The identity of Cancer thunborgii Euphrasen, 1795, a senior synonym of Cronius ruber (Lamarck, 1818) (Crustacea: Brachyura: Portunidae)

摘要

One of the most poorly known books on natural history was a volume by Bengt Andersson Euphrasen in 1795 that gave an account of the fauna of Saint Barthelemy in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles (ca. 17°53'52.47"N 62o51’2.0"W). The only taxon he reported that has been recognized as an original description is a plant, Iresine angustifolia (Euphrasen, 1795) (family Amaranthaceae), and this only happened because the species was highlighted by Swedish botanist Johan Wikstrom in the early 1800s. The zoologyin Euphrasen’s book has not been considered by most workers. Euphrasen had hoped that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences would publish his manuscript, but well-known Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman, who was a disciple of Carolus Linnaeus and thekeeper of the natural history collections in the academy (see Broberg et al. 2012), advised against it, stating that a description of Cancer was the only thing new in it (and without any illustration as well) (Nyberg 2013). Clearly, Sparrman was wrong about Iresine angustifolia, as well as a few other species (Nyberg 2013). There are in any case, over 200 plants and 111 animals listed in his book. Euphrasen eventually had the book printed by a private publisher in 1795, a year before he died in misery (Nyberg 2013). In general, Euphrasen’s (1795) book is only mentioned in passing or with some passages quoted in histoiy books on Saint Barthelemy, or St. Barth, as a Swedish colony. Few people have seen Euphrasen’s book and still fewer have read it. A German translation was printed in 1798, but has remained as neglected as the original.