Thor Heyerdahl's Legacy: Ichthyological and Herpetological Collection on Fatu Hiva (Marquesas Islands) in 1937.

The Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl is most famous for his 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition, a journey performed on a balsa raft, drifting from South America to French Polynesia. However, his exploration of the Pacific to answer questions revolving around the colonization of isolated islands began earlier, in December 1936, when he and his wife, Liv, traveled to Fatu Hiva, one of the most remote locations of the Marquesas Islands. During their year-long stay, Thor Heyerdahl and Liv Torp-Heyerdahl collected ichthyological and herpetological material that has since remained without analysis for more than 80 yr at the Natural History Museum in Oslo. Here, we provide the first identifications of the collected material. Ninety-four specimens have been identified to the species level, three to the genus level, and six specimens remain at the family level or above. The collection comprises mostly fishes, with 66 reef fish specimens encompassing at least 14 species and 27 freshwater specimens covering at least 6 species. Ten specimens of reptiles were also collected by Thor Heyerdahl, including four species of both geckos (Gehyra insulensis and G. oceanica) and skinks (Emoia cyanura and Ornithuroscincus noctua). Many specimens are juveniles, making accurate identification challenging. Incorporating molecular data for species identification is a promising direction for future studies. The expedition marked a turning point in Heyerdahl's career, shifting his focus from zoology to anthropology and setting the stage for his later research on human migration and Pacific cultural connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]