Trachylepis bayonii ( Bocage, 1872 )

Parrinha, Diogo, Calado, Francisco M. G., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2025, Echoes of a lost museum: Revision of the herpetological collections sent by Barbosa du Bocage from the Lisbon Museum to the British Museum of Natural History, Vertebrate Zoology 75, pp. 353-404 : 353-404

Trachylepis bayonii ( Bocage, 1872) *

Specimen.

Angola: Duque de Bragança : BMNH 1946.8.19.13 [ syntype, originally BMNH 1866.6.11.8 ; Fig. 21 ] .

Comments.

Bocage (1866 a) first recorded this skink, collected by Bayão at Duque de Bragança, as Euprepes gravenhorstii based solely on Dúmeril and Bibron’s (1839) description of the species, and later sent specimens to Auguste Duméril (1812–1870) and Peters to compare with typical material of that species. Both authors agreed that Bocage’s specimens were specifically distinct, leading Bocage (1872) to describe them as Euprepes bayonii . Bocage confirmed these observations with Boulenger after examining specimens from Madagascar ( Bocage 1895 a). Boulenger (1887) cited the specimen presented to the British Museum but did not note it as a type. Nevertheless, this specimen and another presented by Bocage to the ZMB ( ZMB 6477) have been recognized as syntypes of Euprepes bayonii ( Bauer et al. 2003; Marques et al. 2018; Ceríaco et al. 2024). The specimen in the British Museum was presented on 25 May 1866 identified as Euprepes gravenhorstii ( NHMA /DF/GüntherColl/16/1/110 ), and the one in Berlin was likely presented in the same period, although no date in the ZMB catalogue confirms this. While these specimens were presented years before Bocage (1872) formally described Euprepes bayonii , the clear reference to the material he had previously referred to Euprepes gravenhorstii ( Bocage 1866 a) in the description suggests that Bocage considered his observations of these specimens for the diagnosis of the new species and thus constitutes sufficient evidence to recognize them as part of the type series.

Figures

Figure 21. Syntype of Trachylepis bayonii (BMNH 1946.8. 19.13). Photos by DP.