Coluber poecilogyrus Wied, 1824

Vanzolini, Paulo E. & Myers, Charles W., 2015, The Herpetological Collection Of Maximilian, Prince Of Wied (1782 - 1867), With Special Reference To Brazilian Materials, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2015 (395), pp. 1-155 : 59-60

Coluber poecilogyrus Wied, 1824 Plates 32 – 33 and figure 19 (syntypes)

1824 Isis : 669 (diagnosis).

1824 Abbildungen: Lief. 8 (2 pls.).

1825 Beitra¨ge: 371, 600.

PRESENT STATUS: Liophis poecilogyrus poecilogyrus (Wied, 1824) .

REMARKS: The original description of this species usually has been assigned an 1825 date (e.g., Boulenger, 1894: 131; Peters and Orejas- Miranda, 1970: 145; Dixon and Markezich, 1992). It is, however, among the species di-

The two extant specimens are AMNH R- 3593–3594 ( fig. 19 ), which have retained their color patterns while becoming soft and damaged in preservative; short pieces are missing from the broken tails; the larger specimen is ventrally torn, so that ventrals cannot be accurately counted. Consequently, the measurements and scale counts given above are from an unpublished thesis by A.L. Markezich (1976: 25–26), who examined the specimens in the 1970s (before further deterioration from handling and shipping).

A firm decision cannot be reached based on the above table. 32 One must turn to the plates. There

31 Heft (usually the part or issue number of a periodical) often has been used informally or unconsciously, even by librarians, for the Lieferungen delivered over time to subscribers of Maximilian’s Abbildungen.

32 Wied seemingly erred in measuring his largest specimen. A calculated tail/total length ratio of0.277 is much higher than known for the species. Dixon and Markezich (1992: 134) gave a range of 0.129 – 0.224 for some 700 specimens throughout the geographic range.

are in the Abbildungen two plates containing Coluber poecilogyrus . One (pl. 33) contains a single adult, with a colored view of the whole snake, and dorsal and ventral outlines of the head. The other plate is a composite that contains a subadult Coluber poecilogyrus in color ( fig. 2 in pl. 32), with out-lines of the head (this plate also shows the types of Coluber merremii and Coluber doliatus ).

AMNH R-3593 agrees very well with the adult poecilogyrus in plate 33. The dorsal pattern and the head scalation agree closely (e.g., both the specimen and the drawing have 4 infralabials in contact with the anterior genials on the right, 5 on the left); the ventral pattern seems slightly darker in the specimen than in the figure.

AMNH R-3594 appears to be the subadult depicted in plate 32, even though the outline drawing of the head in ventral view (particularly in the infrabials) does not match well. That it is the same specimen is indicated by certain peculiarities in the arrangement of the dark rings and the fact that the body is predisposed to bend easily to the shape shown in the plate.

Overall, the discrepancies seem minor, and we believe that AMNH R-3593 and 3594 are the specimens of Coluber poecilogyrus portrayed in the Abbildungen; these two syntypes seem of equal value and nothing is gained by designating one as lectotype. The type locality is Barra do Jucu (20 ° 249S, 40 ° 199W).

Dixon (1989: 19–20), Dixon and Markezich (1992: 132), and Smith et al. (1994) have elaborated on the extensive synonymy of Liophis poecilogyrus (Wied) , and the specific name subsequently was conserved by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1996).

Figures

Fig. 19. Syntypes of Coluber poecilogyrus Wied, AMNH R-3593 on left, AMNH R-3594 on right. These are the only known surviving syntypes; nothing would seem to be gained by designating either as lectotype. Scale line 5 10 mm.

Fig. 2. Pen-and-watercolor sketches dated 1815 and attributed to Prince Maximilian. Top: Gesamtansicht der Expedition (‘‘General View of the expedition’’), showing pack mules, handlers, and military guard. Bottom: Prinz Maximilian mit Teilnehmern seiner Expedition (‘‘Prince Max with members of his expedition’’). From Bosch, 1991: 84–85. (Courtesy of Brazilian Library of Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart)