Charinus guianensis (Caporiacco, 1947), nomen dubium

Oligacanthophrynus guianensis Caporiacco, 1947: 21 .

Oligacanthophrynus guianensis – Caporiacco 1948: 616, fig. 9. — Vanni et al. 1988: 376.

Charinus guianensis – Weygoldt 1998a: 72; 2002a: 297 [designated as nomen dubium].

Etymology

Not specified by the author, but appears to be an adjective referring to Guyana, the country in which the type locality is located.

Type material

Holotype GUYANA • juv.; Castra Marlissa [Campo di Marlissa, according to Weygoldt (1998a)], Upper Demerara- Berbice (region 10); [04°54′ N, 58°15′ W]; MZUF 1798.

Distribution

The type locality, Marlissa, is probably the name of a river in the Upper Demerara-Berbice region of Guyana. The precise locality could not be located, hence the coordinates provided are an approximation of where the type specimen was collected.

Remarks

Caporiacco (1947) introduced the generic name Oligacanthophrynus Caporiacco, 1947 with a short description of the genus. The holotype of Oligacanthophrynus guianensis Caporiacco, 1947 was described in more detail by Caporiacco (1948) and revisited fifty years later by Weygoldt (1998a), who considered Oligacanthophrynus a junior synonym of Charinus and concluded that the specimen used in Caporiacco’s (1947) description was a protonymph, probably conspecific with C. gertschi . The characters present in the protonymph, however, are insufficient to assign C. guianensis to any known species due to its incomplete development, so Weygoldt (2002a) considered the species a nomen dubium.

Due to the uncertainty regarding the systematics of the species in the Guianas and Surinam, it is presently impossible to determine the identity of C. guianensis, and shall remain so until adult specimens are collected at the type locality.