The mammals in the scientific illustrations of the Panphyton Siculum by Francesco Cupani (18th century)

Abstract

Biogeographia vol. X)O( - 2011 (Pubblicato il 23 dicembre 2011) La Biogeografia della Sicilia The mammals in the scientific illustrations of the Pm/zpbyton Siculum by Francesco Cupani (18‘h century) MARCO MASSETI Labomtori di Antropologia ed Etnologia, Dzpzzrtimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica dell ’Um'z2er5it£z di Firenze, via del Procomolo 12, 50122 Firenze (Itzzly); e—mzzz'[: marc0.ma5seti@unz'fZ.it Key words: Pzmp/ayton Siculum, Sicilian mammals, Francesco Cupani. SUMMARY The Pzzzzp/a_yton Siculum is an unfinished printed catalogue, drawn up in the eighteenth century by the Francis- can naturalist Francesco Cupani (21 January 1657 - 19 January 1710) with the principal purpose of illustrating the botanical riches of Sicily (Pastena et al., 2003). It also contains illustrations of many species of birds (Riggio, 1892a; Priolo, 1996), but few reptiles (Riggio, 1892b; Lo Valvo, 1998) and mammals (Riggio, 1893). The latter consist essentially of illustrations of the molar of an African elephant, Loxodonta afiicamz (Blumenbach, 1797), a marten, Marta: mzzrtes (L, 1758), an otter, Lutra lutrzz (L., 1758), the antlers of a European fallow deer, Dama dama dama (L., 1758), and the cranial appendages of two exemplars of roe deer, Czzpreolus azpreolu: (L., 1758). The portrayal of these species raises a number of questions, some of which are still far from having been satis- factorily answered. The most important relates to the effective presence and diffusion of all these taxa — compris- ing the elephant — in the natural environment of Sicily in the eighteenth century. INTRODUCTION The Pcmpbyton Siculum is an unfinished iconographic catalogue (Prain, 1918) drawn up by the Franciscan naturalist Francesco Cupani (21 January 1657 - 19 January 1710) and published posthumously in 1713 (Lanza, 2003). The main objective of the work was to illustrate the botanical riches of Sicily. It al— so comprises images of many species of birds (Riggio, 1892a, 1892b, 1893a; Priolo, 1996), but only a few of reptiles (Riggio, 1892c; Lo Valvo, 1998) and mammals. Works dealing with the latter are practically non—existent, except for a note by Riggio (1893b) which is moreover limited to indicating the presence of the only two species whose external morphology is portrayed in its entirety: the otter, Lutm [umz (L., 1758), and the marten, Mczrtes mczrtes L., 1758. Also Massa (2009) is among the very few authors who give a short account of the