Corresponding author: Weliton José da Silva (
Academic editor: K. Manoylov
The flora of diatoms from Brazil has been studied by several authors from the beginning of the 19th up to now. Some of the old lists and descriptions are unknown or have been ignored by Brazilian researchers and the situation of the names cited was not assessed. Here we compiled a list of 101 taxa of diatoms from Brazil registered by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg during the 19th century. We checked the current nomenclatural status of those taxa and lectotypified species from Brazil described by this author. For this, we accessed the Ehrenberg collection in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany, where 11 samples from Brazil studied by Ehrenberg are housed and published in different papers. Using these samples, we found 101 taxa (specific and infraspecific) published by Ehrenberg from Brazil. Five species (
The 19th century was very important regarding the description of the biodiversity of algae and protists. At the first haft of that century, material from different parts around the world was analyzed by researchers from Europe and is today deposited in institutions on this continent. Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg was one of these early researchers (
Brazil is among the regions from South America whose diatom flora was studied by Ehrenberg. Samples from the States of Amazonas, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Santa Catharina were analyzed by Ehrenberg and the names of some species were published in five publications (
Recently, Brazil is among the countries that have employed efforts to repatriate data of plants collected by foreign researchers during 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Such efforts have resulted positively in the creation of virtual herbaria (
The aim of this study was to compile a list of taxa of diatoms from Brazil registered by Ehrenberg, to check the current nomenclatural status of those taxa, and to lectotypify specific and infraspecific taxa.
The Ehrenberg Collection (i.e., preparations, drawings and publications) was accessed at BHUPM (Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Biodiversität- und Evolutionsforschung an der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin), where it is deposited and recorded under the following numbers of cases (Kästen) and card folders (Bücher): K. 18 B. 3-5, K. 19 B. 9, K. 52 B. 12, K. 53 B. 10;
Data about samples of diatoms from Brazil analyzed by Ehrenberg.<br/>
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1085 | Ega | Tefé, Amazonas State |
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Eduard Friedrich Poeppig | Between 1831 and 1832 | 180313-180316 | Subaerial, moss |
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* | Ega-See | Tefé Lake, Tefé, Amazonas State |
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Eduard Friedrich Poeppig | Between 1831 and 1832 | 180416 | Periphytic, under |
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1104 | Praya de Sernambatyba | Barra Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro |
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Karl Sigismund Kunth | Between 1829 and 1841 | 180501-180502 | Root of |
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1105 | Santo Antonio do Monte | Santo Antônio do Monte, Minas Gerais State |
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Karl Sigismund Kunth | Between 1829 and 1841 | 180503-180504 | Humus attached to |
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1106 | São Paulo | São Paulo, coast |
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Édouard Louis Chavannes | 1846* | 180507-180508 | Soil |
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1099 | Rio Conigo in Rio de Janeiro A | Cônego River, Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro State |
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Hermann Encke | 07th April 1850 | 180401-180406 | Sediment | ||
1100 | Rio Conigo in Rio de Janeiro B | Cônego River, Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro State |
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Hermann Encke | 07th April 1850 | 180407-180408 | Sediment | ||
1101 | Insel St. Catharina, Rio de Lauro | Santa Catarina |
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Carl Pabst | 1850 | 180409-180410 | Subaerial, moss |
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1102 | Insel St. Catharina, Rio Concescao | Santa Catarina |
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Carl Pabst | 1850 | 180411-180412 | Subaerial, moss |
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1103 | Insel St. Catharina, Barre des Itajahi | Santa Catharina |
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Carl Pabst | November and December 1846 | 180413 | Subaerial, moss |
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1087 | Sumpfboden, Amazonas, Coari | Coari, Amazonas State |
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Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius | 180301-180308 |
* The Sample Index did not provide the number of the respective sample
To verify the nomenclature of some names, beside Ehrenberg’s original publications, we consulted
The occurrence of the taxa cited for Brazil but originally described from other places than Brazil is provided in this study by the number of original samples (
Ehrenberg never went to Brazil. However, he received samples from different important persons of the history of such country. The main was Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868), a researcher of the Brazilian flora, who sent samples from Coari (Amazonas State) to
Twelve samples from five States from Brazil were sent to Ehrenberg (
Localities of the samples from Brazil studied by
General storage of samples from Brazil in Ehrenberg Collection, Museum für Naturkunde
From these samples, we cataloged 101 taxa (specific and infraspecific) published by Ehrenberg from Brazil, of which five were new descriptions, 72 whose first descriptions were made from other places than Brazil, and 23 were invalid and one illegitimate name.
The list of all taxon names is given below, and the species described initially from Brazil are here lectotypified.
Specimen in preparation 180404b, marked with yellow (g) ring, from sample 1099 “Rio Conigo in Rio de Janeiro”, Ehrenberg Collection, in BHUPM (Museum für Naturkunde) (
Rio Conigo [Cônego River], Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
New-York, Andower “Conn.” (Connecticut)
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Diatoms from Brazil published by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
Specimen in preparation 180403a, marked with yellow (g) ring , from sample 1099, “Rio Conigo in Rio de Janeiro”, Ehrenberg Collection, in BHUPM (Museum für Naturkunde) (
Rio Conigo [Cônego River], Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“New York?”
