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The Earliest Name For Steller's Sea Cow And Dugong, Theodore S. Palmer
The Earliest Name For Steller's Sea Cow And Dugong, Theodore S. Palmer
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications
In 1811, Illiger published a number of new genera, proposing among others, Rytina for the sea cow of Bering Island and Halicore for the dugong of the Indian Ocean. Nearly all recent writers on mammals have adopted these genera, apparently overlook ing the fact that both animals had been named before 1811. As early as 1794 Retzius described the sea cow in the 'Handlingar' of the Stockholm Academy of Science, placing it in a new genus which he called Hydrodamalis, and the species, based on the Vacca marina of Steller, Hydrodamalis stelleri. The generic description is sufficient to …