Preliminary diagnoses of some new species and subspecies of mammals and birds obtained in Korinchi, West Sumatra, Feb-June 1914
Robinson and Kloss published these preliminary diagnoses in 1916 to formally establish 23 new taxa—mammals and birds collected during their February–June 1914 expedition to Korinchi Peak and surrounding valleys in West Sumatra. The paper serves as a taxonomic placeholder ahead of a more comprehensive expedition report, providing minimal but sufficient characters to validate each new name.
Summary
The Korinchi expedition, conducted by the ornithologist Herbert C. Robinson and the mammalogist C. Boden Kloss, targeted the Barisan Range in West Sumatra—a region then poorly represented in the zoological collections of the Federated Malay States Museums. The resulting faunal list revealed an extraordinary degree of endemism, particularly among the spinifex rats of the genus Epimys, from which the authors described eleven new species and two new subspecies in a single paper. This concentration of novelty in one genus underscored the inadequacy of prior sampling in Sumatran montane forests and suggested that the Barisan highlands constituted a distinct biogeographic unit.
Beyond the murids, the expedition yielded a new genus of rat (Oromys), a new shrew, two new squirrels, a new owl, a new fruit bat subspecies, a new babbler subspecies, a new thrush, two new flycatchers, and a new sunbird. The diagnoses are deliberately terse—each entry provides type locality, collection date, a brief comparison to the nearest known relative, and a suite of external and cranial measurements. The authors explicitly state that full descriptions, narrative, and complete faunal and botanical accounts would follow in a separate society publication.
The taxonomic work reflects the early twentieth-century practice of rapid species description based on morphometric and cranial characters, with type specimens deposited in the Federated Malay States Museums in Singapore. The altitude range of collection sites—from sea level at Pasir Ganting to 10,000 feet on Korinchi Peak—allowed the authors to document altitudinal differentiation within several species complexes, a pattern that would later inform broader biogeographic theories about Sundaic montane endemism.
Key Findings
- 23 new taxa described in total: 1 new genus (Oromys), 17 new species, and 5 new subspecies, spanning mammals (16 taxa) and birds/bats (7 taxa) (pp. 269–278).
- Eleven new species of Epimys (spinifex rats) were described from a single mountain range, including E. setiger (head and body 290 mm, the largest), E. stragulum (head and body 109 mm, the smallest), and E. korinchi (named for the type locality) (pp. 271–275).
- The new genus Oromys was erected for O. crociduroides, a small dark rat (head and body 103 mm, tail 133 mm) distinguished by a slender tapering skull, seven palatal ridges, and a bevelled incisor edge notched as in Mus but with molar structure approaching Epimys (pp. 270–271).
- Altitudinal range of collections: specimens were gathered from sea level (Pasir Ganting, 2° 7′ S.) to 10,000 feet (Korinchi Peak), with the majority of new Epimys species collected between 3,100 and 7,300 feet (pp. 269–275).
- New avian taxa include Pisorhina vandewateri, a small scops-owl from 7,300 feet distinguished by a strongly marked post-cervical collar; Turdus indrapurae, a thrush from 10,000 feet allied to T. fumidus of West Java; and Dicaeum beccarii, a sunbird lacking the red plumage of its nearest relative D. ignipectus (pp. 275–278).
- Type specimen counts ranged from single types (E. ululans, E. korinchi, Cryptolopha muelleri, Dicaeum beccarii) to series of 35 (O. crociduroides) and 34 (E. fraternus), indicating variable local abundance (pp. 269–278).
Conclusion
Robinson and Kloss demonstrated that the Korinchi massif and its surrounding valleys harboured a fauna of remarkable specificity, with the Epimys radiation alone accounting for nearly half the new taxa described. Their preliminary diagnoses, though minimal by modern standards, established the nomenclatural foundation for what would become one of the most thoroughly studied montane mammal faunas in the Sundaic region, and they highlighted the Barisan Range as a priority area for further zoological investigation.
Context
- The authors were colonial-era naturalists operating under the auspices of the Federated Malay States government; all type specimens were deposited in the Federated Malay States Museums, Singapore, and the paper was published through the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society as part of its institutional reporting on colonial scientific expeditions.
- The paper represents a standard early-twentieth-century taxonomic output: rapid, measurement-driven diagnoses intended to secure priority of naming before a fuller monograph could be prepared, reflecting the period’s emphasis on collecting and description over ecological or biogeographic synthesis.