b
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314 9 Ernst Mayr—the Man with a r
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10 Systematics and Classification T
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322 10 Systematics and Classificati
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11 History and Philosophy of Biolog
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340 11 History and Philosophy of Bi
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376 12 Summary: Appreciation of Ern
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Acknowledgments Iamdeeplygratefulto
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List of Abbreviations AAAS American
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386 References Beehler BM, Pratt TK
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388 References Cracraft J (2002) Go
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390 References Haffer J (1997a) Ess
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392 References Keast JA (1996) Avia
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394 References Olson SL (1975) The
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396 References Smith JJ (1936) Eric
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398 References Wiglesworth LW (1898
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Appendix 1 Curriculum Vitae (includ
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Appendix 1 403 1978 Prêmio Jabuti,
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Appendix 1 405 Society Offices Linn
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Appendix 2 407 1926c Das Freibrüte
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Appendix 2 409 1932 1932a Birds col
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Appendix 2 411 1936g Melidectes bel
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Appendix 2 413 1941e Birds collecte
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Appendix 2 415 1944f Chromosomes an
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Appendix 2 417 1947g On the correct
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Appendix 2 419 1952e Six new subspe
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Appendix 2 421 1954g The tail molt
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Appendix 2 423 1958c Concluding rem
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Appendix 2 425 in E. Mayr, Evolutio
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Appendix 2 427 1964l Introduction [
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Appendix 2 429 1967d Subfamily Pach
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Appendix 2 431 in Acta Soc. Zool. B
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Appendix 2 433 1974b The diversity
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Appendix 2 435 1976m Evolution and
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Appendix 2 437 Mankind 13:430; P.W.
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Appendix 2 439 (1984) in Queen’s
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Appendix 2 441 1984c Evolution and
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Appendix 2 443 1987b The status of
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Appendix 2 445 1990 1990a The Myth
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Appendix 2 447 1992f Haldane’s Ca
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Appendix 2 449 1995g The search for
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Appendix 2 451 1999 1999a Thoughts
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List of Books by Ernst Mayr 453 200
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Coauthorship 455 Coauthorship In th
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Appendix 3 457 (4) Systematics 1942
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Index Achievements 379 Adaptation 2
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Index 461 Faunas 164-165 Family 8-1
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Index 463 Realism and education 372
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