Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 101. (Budapest 2009)
Pálfy, J.: Review of invertebrate and vertebrate paleontological types in the collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum
18 J. P tîlfy MISCELLANEOUS POINTS OF INTEREST The compilation of the type catalogue revealed the existence of several forgotten type specimens, many of them of historical significance. The birth of Hungarian vertebrate paleontology dates back to the first collecting trip of S. J. PETÉNYI to the limestone quarry of Beremend in 1847. Pliocene and Quaternary vertebrate remains recovered from the remarkably fossiliferous karst fissures have supplied material for several subsequent generations of vertebrate paleontologists. Part of the original material from 1847 survived in the collection and contains several types of different authors (PETÉNYI, NEHRING, MÉHELY, SCHAUB), some of which were previously unlabelled as types or not even registered in the inventory (Fig. 8). Also found among old, unregistered material are syntypes of a fossil beaver, Castor ebeczkyi (Fig. 9) from another famous vertebrate locality, Ajnácskő (now Hajnácka in Slovakia). The species was erected by KRENNER ( 1867), who is best known as eminent mineralogist and became the head of the Department of Mineralogy and Paleontology of HNM in 1870. Mesocetus bungaricus (Fig. 10), a rare cetacean find described by KADIC (1907), exemplifies the turbulent history of many of the types. Found in 1899 in Borbolya (now in Burgenland, Austria), it was donated to the Royal Hungarian Geological Institute (now known as GIH), where the prepared and mounted skeleton was on display for more than 40 years. After World War II, the GIH no longer wanted to keep the specimen because it was collected outside the present-day borders and thus deemed outside the scope for the GIH. Thus it was transferred to the HNHM, where it was severely damaged in the fire of 1956. Fortunately, the skull and some other bones survived the ordeal. The Royal Hungarian Geological Institute's collection was also the original repository of some of the famous Late Cretaceous dinosaur and other vertebrate remains from Transylvania, subject of a series of classical papers and monographs by NOPCSA. (However, most ot his material is housed in the Natural History Museum in London.) At some time a sauropod limb bone was transferred from the GIH into the HNHM collection. This specimen is regarded a syntype of two nominal species, Titanosauriis dacus NOPCSA, 1915 and Magyarosaurus transsylvaniens HUENE, 1932 (Fig. 11). A modern revision (LELOEUFF 1993) treats the two species synonymous and accepts the genus that was erected by HUENE (1932), hence the valid name - and a rather startling combination - is Magyarosaurus dacus. Perumysgyulavarii KRETZOI et VÖRÖS, 1989 (Figs 12-13) is the only type that was collected in South America but this is not the only curiosity of this specimen. Unregistered fossil material from the bequest of KRETZOI, the doyen of Hungarian vertebrate paleontology who deceased in 2005, was received from the HNM. When searching it for possible types, a molar fragment was found, labeled as Perumys gyulavarii. Much to our surprise, the fragment fit together perfectly with the figured holotype already in our collection, thus the two fragments complement each other into a nearly complete tooth. Similarly surprising was the rediscovery of the type of Rbabdocidaris posthumus (Fig. 14). The specimen was collected in 1853, during the construction of the tunnel under Castle Hill in Buda, from the Eocene Buda Marl. Although originally described by PÁVAY ( 1874) as a large, fan-shaped spine of an echinoid, it was consigned to the vertebrate collection during the post1956 recataloguing effort. Apparently mistaken for a caudal fin of a Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 101, 2009
