Dante Martins Teixeira

Perception and description of New World non-human primates in the travel literature of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: a critical review

SUMMARY The current work presents the results of a review of most of the European diaries and travel chronicles containing reports of New World non-human primates dating from the discovery of America in 1492 until the end of the sixteenth century. We report the integral texts translated into English of these literary sources, giving a critical interpretation from a historical and scientific point of view. We note the ways these primates were perceived and described, with attention to the most important characteristics that were highlighted by the first explorers. Ethnotaxonomy and vernacular names used to designate non-human primates are also provided. This new body of knowledge, based largely on empirical reports full of details and first-hand observations, emerged as the first nucleus in the natural history of Neotropical Primates.

As notas do Padre Anselm Eckart, S. J., sobre alguns animais do Estado do Grão-Pará e Maranhão (1785)

The passages related to the fauna of the State of Grao-Para and Maranhao, written by Father Anselm Eckart (1721-1807), S. J., in 1785, are translated and commented. Critical notes about every cited animal were included, bringing the species knowledge up to date and comparing the zoological and linguistic information compiled by the Jesuit with other contemporary documents and with the related scientific literature.

Zoonímia tupi nos escritos quinhentistas europeus

About 1330 Tupi names of animals (including variations) were registered by European authors during the 16th century. The passages related to them, of each author, is transcribed and the names identifi ed as far as possible. A catalogue of the species that were known at that time is also presented. Key-words: Zoonymy, Tupi Language, Brazil, European authors, 16th Century, Catalogue of the species.

Fauna e flora do Brasil (especialmente do Mato Grosso) segundo Joseph Barbosa de Sáa (1769)

Joseph Barbosa de Saa (? – 1775), mais conhecido por seus escritos sobre a historia do estado do Mato Grosso, Brasil, completou em 1769 um volumoso (408 folios) e erudito manuscrito, intitulado “Dialogos geograficos, coronologicos, polliticos e naturais”, que nunca foi publicado na integra. Esse manuscrito esta depositado na Biblioteca Publica do Porto (manuscrito no. 235), em Portugal. Dez capitulos desse manuscrito tratam dos produtos naturais do Brasil (acima de mil, quase a metade sendo animais), observados por Saa ao longo da costa do Rio de Janeiro, em Sao Paulo, sul de Goias e especialmente no Mato Grosso, sendo a primeira monografia sobre a historia natural deste ultimo estado. Esses capitulos sao aqui transcritos e comentados.

Uma breve história dos morcegos vampiros (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae, Desmodontinae) no Brasil colônia

Out of 167 species of Chiroptera reported for Brazil, only three representatives of Desmodontinae (Phyllostomidae) are hematophagous, a unique feature among the known species of bats. This reduced group includes Desmodus rotundus, Diaemus youngi and Diphylla ecaudata, all widely distributed over Central and South America. The first notice about vampire bats appeared in the beginning of the 16th century, in the tenth book of the first “Decade” of Pietro Martire de Anghiera (1511), related to the exploration of the continent. For Brazil, the oldest citation of blood-sucking bats was due to Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1555). Exceedingly abundant, those bats attacked human beings and caused serious damage to herds, being extremely difficult to control due to the scarce means available during colonial times. Among those, special mention should be made to the “gatos morcegueiros” (literally “bat-hunting cats”), individuals of Felis catus used to catch vampire bats in houses and corrals. Mentioned at least since the first half of the 18th century, those cats were included in property valuations and reached the price of several heads of cattle. Even nowadays, domestic cats are efficient predators of hematophagous bats in rural areas of Brazil and Argentina. Judging from historical records, the problems now caused by bloodsucking bats should not be regarded as one of the consequences of an omnipresent “ecological unbalance”, caused by a shortage of natural hosts and/or the loss of natural habitats. A highly plastic and opportunistic species such as Desmodus rotundus became adapted with extreme efficiency to the new environment, predominantly modeled by the expansion of cattle breeding, the progressive confinement of the herds, and the construction of buildings affording shelter for the bats. These are factors that would have promoted the explosive growth of an already substantially large original population of bats, to the point of converting it into an authentic pest.

Regimento proueytoso e modus curandi: edição dos textos

This issue features facsimiles of Regimento proueytoso contra ha pestenenca and Modus curandi cum balsamo, based on the original texts housed in the Biblioteca Publica de Evora and the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, respectively. Semi-diplomatic editions of both facsimiles - with transliterations into modern characters - have also been provided. These are followed by translations, in the case of Regimento from old to modern Portuguese and in the case of Modus curandi from Latin to modern-day Portuguese. This text explains the criteria used in preparing the semi-diplomatic versions and in modernizing the text of Regimento.