Centurio flavogularis Lichtenstein & Peters, 1854

Turni, Hendrik & Kock, Dieter, 2008, Type specimens of bats (Chiroptera: Mammalia) in the collections of the Museum f r Naturkunde, Berlin, Zootaxa 1869 (1), pp. 1-82 : 44

Centurio flavogularis Lichtenstein & Peters, 1854

Lichtenstein, H. & Peters, W.C.H. (1854) Über neue merkwürdige Säugethiere des Königl. zoologischen Museums. I. Über die Gattung Centurio Gray und eine neue Art derselben aus Cuba. Monatsberichte der königlich preussischen Akadademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1854: 335 [334–336].

Valid name: Centurio senex Gray, 1842

Holotype: ZMB 398 , skin and ZMB 85627, skeleton and skull (not found), male, adult; allegedly Taburete Mts. , Callajabas, Cuba; collected by Otto.

Comment: ZMB 398 was not registered in the general catalogue nor in the card index as a type specimen. However, the following is the evidence that ZMB 398 is the holotype: i) it is the only registered and available Centurio senex in the collections before the publication of the description; ii) the specimen is the only available Centurio senex with the same collecting data mentioned in Lichtenstein & Peters (1854: 336); and iii) ZMB 398 in most parts agrees with the description and measurements specified in Lichtenstein & Peters (1855). No skull was found, and it cannot be excluded that the skull had already been lost at the time of the species description. In the original description as well as in a more detailed subsequent description by Lichtenstein & Peters (1855) measurement data were absent for the skull, to which the authors [Lichtenstein & Peters] referred: “Die Gestalt des Schädels ist am besten aus der Abbildung [1855: pl. I, fig. 1 –7] zu ersehen” [the shape of the skull can be seen best from the illustration]. The type locality is doubtful as Centurio senex Gray has never been reported for Cuba, and thus Snow et al. (1980: 1) concluded that the type locality given by Lichtenstein & Peters must be erroneous (see also Dysopes (Molossus) gigas Peters below). It is also possible that when Lichtenstein & Peters received the specimen from the collector it had been wrongly labelled.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Skin of holotype ZMB 54589 Megaloglossus Woermanni Pagenstecher, 1885.