The “Cope Collection” and the Bahia - São Francisco Railway’s fossil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2178-6224v18i1p73-95Keywords:
Cope Collection, The railroad from Bahia-São Francisco, Fossil vertebrates, National MuseumAbstract
Since paleontological collections represent a natural and cultural heritage, it is crucial to safeguard them in institutional collections. Among them, the Paleovertebrates Collection of the Department of Geology and Paleontology of the National Museum (DGP-MN) stands out, which suffered a considerable loss due to the fire suffered by this museum in 2018. A way to recover this collection’s Historical and scientific information is in its iconographic record. In this context, the present work inventories and illustrates the collection, which became known in the Department of Geology and Paleontology of the National Museum as the “Cope Collection”. It is about a hundred fossil vertebrates that were sent, in the form of a loan, to the American palaeontologist Edward Drinker Cope (1840-1897) for identification and description at the end of the 19th century. Most of such material was collected during the Bahia -São Francisco Railroad building, whose inauguration was in 1860. The implementation and expansion of the railway network in Brazil at the end of the 19th century not only brought economic growth but also enabled the formation of many paleontological collections since the open cuts in the land for the construction of the railroads revealed the fossil record, as is the case of the “Cope Collection”. If it no longer physically exists, at least the listing and iconographic we have presented as a sample here can revalidate it for Brazilian palaeontology.
References
ADLER, Karl. Contributions to the history of herpetology. Vol. 5. Worthington, OH: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Contributions to Herpetology, 1989.
ALLPORT Samuel. On the discovery of some fossil remains near Bahia in South America. Proceedings of the Geological Society, 14: 263-268, 1860.
ARGOLLO, Miguel Teive de. Memoria descriptiva sobre a Estrada de Ferro Bahia e Minas. Rio de Janeiro: Laemmert‚ 1883.
BOWLER, Peter. Edward Drinker Cope and the changing structure of evolutionary theory. Isis, 68 (2): 249-265, 1977.
CALDEIRA, Jorge. Mauá: O empresário do Império. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1995.
COPE, Edward Drinker. On the primary divisions of the Salamandridae: with descriptions of two new species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 11: 122-128, 1859.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. On the limits and relations of the raniforms. Proceedings of American Philosophical Society, 16 (4): 96-140, 1864.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. An examination of the reptilia and batrachian obtained by the Orthon Expedition to Ecuador and the upper Amazon‚ with notes others species. Proceedings of American Philosophical Society, 20: 96-140, 1868.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. On the primitive types of the orders of mammalia Eduicabilia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Library‚ 1872.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. The gigantic mammals of the genus Eobasileus. American Naturalist, 6: 1-9, 1873.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1875.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. Tenth contribution to the herpetology of Tropical America. Proceedings of American Philosophical Society, 17: 85-98, 1877.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. Review of Rodentia of the Miocene period of North America. Bulletin United States Geological Survey, 6 (2): 361-366, 1881.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. The structure of Columella auris in Pelycosauria. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Library‚ 1885.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. A contribution to the vertebrate paleontology of Brazil. Proceedings of American Philosophical Society, 43 (121): 1-23, 1886.
COPE‚ Edward Drinker. The crocodilians‚ lizards and snakes of North America. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute‚1900.
DAVIDSON‚ Jane Pierce. The life of Edward Drinker Cope. Philadelphia, PA: The Academy Natural Sciences of Philadelphia‚ 1997.
DELGADO DE CARVALHO, Carlos. Geografia do Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Empresa Graphico-Editora, 1923.
FRAZER‚ Persifor. Obituary Edward Drinker Cope. American Naturalist‚ 31: 1-3‚ 1897.
GALLO, Valéria. A “Coleção Cope” do Museu Nacional/UFRJ: Vertebra-dos fósseis da Bahia, Sergipe e Pernambuco (Brasil), e sua correlação estratigráfica. Rio de Janeiro, 1993. Dissertação de Mestrado, Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 1993a.
GALLO, Valéria. Classificação taxonômica e posicionamento estratigráfico de paleovertebrados da Bacia do Recôncavo. Acta Geologica Leopoldensia, 16 (38): 41-58, 1993b.
GILL‚ Theodore. Edward Drinker Cope‚ naturalist – A chapter of history of science. The American Naturalist‚ 31: 370-405‚ 1897.
