Scincus 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 : 29-30

Scincus Garsault, 1764

The plate 670 of Garsault (1764) shows a specimen named Scincus or “Scine” (the correct vernacular “Scinc” is used in p. 18 of the list of plates, as well as in the subsequent accounts in Garsault 1765, 1767), a lizard which obviously belongs in the genus currently known as Scincus Laurenti, 1768 (family SCINCIDAE Oppel, 1811 b 3).

Laurenti’s genus Scincus was described with two prenucleospecies and Fitzinger (1843: 23) designated Scincus officinalis Laurenti 1768 (onymotope: “ in AEgypto ”) as nucleospecies. The latter nomen is a subjective synonym of Lacerta scincus Linnaeus, 1758 , and this species is now known as Scincus scincus ( Linnaeus, 1758) . The genus Scincus includes three to five species, according to the authors. In the last partial revision of this genus ( Carranza et al. 2008), the former subspecies Scincus scincus albifasciatus Boulenger, 1890 was recognized as a full species, including the subspecies Scincus albifasciatus laterimaculatus Werner, 1914 . We follow here this taxonomy. The specimen shown by Garsault (1764) fully agrees with this latter taxon, known from central Morocco and north-western Algeria. Its main external character is a set of lateral bands interrupted on the back ( Werner 1914: 13, pl.; Schleich et al. 1996: 363; Bons & Geniez 1996: 200– 201; Geniez et al. 2004: 135), which are conspicuous in Garsault’s (1764) plate.

We hereby designate Scincus scincus var. laterimaculatus Werner, 1914 (onymotope: western Algeria), as nucleospecies of Scincus Garsault, 1764 . The distinct nomina Scincus Garsault, 1764 and Scincus Laurenti ,

3. The nomen of this family is traditionally (e.g., Dowling & Duellman 1978: 86.1; Ananjeva et al. 1988: 232; Mecke et al. 2009) credited to Gray (1825), but it was in fact created, as SCINCOIDES, by Oppel (1811 b: 76), and used again later, as SCINCIDIA, by Rafinesque (1815: 76).

1768 are therefore now doxisonyms, and the first one is now the valid nomen of the genus. The three to five species currently referred to this genus ( Arnold & Leviton 1977; Carranza et al. 2008) keep their nomina unchanged, but the nominal-complex is modified for those here transferred from Scincus Laurenti, 1768 to Scincus Garsault, 1764 , the author’s name and the date being now between parentheses: Scincus albifasciatus ( Boulenger, 1890) , Scincus conirostris ( Blanford, 1881) , Scincus hemprichii ( Wiegmann, 1837) , Scincus mitranus ( Anderson, 1871) and Scincus scincus ( Linnaeus, 1758) , and their subspecies.