An appraisal of the report by Einar Lönnberg (1905) on fishes collected by the Swedish South Polar Expedition

ROBERTO C. MENNI; LUIS O. LUCIFORA

Antarctic Peninsula & Tierra del Fuego: 100 years of Swedish-Argentine scientific cooperation at the end of the world

Taylor & Francis

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2007; p. 77 - 82

During 1901 and 1903 the Swedish South Polar Expedition collected 52 fish species from Tierra del Fuego, Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica. Axel Johan Einar Lönnberg, who later also studied other Magellanic fishes, reported these species in 19051. He described 23 new species. Only three of them, Notothenia karlandrea, N. dubiaand N. brevipes, resulted synonyms of Patagonothen sima, Trematomus vicariusand N. tessellata, respectively. Lönnberg described the fol- lowing new species: two from Tierra del Fuego, Isla de los Estados (Staaten Island) and adjacent seas (Patagonotothen brevicaudaand Muraenolepis microps), two from Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) and the Burdwood Bank (Crossostomus fasciatusand Careproctus falklandicus), seven from South Georgia Islands (Careproctus georgianus, Trematomus vicarius, Trematomus hansoni georgianus, Lepidonotothen larseni, Gobionotothen gibberifrons, Artedidraco mirus, and Champsocephalus gunnari) and three from the “true” Antarctic Region (Chionodraco hamatus, Artedidraco skottsbergi and Lindbergichthys nudifrons). He also described six new pelagic or benthopelagic species (Sio nordenskjoldi, Krefftichthys andersoni, Protomyctophum paralellum, Gymnoscopelus braueri, Borostomias antarcticusand Bathylagus gracilis). This work has been considered a valuable addi- tion to the systematics and biology of the Graham Land and neighbouring islands.2 It is also an important contribution to the ichthyology of the Magellanic area and the Subantarctic islands. Lönnberg also contributed to the biological concept of Antarctica as a “life zone” and to its zoo- geography. The contribution of the Swedish South Polar Expedition and Lönnberg to the knowledge of the diversity of the South Atlantic and Antarctic fishes is substantial, and is widely recognised.