Rhamdia - Back to the future

[lfinley58]

The current situation of Rhamdia Bleeker, 1858 (Siluriformes: Heptapteridae) - Gather available information, define a zero point, and start all over again by Stefan Koerber and Roberto E. Reis. 2019. Historia Natural, Tercera Serie, Vol. 9, Number 2: 51-74.

Abstract:
The taxonomy of Rhamdia is one of the most confuse among South American catfishes.
Reasons are the poorly defined species, including its type-species R. sebae, some old description from
the 18th and 19th centuries, and a weak set of characters used to diagnose species. The situation is
further complicated by the high number of species synonymized to R. quelen, and the fact that five of
them: Pimelodus quelen, Pimelodus namdia, Pimelodus sebae, Heterobranchus sextentaculatus, and Silurus rivularis share the same neotype specimen. To facilitate access to the information on these species, originally written in Latin, German, or French, the original texts and their respective translations into English, and relevant figures, are provided.

Open access paper at: https://fundacionazara.org.ar/img/revis ... 9-2-04.pdf
Lee

[lfinley58]

The link to this open access paper has been added to the original post.

Lee

[bekateen]

This is a paper like no other I've seen in recent history. As a result, it's VERY interesting. I find myself doing exactly what they did every time I need to look up an old scanned document on https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/.

Big difference between this paper's method and mine, I use two columns and put the original in left column and English translation (also with brackets for interpretations) in the right, paragraph by paragraph, so the reader can glance to the left and right sides of the page to compare line by line.

Either way, a fascinating journey into the past. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers, Eric

[lfinley58]

Hi Eric and all.
It will be interesting to see the works that will follow this interesting historical "Preamble." Certainly the genus Rhamdia is a big confused mess that is badly in need of extensive review and revision!

Lee

[Jools]

I love this kind of thing and this one is very well done. Interesting to note, even in basic drawings, the differences in adipose fins.

Jools