Lacertus viridis Garsault, 1764

Dubois, Alain & Bour, Roger, 2010, The nomenclatural status of the nomina of amphibians and reptiles created by Garsault (1764), with a parsimonious solution to an old nomenclatural problem regarding the genus Bufo (Amphibia, Anura), comments on the taxonomy of this genus, and comments on some nomina created by Laurenti (1768), Zootaxa 2447, pp. 1-52 : 26-27

Lacertus viridis Garsault, 1764

The plate 669 in Garsault (1764) shows his Lacertus viridis or “Lézard verd”, which is undoubtedly a species of the group of Lacerta viridis ( Laurenti, 1768) (family LACERTIDAE Batsch, 1788 ). However, if we suppose that the specimens drawn by Garsault were from the Paris region or at least from France (see above), the specimen of plate 669 could not be a Lacerta viridis , but must have belonged in the species now named Lacerta bilineata Daudin, 1802 , a nomen formerly considered a synonym of Lacerta viridis ( Laurenti, 1768) (e.g. Mertens & Wermuth 1960: 151) but now considered to apply to a distinct species, the “western green lizard” (see Amann et al. 1997).

The nomen Lacertus viridis Garsault, 1764 is a senior asthenomonym (secondary homonym) of Lacerta

2. For the valid author and date of this family nomen, see Dubois (2004 a).

viridis ( Laurenti, 1768) , originally described as a member of the genus Seps Laurenti, 1768 . Its allocation to the species now known as Lacerta bilineata would require that another nomen be given to the species currently known as Lacerta viridis . According to Mertens & Wermuth (1960: 151), the first three available junior doxisonyms of the latter are three nomina created by Laurenti (1768: 61–62) for species that he referred to his genus Seps , now an invalid junior doxisonym of Lacerta Linnaeus, 1758 ( Stejneger 1936: 138) . Acting as First-Revisers, we hereby choose the following order of priority among these three nomina: Seps varius Laurenti, 1768 , then Seps sericeus Laurenti, 1768 , then Seps terrestris Laurenti, 1768 . Consequently, the species long known as Lacerta viridis should now be known as Lacerta varia , and the nomen Lacerta viridis should now apply to the species currently known as Lacerta bilineata . We think this change would have a disruptive effect on communication among zoologists, as the nomen Lacerta varia has never been used as valid, and as, since its creation and for about 250 years, the nomen Lacerta viridis has been associated with the common green lizard present in most of Europe (for a list of more than 25 recent references, see e.g. Nettmann & Rykena 1984: 173–180). We therefore use Article 23.9.1 of the Code to reject the nomen Lacertus viridis Garsault, 1764 in favour of its junior asthenomonym Lacerta viridis ( Laurenti, 1768) . Being rejected under this Article, Lacertus viridis Garsault, 1764 becomes an exoplonym and it does not threaten its junior doxisonym Lacerta bilineata Daudin, 1802 .