Thayer Expedition

Last updated

The Thayer Expedition was a scientific endeavor sponsored by Nathaniel Thayer Jr.. It was an ecological and biological expedition undertaken by multiple scientists in 1865 and 1866, and resulted in various type specimens that were later recognized as new species by those that had attended. [1] This expedition took place at the end of the American Civil War, the initial voyage from New York to Rio de Janeiro beginning in the war's final week.

Contents

Participants

Species collected (partial list)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Agassiz</span> American scientist and engineer (1835–1910)

Alexander Emmanuel Rodolphe Agassiz, son of Louis Agassiz and stepson of Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, was an American scientist and engineer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Characidae</span> Family of fishes

Characidae, the characids or characins, is a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish belonging to the order Characiformes. The name "characins" is an historical one, but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their status as a, by and large, monophyletic group. To arrive there, this family has undergone much systematic and taxonomic change. Among those fishes remaining in the Characidae currently are the tetras, comprising the very similar genera Hemigrammus and Hyphessobrycon, as well as a few related forms, such as the cave and neon tetras. Fish of this family are important as food in several regions, and also constitute a large percentage of captive freshwater aquarium fish species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetra</span> Common name for several species of fish

Tetra is the common name of many small freshwater characiform fishes. Tetras come from Africa, Central America, and South America, belonging to the biological family Characidae and to its former subfamilies Alestidae and Lebiasinidae. The Characidae are distinguished from other fish by the presence of a small adipose fin between the dorsal and caudal fins. Many of these, such as the neon tetra, are brightly colored and easy to keep in captivity. Consequently, they are extremely popular for home aquaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Healey Dall</span> American naturalist (1845–1927)

William Healey Dall was an American naturalist, a prominent malacologist, and one of the earliest scientific explorers of interior Alaska. He described many mollusks of the Pacific Northwest of North America, and was for many years America's preeminent authority on living and fossil mollusks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz</span> American educator

Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz was an American educator, naturalist, writer, and the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College. A researcher of natural history, she was an author and illustrator of natural history texts as well as a co-author of natural history texts with her husband, Louis Agassiz, and her stepson Alexander Agassiz.

<i>Hyphessobrycon</i> Genus of fishes

Hyphessobrycon is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Characidae. These species are among the fishes known as tetras. The genus is distributed in the Neotropical realm from southern Mexico to Río de la Plata in Argentina. Many of these species are native to South America; about six species are from Central America and a single species, H. compressus is from southern Mexico.

<i>Astyanax</i> (fish) Genus of fishes

Astyanax is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Characidae of the order Characiformes. Some of these fish, like many of their relatives, are kept as aquarium pets and known collectively as tetras. With around 150 described species and new ones being described yearly, this genus is among the largest of the entire order; Hyphessobrycon also has more than 145 species and which one is larger at any one time depends on whether more species have been recently described in one or the other. The blind and colorless cave tetra of Mexico is a famous member of the genus, but its taxonomic position is disputed: Some recognize it as part of the Mexican tetra and this is supported by phylogenetic evidence, but others recognize the cave form as a separate species, A. jordani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Barbour</span> American herpetologist

Thomas Barbour was an American herpetologist. He was the first president of the Dexter School in 1926. From 1927 until 1946, he was director of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) founded in 1859 by Louis Agassiz at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Frederick Hartt</span> Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist

Charles Frederick Hartt was a Canadian-American geologist, paleontologist and naturalist who specialized in the geology of Brazil.

<i>Deuterodon</i> Genus of fishes

Deuterodon is a genus of characins from river basins in southern and southeastern Brazil, with a single species of uncertain taxonomic status, D. potaroensis, from Guyana. These are small fish that reach up to 12.6 cm (5.0 in) in total length. They are omnivores with a specialized mouth structure that allows them to scrape algae and debris off bedrock.

