Aves in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae

rdf:langString Aves in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae

rdf:langString In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, published in 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus described 554 species of bird and gave each a binomial name. Linnaeus had first included birds in the 6th edition of his Systema Naturae, which was published in 1748. In it he listed 260 species arranged into 51 genera, in turn divided amongst six orders. The entries for each species were very brief; rather than including a description, he gave a citation to an earlier publication — often to his own Fauna suecica, which had been published in 1746. Linnaeus generally followed the classification scheme introduced by the English parson and naturalist John Ray which grouped species based on the characteristics of each species’ bill and feet. The 10th edition appeared in 1758 and was the first in which Linnaeus consistently used his binomial system of nomenclature. He increased the number of birds to 554 species, collectively filling 116 pages (contrasting with a mere 17 in the 6th edition). For each species he included a brief description together with one or more citations to earlier publications. He maintained 6 orders as in the 6th edition but renamed Scolopaces to Grallae. He rearranged some of the genera, dropping several and adding others to bring the total to 63. Living in Sweden, Linnaeus did not have access to a large collection of bird specimens. In order to expand the Systema Naturae for the 10th edition, he relied on earlier publications by other authors. For many birds his description was based on George Edwards's A Natural History of Uncommon Birds which contained 210 hand-coloured plates, nearly all of which were of birds. The four volumes were published between 1743 and 1751. For many North America species Linnaeus relied on Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which included 220 plates of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, mammals and plants. It was published in parts between 1729 and 1747. Linnaeus was not familiar with the species he described, which meant that his classification was often very defective. He sometimes placed very similar birds in different genera. For example, the 10th edition of Systema Naturae includes two subspecies of the common kingfisher, one of which he placed in the genus Gracula and the other in the genus Alcedo. Similarly, he included two subspecies of the red-whiskered bulbul, one of which he placed in Lanius and the other in Motacilla. In his list Linnaeus included two penguins. He placed the southern rockhopper penguin together with the red-billed tropicbird in the genus Phaethon while the African penguin he placed together with the wandering albatross in the genus Diomedea. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature has selected 1 January 1758 as the "starting point" for zoological nomenclature, and stated that the 10th edition of Systema Naturae was to be treated as if published on that date. In 2016 the list of birds of the world maintained by Frank Gill and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union included 448 species for which Linnaeus's description in the 10th edition is cited as the authority. Of these species, 101 have been retained in their original genus and 347 have been moved to a different genus. In addition, there are six species on Linnaeus's 1758 list that are now considered as subspecies. Of Linnaeus's 63 genera, only Tantalus and Colymbus are not now used. In the 12th edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1766, Linnaeus described many additional birds that had not been included in the 10th edition. The 12th edition included 931 bird species divided into 6 orders and 78 genera. The 12th edition is cited as the authority for 257 modern species of which only 25 have been retained in their original genus. There are now believed to be around 10,000 extant species. Linnaeus described the class Aves as: A beautiful and cheerful portion of created nature consisting of animals having a body covered with feathers and down; protracted and naked jaws (the beak), two wings formed for flight, and two feet. They are aereal, vocal, swift and light, and destitute of external ears, lips, teeth, scrotum, womb, bladder, epiglottis, corpus callosum and its arch, and diaphragm. Linnaean Characteristics * Heart: 2 auricles, 2 ventricles. Warm, dark red blood * Lungs: respires alternately * Jaw: incombent, naked, extended, without teeth * Eggs: covered with a calcareous shell * Organs of Sense: tongue, nostrils, eyes, and ears without auricles * Covering: incumbent, imbricate feathers * Supports: 2 feet, 2 wings; and a heart-shaped rump. Flies in the Air & Sings In the list below, the binomial name is that used by Linnaeus.