Coluber erythrogaster 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 : 60-61

Coluber erythrogaster Wied, 1824

1824 Isis : 669 (diagnosis).

1825 Beitra¨ge: 378.

PRESENT STATUS: Uncertain, a nomen dubium.

REMARKS: This name was not indexed by Boulenger (1896) or by Peters and Orejas- Miranda (1970). It seems not to have been identified in the literature, although careful

attention to the Beitra¨ge description will likely place it as a coral snake mimic like Coluber formosus ( Oxyrhopus formosus [ Wied, 1820 ]) and Coluber venustissimus ( Erythrolamprus aesculapii venustissimus [ Wied, 1820 ]), which are treated in the Beitra¨ge on pages 381–395 following the description of Coluber erythrogaster (pp. 378–381). Those two mimics were also treated in Wied’s Nova Acta coral snake paper describing Elaps corallinus .

There are no specimens in the collection. The type locality is the Rio Barganza on the Campos dos Goitacazes near the Rio Peruipe.

Coluber formosus Wied, 1820 Plate 37

1820 Reise 1: 257 (description).

1821? Nova Acta: 109–110 (second description). 1821 Reise 2: 75.

1822 Abbildungen: Lief. 1.

1824 Isis : 669 (diagnosis).

1825 Beitra¨ge: 381, pl. 2 ( figs. 13–14 ).

PRESENT STATUS: Oxyrhopus formosus ( Wied, 1820) .

REMARKS: This species is usually attributed to Wied’s Nova Acta coral snake paper (e.g., Peters and Orejas-Miranda, 1970: 232), but the description therein (p. 109) contains a reference to Wied’s footnote description on page 257 of Reise 1 (1820), which we take as the original description.

There are no specimens in the collection.

Coluber venustissimus Wied, 1820 Plates 38, 39

1821? Nova Acta: 110 (first description).

1821 Reise 2: 75 (second description).

1822 Abbildungen: Lief. 1.

1824 Abbildungen: Lief. 7.

1824 Isis : 669 (listed with reference to the Abbildungen).

1825 Beitra¨ge: 386, pl. 2 ( figs. 7–8 ).

PRESENT STATUS: Erythrolamprus aesculapii venustissimus ( Wied, 1820) .

REMARKS: This name is usually dated from page 75 in Reise 2, 1821 (Peters and Orejas- Miranda, 1970: 112), but on that same page Wied made reference to the Nova Acta coral snake paper (see discussion under Prince Maximilian’s Herpetological Publications).

Wied’s two color plates in the 1822 and 1824 Abbildungen show snakes of very different appearance. The 1822 one (pl. 38) is of a red snake with blackish scale tips and widely spaced pairs of black bands that are narrowly separated from one another and from adjacent red areas by narrow rings of pale yellow. This snake somewhat resembles a ‘‘group II’’ Erythrolamprus aesculapii shown as figure 1b of Marques and Puorto’s (1991) paper. Wied found his specimen in the vicinity of ‘‘Villa Vic¸oza, am Flusse Peruïpe.’’

Wied’s 1824 plate (pl. 39), labeled ‘‘ Coluber venustissimus Varietas,’’ shows a red snake with blackish scale tips and widely separated black rings, which are bordered by narrow, pale grayish rings. This snake is similar to the ‘‘group II’’ snake shown as figure 1d in Marques and Puorto (1991). No locality was given. Wied remarked on the similarity between this snake and his Elaps [ Micrurus ] corallinus .

There are no specimens in the collection.

Figures

Fig. 13. Holotype of Coluber carinicaudus Wied, in dorsal and ventral view (AMNH R-3365). Scale line 5 10 mm.

Fig. 14. Lectotype of Coluber lichtensteinii Wied, in dorsal and ventral view (AMNH R-3514♀). Scale line 5 10 mm.

Fig. 7. Holotype of Agama picta Wied. Details of hindquarters in ventral view (AMNH R-108); 5 mm scale line.

Fig. 8. Agama picta Wied. Inset (A) showing orange-pigmented tongue and small dewlap. Pen-andwatercolor illustration (B) made by Prince Maximilian at Morro d’Arara in March 1816, with descriptive field identification ‘‘Lacerta fasciata (m).’’ The Abbildungen plate (see pl. 10) was prepared from this sketch. Detailed study (C) of a tail, from a different specimen than shown in the life drawing. Wied’s handwritten explanation to artist (from typescript in Bosch, 1991: 238): Schwanz der Agama picta. um etwa die Vertheilung der Schuppen fu¨r den Kupferstecher genauer zu haben. In a. und b.[regenerating tail at break] sind die Schuppen aus Versehen verschieden gezeichnet, sie sind aber am ganzen Schwanze u¨berall gleich ross, klein und 4-eckig in Reihen gestellt. (‘‘Tail of Agama picta. In order to prepare for the copperplate engraving [see pl. 10], the scales are drawn differently in a and b; along the entire tail, however, the small square scales are equally disposed in rows.’’) From Bosch (1991: 238–239), courtesy of the Brazilian Library of Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart.

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