<i>Hemigrammus</i> Genus of fishes

Hemigrammus is a genus of freshwater fish in the family Characidae native to South America and commonly seen in the aquarium trade. These are medium-small tetras where the largest species reach up to around 11 cm (4.3 in).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gould Anthony</span>

John Gould Anthony was an American naturalist who became an expert on malacology, the study of mollusks. Anthony was in charge of the conchology department of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology for over a decade.

Elizabeth Hodges Clark was an American museum assistant, secretary and scientific illustrator employed by the Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) from 1873 to at least 1910. As an assistant, Clark categorized marine specimens and, later, accepted a promotion to become the personal secretary to museum director Alexander Agassiz, a job which left Clark in charge of the day-to-day management of the MCZ when the younger Agassiz was afield.

Eiectus is a potentially valid genus of extinct short-necked pliosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period. Fossil material has been recovered from the Wallumbilla Formation (Aptian) of Queensland was initially classified under the related genus Kronosaurus until 2021.

<i>Bryconops gracilis</i> Species of fish

Bryconops gracilis is a small species of freshwater fish from the rivers of South America. It is one of multiple species for which the common name "lambari" is used. Though not well-studied, it has been re-described in recent years in order to differentiate it from Bryconops alburnoides, a congener to which it bears a strong resemblance.

Hyphessobrycon copelandi is a species of South American tetra, belonging to the family Characidae. They are gray in coloration with a faint black humeral spot. Their dorsal, pectoral, and anal fins are white fronted. It is known to reach a length of 3.5 centimetres (1.4 in). Hyphessobrycon copelandi is known to live in the Solimões, Mana, and Approuague River Basins. It is most often found in slow moving waters or areas in creeks with a counter current. It inhabits the upstream part of the river before waterfalls. They have seen limited use in the fish trade, even having a common name in German, federsalmler, which translates to "feather tetra". As a benthopelagic fish, they reside away from the surface of the water.

<i>Astyanax bourgeti</i> Species of fish

Astyanax bourgeti is a small species of freshwater fish native to the upper Amazon river in Brazil. Originally described in 1908, it is not a particularly well-studied member of the genus Astyanax, but there is enough information available to establish a native range, an appearance, and potential relationships to congeners; for example, A. bourgeti is a known member of the subgenus Poecilurichthys, and has been considered such for most of its existence. Biotope preferences, sympatry, diet, and behavior are all unknown.

<i>Astyanax brevirhinus</i> Species of fish

Astyanax brevirhinus is a small species of freshwater fish known only from a river basin in northeastern Brazil. It is somewhat understudied and lacks a conservation status, but it is present in a region that is the subject of an ecological restoration project - the Jequitinhonha River. Specifics of diet and behavior are unknown, though shoaling activity has been observed in laboratory conditions.

Marion Durbin Ellis was an American ichthyologist and entomologist. She is credited with conducting the most comprehensive study to date of the Hemigrammus genus of fish of which she named nineteen taxa. The taxon Corydoras ellisae and Hyphessobrycon ellisae are named for her as are the species Bryconops durbinae and Bryconacidnus ellisi.

John Diederich Haseman was an American zoologist, geologist, and explorer for the Carnegie Museum. He is credited with naming at least seven taxa and has at least twenty species named in his honor. The genus Hasemania is also named after him. He later became a businessman and farmer.

References

  1. 1 2 "Astyanax brevirhinus Eigenmann, 1908". www.zoobank.org. International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  2. "AGASSIZ, Elizabeth Cabot Cary (Dec. 5, 1822-June 27, 1907)". Notable American Women: 1607–1950. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1971.
  3. Eigenmann, Carl H. (1908). "Preliminary descriptions of new genera and species of tetragonopterid characins. (Zoölogical Results of the Thayer Brazilian expedition.)". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 52 (6): 96–97. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  4. Black, Nina. "MCZ Ichthyology 20905". mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu. Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. Retrieved 19 July 2023.