[PW] Ashtabula genus of jumping spiders

[Adrian Smith]

The Peckhams also published on wasps (solitary and social wasps)
http://lib.leeds.ac.uk:80/record=b1841088
http://lib.leeds.ac.uk:80/record=b1130602

Adrian, Leeds UK


-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-fm-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
Michael J. Lowrey
Sent: 01 March 2007 21:23
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: Re: [PW] Ashtabula genus of jumping spiders


On 3/1/07, Douglas Eric Anderson <andersdo at oplin.org> wrote:
> This one is for me:
>
> In random surfing about the city where I live and work (Ashtabula, 
> Ohio), I stumbled across a brief mention of "Ashtabula" as the name of

> a genus of Latin American jumping spiders.
>
> I am curious as to how and why this genus got the name.
>
> Pictures: http://tolweb.org/Ashtabula/2879
> Entry from the Global Species Database of Salticidae (Araneae): 
> http://www.gsd-salt.miiz.waw.pl/salticidae.php

> >From "A pictorial key to genera of the Latin America Salticidae":
> http://salticidae.org/salticid/diagnost/keys-sal/lat-uni.htm (scroll 
> down to section II/20) Wikipedia entry: 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtabula_(spider)
>
> Evidently the researchers who first described the species (and 
> probably assigned the genus name) were a pair named Peckham and 
> Peckham (presumably either a father-son, husband-wife, or sibling 
> pair).  Unfortunately, the surname "Peckham" is not to be found in any

> of the local history books or indices we have in Ashtabula, so that 
> isn't much to go on as to the why of the genus name.
>
> Here is the citation given at one of the above sites for the first 
> taxonomic description of the Ashtabula genus:
>
> Peckham G.W., Peckham E.G. 1894 Spiders of the Marptusa Group. Occ. 
> Pap. Nat. Hist. Soc. Wisc. 2 (2): 140 ., illustrations T. 14 F. 4
>
> So we now have initials for the Peckhams; and they published in the 
> (?) Occasional Papers of the Natural History Society of Wisconsin, for

> whatever that's worth.

There were only three of them, published from 1889-1896. All three
papers are by George W. and Elizabeth G. Peckham, and deal with Attidae
(jumping spiders), except for v. 1, no. 2, which is by Elizabeth G.
Peckham and deals with spiders in general.
	
Peckham, George W. (George Williams), 1845-1894 & Peckham, Elizabeth G.,
1854-?


> Does anyone have access to that publication, and if so, would you be 
> willing to email/fax/mail us a copy for our local history/clippings 
> files?

According to WisCat, they are held in the Milwaukee Public Museum
Reference Library; the UW-Madison Biology Library; the UW-Madison
Memorial Library [an ILL Lender] and the Wisconsin Historical Society
Library [an ILL Lender]. The Milwaukee Public Museum (formerly owned by
the city, then the county, now quasi-privatized) is the successor to the
NHS of Wisconsin (a/k/a the Naturhistorischen Vereins von Wisconsin),
which was founded about the same time as the city and state (probably by
Increase Lapham and others, knowing Friend Lapham). [[Further googling
shows me that it was founded in his office!
http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOP
TR=15841&REC=14
]]

-- 
Michael J. "Orange Mike" Lowrey

"When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food
and clothes."
     --  Desiderius Erasmus
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