GRAY‚ Martin. Geodiverstiy. Valuing and conserving abiotic nature. London: John Willey and Sons, 2003.
KUNZLER‚ Josiane; NOVAES‚ Mariane Gonzalez Leandro; MACHADO‚ Deusana Maria Machado; PONCIANO‚ Luiza Corral Martins de Oliveira. Coleções paleontológicas como proteção do patrimônio científico brasileiro. Pp: 3850-407, in: GRANATO, Marcus; RANGEL, Marcio F. (orgs.). III Seminário Internacional Cultural Material e Patrimônio. Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins. Rio de Janeiro, 2014.
LANHAM, Url. The bone hunters. New York: Columbia University Press, 1973.
LEONARDOS, Otto Henry. Geociências no Brasil: a contribuição britânica. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Forum, 1970.
LONGBOTTOM‚ Alison. A note on the location of the type specimens of vertebrates from Brazil described by Cope in 1886. Journal of Paleontology‚ 62 (5):828-832‚ 1988.
NORONHA SANTOS, Francisco. [1910]. As freguesias do Rio Antigo. Rio de Janeiro: Edições O Cruzeiro, 1965.
OSBORN, Henry Fairfield. Cope: Master Naturalist. The life and letters of Edward Drinker Cope, with a bibliography of his writ-ings classified by subject. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931.
OTTONI, Cristiano Benedito. O futuro das estradas de ferro no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Typographia Nacional, 1859.
SILVA SANTOS‚ Rubens; GOMES‚ Ulisses Leite. Chondrichthyes (Hypotremata) da Formação Maria Farinha‚ estado de Pernam-buco. Pp: 37-53 in: Anais do X Congresso Brasileiro de Paleontologia. Rio de Janeiro‚ 1987.
VELOSO‚ Rodrigo Lima. A história do patrimônio paleontológico de vertebrados do Museu Nacional durante seu primeiro século. Rio de Janeiro. 2021. Dissertação (Mestrado em Patrimônio Geopaleontológi-co). Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geociências‚ Museu Naci-onal, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
VELOSO‚ Rodrigo Lima; BANDEIRA, Kamila L N.; Souza, Lucy; GALLO, Valéria; CARVALHO, Luciana B. de. Derby Hyposaurus: a historical review and update of its whereabouts. Historical Biology, 35 (6): 1002-1010. DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2022.2073546
WHITTEN, Douglas Gilbert Alban; BROOKS, John Reginald Verney. A dictionary of geology. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1972.
WOODWARD‚ Arthur Smith. Notes on some vertebrate fossils forms of the province of Bahia Brazil collected by Joseph Mawson. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 2 (8):132-136‚ 1888.
WOODWARD‚ Arthur Smith. Catalogue of the fossil fishes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vols. 1-4. London: Order of the Trustees of the British Museum, 1889-1901.
WOODWARD‚ Arthur Smith. Evidence of occurrence of Ptero-saurians and Plesiosaurians in the Cretaceous of Brazil‚ discov-ered by Joseph Mawson. Annals of Magazine of Natural History‚ 6 (8): 314-317‚ 1891.
WOODWARD‚ Arthur Smith. On two deepbodies species of the clupeoid genus Diplomystus. Annals and Magazine of Natural History‚ 6 (15): 1-4‚ 1895.
WOODWARD‚ Arthur Smith. On the quadrate bone of a gigantic Pterodactyl discovered by Joseph Mawson in the Cretaceous of Bahia‚ Brazil. Annals Magazine of Natural History‚ 6 (17): 255-257‚ 1896.
WOODWARD‚ Arthur Smith. Notes on some Upper Cretaceous fish remains from the provinces of Sergipe and Pernambuco‚ Brazil. Geological Magazine 4 (515): 193-197‚ 1907.
WOODWARD‚ Arthur Smith. On some fossil fishes discovered by prof. Ennes de Souza in the Cretaceous Formation Ilhéos (State of Bahia) Brazil. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 64: 42-43‚ 1908.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Filosofia e História da Biologia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The published manuscripts become the property of the journal Philosophy and History of Biology, and the authors accept the terms of this license and agree to assign the copyright for publication, in addition to agreeing with the publication's commitment to offering open access to all of its content. The information and concepts issued in signed papers are the sole responsibility of their authors.
cademia.edu
