One of the important features of the mammal collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie is its wealth in old types. This is mainly due to the fact that the first director of the Museum, Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), was one of the foremost mammalogists of his time, and during the entire period of his directorship (1820-1858) was very active in improving the mammal collection. He himself described numerous species based on material in the possession of the Museum, but he also acquired type specimens of species described by other zoologists, either through exchange or purchase, or as a gift. Temminck very well realized the importance of types, even though he did not attach to them the great value that we do now. At that time it was not unusual for a museum to exchange or sell type material. The present note deals with one of the oldest mammalian type specimens present in the Leiden Museum, namely that of Antilope leucophaea, described by Pallas (1766: 4) and based by him on skins from South Africa. As far as known to us, Temminck (1853: 192, footnote) is the first author who explicitely mentioned that the specimen of Antilope leucophaea preserved in the Leiden Museum is the type of Pallas' species. Temminck's statement has been accepted by later authors, e.g. Jentink (1892: 166), Sclater & Thomas (1899: 7) and Lydekker (1914: 133). Recently, however, Mohr (1967) casted doubt on the authenticity of this type specimen. In a highly readable and most interesting monograph of the Blaauwbok (or Blue-buck) she discussed the only four existing mounted specimens of the species, viz., those in the Museums of Stockholm, Paris, Vienna, and Leiden. In her paper (pp. 32-37, figs. 16-18) the Leiden specimen is extensively dealt with and some illustrations are given. Mohr remarked that this specimen

Zoologische Mededelingen

Released under the CC-BY 4.0 ("Attribution") License

Naturalis journals & series

Husson, A. M., & Holthuis, L. (1969). On the type of Antilope leucophaea Pallas, 1766, preserved in the collection of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden. Zoologische Mededelingen, 44(11), 147–157.