Canberra Thursday 31 August

Scientists discover skeleton of lost species

Scientists have confirmed the existence of an unknown species of mammal, after the discovery of specimens that lay uncatalogued in Chinese museums for over 100 years. Sus bucculentus -a species of pig from Vietnam -was first described by a French naturalist living in China in 1891.

Although his findings were published, the original skeletal material used to identify the species (the "type specimen") was lost and Sus bucculentus never gained credibility as a legitimate species. An international team of scientists, headed by the ANUÕs Dr Colin Groves, in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology, recently found the Sus bucculentus type specimen in dusty, unmarked crates in the Beijing Institute of Zoology. Other type specimens were found in the Natural History Museum in Shanghai.

The two collections included hundreds of mammal specimens collected by amateur naturalist and Jesuit missionary, Pierre Marie Heude, during the last half of the 19th century. Dr Groves began the search for the missing specimens 20 years ago, after seeing Heude's collections referenced in several books and wondering what had become of them. He began asking colleagues in China if anyone knew the whereabouts of Heud's specimens. "A scientist from the Institute of Zoology had a vague recollection of some crates being received some 20 years earlier," he said. "The crates were still in the basement of the Institute and no one could identify what was in them." Dr Groves believed those crates might contain HeudeÕs collection.

An Australian Research Council grant allowed him and an international team of scientists to study the collection in May.

The team found a number of surprises in the collection:

* A type specimen was discovered for Bubalus mindorernsis, a rare dwarf species of buffalo. This is an important find for natural historians in the Phillipines, where the animal is now close to extinction.

* Another type specimen was found for Sus cebifrons, a species of pig from the Philippines. This specimen provided proof that Heude had been the first to identify the species.

* A mysterious specimen was also uncovered, Sikelaphus soloensis, a deer from Jolo in the Philippines, which appeared to be a relative of the sika deer of Japan and Eastern Asia.

Dr Groves said it was unexpected to find a sika deer in a tropical region. One other example of this species is held in the American Museum of Natural History in New York but no one believed in its existence. Now it will be possible to identify whether this is a different species from sika.

For further information please contact:

Colin Groves on 6249 4590 (W) or 6249 2711 (fax) or colin.groves@anu.edu.au (email)

or Shelly Simonds, ANU Reporter on 6249 2106 (W) or 6257 5008 (H) or shelly.simonds@anu.edu.au (email)

No: 70/2000

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Last Modified Tue, July 16, 2002