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Specimen in preparation 180502e, marked with red (r) ring, from sample 1104 “Praya Senambatyba, Rio de Janeiro”, Ehrenberg Collection, BHUPM (Museum für Naturkunde) (
“Praya de Sernambatyba”, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Specimen in preparation 180502d, marked with red (r) ring, from sample 1104, “Praya de Sernambatyba, Rio de Janeiro”, Ehrenberg Collection, in BHUPM (Museum für Naturkunde) (
“Praya de Sernambatyba”, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Labrador.
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Specimen in preparation 180411a, marked with blue (bl) ring, from sample 1102, “Rio Consescao der Insel St. Catharina”, in BHUPM (Museum für Naturkunde) (
“Rio de Concescao, Insula St. Catharina, Brasilien”.
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We provide a list of taxa cited by Ehrenberg as occurring in Brazil. This list is names based and has not been checked with respect to current taxonomy. Authors of combinations have been checked.
As introduced before, Ehrenberg considered diatoms as “
Article 12.1 of ICZN states that “to be available [valid], every new name published before 1931 must satisfy the provisions of Article 11 and must be accompanied by a description or a definition of the taxon that it denotes, or by an indication” (
The names of diatoms listed below are those cited specifically by
Biological collections represent a set of organism that lived in some locality during some time. Thus, historical collections are a portrait of the biodiversity of some place that can never be faithfully restudied. This is due to natural or anthropogenic factors responsible for changes of biological diversity of an environment in short, medium or long terms, (
Besides their scientific importance, such collections also perform a fundamental cultural role regarding the region in which the material was collected and for the development of science along the centuries. Through Ehrenberg’s studies, for instance, it can be inferred which pathway some botanists such as Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, Karl Sigismund Kunth, Eduard Friedrich Poeppig, Édouard Louis Chavannes, and other personalities such as the Carl Pabst or Hermann Encke, took when traveling Brazil in the 19th century.
The cultural and scientific importance of the Brazilian samples studied by Ehrenberg can be found in its historical context. At the beginning of the 19th century, many regions in Brazil were occupied by natives whose social organization was different of other native people from South America. In 1818, Prince Regent D. Joao VI of Portugal started an immigration policy that resulted in the arrival of 1,458 Swiss immigrants between 1819 and 1820. These immigrants established themselves on the Cantagalo Farm and this settlement was known as Nova Friburgo. In 1824, Nova Friburgo received about 450 new people, this time German immigrants. Thus, it can be estimated that approximately 1,900 people lived in this region. In 1907, the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística already estimated about 19,185 inhabitants and in 2011 there were estimates of 182,748 inhabitants (
Although we have no accurate estimates of the population from Nova Friburgo in 1850, it is clear that the impact on biodiversity generated by less than 19,185 inhabitants (in 1907) is lower than the impact of the current 182,748 inhabitants. This example can be translated to the other samples collected in Brazil until the first half of the 19th century. Even if it refers to only few places, these materials may be the most accurate examples of the biodiversity of Brazilian diatoms. Moreover, historical samples like those can help to understand anthropogenic effects on the biodiversity of diatoms in tropical and subtropical regions.
The list of Brazilian diatoms published in Ehrenberg’s studies allowed also to discuss the taxonomy and nomenclature of some diatoms described in the 19th century. Although the taxonomy of the diatoms published by Ehrenberg are ruled by the ICZN, the conditions required for a taxon to be considered available (valid) are practically the same as those of the ICBN, that is, a description, a definition (differential diagnosis) or an indication (which can be a published illustration) are needed. This last issue justifies, for instance, to ensure the availability of species such as
Some unavailable names cited by Ehrenberg continued to be ruled by the ICZN which were available by him in later studies. This happened to
Similarly,
According to the ICBN, an epithet of a latter homonym can be used in a different combination and on a different rank, if the epithet is available at this rank (Article 58.1,
Another nomenclatural issue is about valid descriptions or definitions, which we have considered to define valid publication of some diatoms published by Ehrenberg. Some taxa published in the 19th century showed very short descriptions or diagnoses. This led us to consider the expression “…
On the other hand, species such as
Despite similarities among the ICZN and ICBN of a valid name, one difference must be highlighted: the independence of the validity of the name of the genus and the name of the species. In the ICZN, a species name is available even if the genus name is not available (Article 11.9.3.1,
Even considering these limitations, it is noteworthy that only about 43% of the valid names recorded by
We catalogued 101 taxa recorded by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in a set of five studies, among which 77 are available (valid) names, 24 names are unavailable (invalid) and one is illegitimate. The reason why these 24 names are considered as invalid is the absence of a description or a definition (differential diagnosis) or the indication of an illustration. Among the 77 valid names, five were originally described for Brazil and are here lectotypified. Only 34 taxa of this list had been recorded until now by other studies than Ehrenberg’s. The other 57% of the valid taxa can be treated as first citation of the name for the Brazilian diatom flora.
In the future, studies should be conducted to characterize all specimens of Brazilian diatoms described by Ehrenberg. This could be carried out through the sampling and analysis of recent material from the original locality of the lectotype.
With this compilation, we can go back to the Ehrenberg collection to compare Ehrenberg’s identification as well as the current and the original concept of the species of diatoms from Brazil recorded by him. For this, studies with new preparations from his original samples will be necessary. Finally, it will be possible to carry out new studies comparing the old and recent diatom flora and associate the likely changes with the historical variables. This could provide tools to understand changing mechanisms of the biodiversity of diatoms in tropical and subtropical habitats.
We thank Dr. David Lazarus for his assistance to access the Ehrenberg Collection. The first author thanks DAAD/CAPES/CNPq for funding a Sandwich Doctorate Grant to Berlin, Germany.