The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals

V

424 Val Val’s Gundi Ctenodactylus vali Thomas, 1902 [Alt. Sahara Gundi] Thomas did not explain his choice of scientific name in this case, which suggests that this rodent is not named after a person. It may be that vali, like the word “gundi,” is taken from a local name for the species. The gundi is found in Morocco, Algeria, southern Tunisia, and northwest Libya. The type specimen came from “Wadi Bey” in Libya. Van Beneden Van Beneden’s Colobus Procolobus verus Van Beneden, 1838 [Alt. Olive Colobus] Dr. Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden (1809–1894) was a Belgian physician who was appointed Curator of the Natural History Museum at the University of Louvain in 1831. In 1836 he became Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the Catholic University at Louvain, an appointment he held until his death. Early in his career he specialized in invertebrates, particularly marine ones, and in 1843 he established a marine laboratory and aquarium in Ostend, which is believed to have been one of the first examples of its kind. Later he turned his attention to the vertebrates. When the port of Antwerp was being fortified, a number of bones of fossil whales were dug up, and Van Beneden became interested, undertaking a detailed study of the group. On the subject of the Cetacea, living and extinct, he published a number of papers and several large works; the most important was Ostéographie des cétacés vivants et fossils, which was jointly written with Gervais and published between 1868 and 1880. By the end of his life he had a Europe-wide reputation and was a foreign member of the Royal Society and also of the Linnean, Geological , and Zoological societies of London. The colobus has a patchy distribution in West Africa , from Sierra Leone to southern Nigeria. Van Breda Rough-toothed Dolphin Steno bredanensis Cuvier, 1828 Jacob Gijsbert Samuel Van Breda (1788–1867) was a Dutch academic. He was Professor of Botany, Zoology, and Comparative Anatomy at the University of Ghent. He had wide interests and was a leading geologist, a cartographer, editor, and illustrator, and the Curator of the Botanical Gardens in Ghent. After Belgium became independent he returned to Holland and became Professor of Zoology at Leiden. He was also Secretary of the Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities) and Director of Teyler’s Museum. In the Natural History Museum in Paris, a skull belonging to a Roughtoothed Dolphin had apparently been erroneously matched with a skin from a Neotropical river dolphin, Inia geoffrensis. While visiting the French capital, Van Breda pointed out this error to Cuvier, who later named the species to which the skull belonged after Van Breda. The dolphin is found worldwide in warm-temperate and tropical waters. Van der Decken Van der Decken’s Sifaka Propithecus deckenii Peters, 1870 ThisspeciesoflemurisendemictowesternMadagascar . See Decken for biographical details. V 425 Van Deusen Van Deusen’s Rat Stenomys vandeuseni Taylor and Calaby, 1982 [Syn. Rattus vandeuseni] Hobart Merritt Van Deusen (1910–1976) was an American zoologist, author, and mammalogist who worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He was a member of the fourth, sixth, and seventh Archbold expeditions to New Guinea in 1953, 1959, and 1964 respectively. He published widely, alone and with others, including for example with Taylor and Calaby, who described the rat, “A Revision of the Genus Rattus (Rodentia, Muridae ) in the New Guinean Region.” This species is known only from the region of Mount Dayman , Papua New Guinea. Van Gelder Van Gelder’s Bat Bauerus dubiaquercus Van Gelder, 1959 Dr. Richard George Van Gelder (1928–1994) was an American zoologist who for many years served as Curator of Mammalogy at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In addition to his academic works on mammals , he wrote several books aimed at children, such as The Professor and the Mysterious Box. The bat was first described from the Tres Marias Islands off western Mexico but has also been found on the mainland of Central America from southern Mexico and Belize to Costa Rica. Van Heurn Lesser Forest Wallaby Dorcopsulus vanheurni Thomas, 1922 Willem Cornelis Van Heurn (1887–1972) was a Dutch taxonomist and biologist who worked for a period at the National Natural History Museum in Leiden. He came from a wealthy family but chose to work all his life. He went to Suriname in 1911, to Simaloer (off Sumatra) in 1913, and...