Historia naturalis palmarum was based on Martius' travels in Brazil and Peru with zoologist Johann Baptist von Spix from 9 December 1817 to 1820.
Agassiz published this description, along with a further three carangids, in a volume co-authored with the German biologist Johann Baptist von Spix entitled Selecta Genera et Species Piscium Brasiliensium.
Among Spix most renown discoveries is the species Spix's Macaw, named after the explorer.
Johann Sebastian Bach | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Otto von Bismarck | John the Baptist | Alexander von Humboldt | Wernher von Braun | Carl Maria von Weber | Johann Strauss II | Herbert von Karajan | Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher | St. Johann in Tirol | John von Neumann | Lars von Trier | Ferdinand von Mueller | Paul von Hindenburg | Alexander von Humboldt Foundation | Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi | Heinrich von Kleist | Anne Sofie von Otter | Erich von Stroheim | Southern Baptist Convention | Max von Sydow | Justus von Liebig | Johann Albert Fabricius | Johann Christian Bach | Hermann von Helmholtz | Franz von Papen | Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg | Carl von Clausewitz | Johann Georg Wagler |
Emperor Franz II of Austria finances an expedition to Brazil on the occasion of the wedding of his daughter Archduchess Leopoldina to the Portuguese crown prince, Dom Pedro of Alcantara Johann Natterer was the zoologist on the expedition and was accompanied by other naturalists including Johann Baptist von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius.
It also holds a collection of reports of European travelers in Brazil, ranging from 16th to 19th century, including works by André Thévet, Arnoldus Montanus, Robert Southey, Willem Blaeu, Maria Graham, von Spix, von Martius, etc.