Boa aquatica Wied, 1823

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 : 41

Boa aquatica Wied, 1823

Plate 19

1820 Reise 1: 358–359 ( Boa anaconda ).

1821 Reise 2: 171 ( Boa anaconda ).

1823 Abbildungen: Lief. 2 ( Boa aquatica ).

1824 Isis : 664 (reference to the Abbildungen).

1825 Beitra¨ge: 226, 604, pl. 3 ( figs. 1–2 ).

PRESENT STATUS: Eunectes murinus (Linnaeus, 1758) .

REMARKS: The mentions of Boa anaconda in the Reise are incidental: they deal with details of color pattern, size, and distribution. The name Boa aquatica was proposed in 1823, in Lieferung 2 of the Abbildungen, clearly as a substitute for other names ( Boa scytale , anaconda , gigas, murina) previously used by Linnaeus, Schneider, Daudin, Latreille, and Merrem. The reason was not systematic, but, as we read in the Beitra¨ge, to stress the aquatic habits of the animal, which deeply impressed Wied . Since it is a generalized substitute name, the use of Boa aquatica is subjective and not clearly part of any strict synonmy; Peters and Orejas-Miranda (1970: 114) give ‘‘Brazil’’ as the type locality.

In the Beitra¨ge, Wied mentioned seeing an anaconda nearly 6 m in length, with details of color pattern, size, and distribution. The name Boa aquatica was proposed in 1823, in Lieferung 2 of the Abbildungen, clearly as a substitute for other names ( Boa scytale , anaconda , gigas and he gives detailed measures for a specimen of 2.8 m.

There are only three anacondas (AMNH R-3031–3033) in the Maximilian collection, but they are very young specimens lacking locality data; these specimens cannot be associated with Wied’s publications or his manuscript catalog. Dirksen and Böhme (1998: 54–55) note that the three specimens resemble zoo hybrids between Eunectes murinus from Trinidad and E. notaeus from Paraguay, but their statement that these Maximilian specimens came from Brazil was an assumption that is not supported by AMNH catalog data. (The specimens conceivably might have been acquired by Maximilian in exchange or by purchase long after his Brazilian expedition; in any case, there seems to be no immediate way of determining a probable geographic source.)

Figures

Fig. 1. Paulo E. Vanzolini. On Serra Tapeque´m (a tepui remnant), Roraima, NE Brazil (July 14,

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)