Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 96. (Budapest 2004)

Csorba, G., Buzás, B. ; Farkas, B.: A previously undescribed skull of Steller's sea cow, Hydrodamalis gigas (Mammalia: Sirenia: Dugongidae) in the Hungarian Natural History Museum

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Volume 96 Budapest, 2004 pp. 317-320. A previously undescribed skull of Steller's sea cow, Hydrodamalis gigas (Mammalia: Sirenia: Dugongidae) in the Hungarian Natural History Museum G. CSORBA

1

, B. BÚZÁS

2 & B. FARKAS

3 'Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-1083 Budapest, Ludovika tér 2, Hungary. E-mail: csorba@nhmus.hu 2

H-J J94 Budapest, Csiky u. 74, Hungary. E-mail: bbuzas@yahoo.com 3

H-2464 Gyúró, Bercsényi u. 27, Hungary. E-mail: farkasbalazs@yahoo.com Abstract - Description of a cranium and a mandible of Hydrodamalis gigas stored in the Hungarian Natural History Museum is given. The remains of two specimens were collected in 1884 and were donated to the Museum by the Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg in 1957. With 5 figures. Key words - Hydrodamalis gigas, skull, Hungarian Natural History Museum. INTRODUCTION The historic range of the largest of recent sirenians, the highly specialized Hydrodamalis gigas (ZIMMERMANN, 1780) was once limited to shallow waters off the Bering and Copper Islands in the Commander Island Group, Bering Sea. Discovered in the 1700's, Hydrodamalis gigas was confined to a handful of réfugia at that time and became extinct by the year 1768 (e.g. FORSTEN & YOUNGMAN 1982). Excellent and often challenging reviews of its presumed mode of life and the factors leading to its extermination have been published (e.g. DOMNING 1978, ANDERSON 1995). A number of scientific institutions possess osteological material of Hydrodamalis gigas (PILLERI 1988, STEFEN 2003), but complete skeletons, often assembled from parts of several individuals (e.g. FEILER 1999), are valued rarities in museum collections. Even the history of a particular specimen itself is sometimes of great interest (STEFEN 2003). In the present note we describe a cranium and mandible deposited in the Mammal Collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest (HNHM). While the collections of HNHM survived World Wars I and II without significant losses the mineralogical and petrological collections (numbering approxi-