Gekko armatus 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 : 30

Gekko armatus Wied, 1824

Plate 8

1820 Reise 1: 106 (as Gecko spinicauda ).

1824 Isis : 662 (diagnosis).

1825 Beitra¨ge: 104, pl. 2 ( figs. 1–4 ).

1829 Abbildungen: Lief. 13.

PRESENT STATUS: Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonne`s, 1818).

REMARKS: A composite plate (including Polychrus ) in the Abbildungen shows Gekko incanescens Wied in color (i.e., gray), whereas Gekko armatus Wied is illustrated only by outline drawings ( figs. 3–6 in pl. 8). 20 Further outline drawings of G. armatus were given in plate 2 of the Beitra¨ge.

In the Beitra¨ge Wied explained that he had initially thought that the two sympatric geckos belonged to the same species; he gave the reasons (all within the local variation of the species) why he came to call them by distinct names. The nomenclaturally valid original diagnoses, for both species, are in the Isis for 1824.

Both nominal species share the same type locality, Paulista (Praia do Paulista, 22 ° 139S, 41 ° 279W [ Vanzolini, 1992: 123]). There are no specimens in the collection.

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)

Fig. 3. Title page from the third volume of Prince Maximilian’s Abbildungen zur Naturgeschichte Brasiliens (Wied, 1822–1831). Illustrated taxa are listed on the volume (Liefererung) title pages, but the contained plates are unnumbered (there are 6 plates in each of 12 Liefererungen). The herpetological plates reproduced herein are arbitrarily numbered 1–56 following the organization of the present work, which reflects the order of species presentation in volume 1 of the Beitra¨ge (fig. 4). Geographic modifiers (Neuwied and Runkel) were dropped from the Wied family name in 1824. After that, ‘‘Wied-Neuwied’’ appeared only on the title pages of the Abbildungen, which had begun publication two years earlier.

Fig. 4. Title page of volume 1 of Prince Maximilian’s Beitra¨ge zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien (Wied, 1825). This first of four volumes is the only one devoted to herpetology. Many new species are described in this fundamental work, which assembles information for all reptiles and amphibians collected by Wied.

Fig. 5. Holotype of Agama picta Wied in dorsal view (AMNH R-108); 90 mm SVL. The once-vivid color pattern has completely faded.

Fig. 6. Holotype Agama picta Wied. Details of head in dorsal, lateral, and ventral view (AMNH R-108); 5 mm scale line.