Un lobo marino en controversia: Materialidad, taxonomía y disputa científica (segunda mitad del siglo xix)

Abstract

This article examines a case study about the debate and international controversy related to the birth of a zoological species, nowadays known under the synonym Arctophoca philippii (Peters 1866) and Arctocephalus philippii (Peters, 1866). With that goal the article studies the movement of the remains of a sea lion from Chile to Germany and the debate that arose about its taxonomic definition. This paper argues that the material properties of the mobilized specimen, the circumstances of its hunting, its transfer and protection between museums, as well as the material possibilities of its comparison and analysis, influenced the international debates regarding its classification among naturalists in England, Germany, Chile and Argentina.