Arthroleptella bicolor villiersi Hewitt 1935

Conradie, Werner, Branch, William R. & Watson, Gillian, 2015, Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 1: Amphibians, Zootaxa 3936 (1) : -

Arthroleptella bicolor villiersi Hewitt 1935

Records of the Albany Museum, 4: 294.

Current name: Arthroleptella villiersi Hewitt, 1935

Lectotype: PEM A1568 (formerly AMG 6562); Jonkershoek near Stellenbosch, Western Cape Province, South Africa; C. de Villiers, February 1929.

Paralectotype s (3): PEM A 1565–1567 (all formerly AMG 6562); same details as lectotype.

Additional specimens: (a) PEM A 1569–1571, 1581, 1607, 1612 and 1756 (all formerly AMG 6562); same details as lectotype. (b) PEM A2327, 2507, 2844, 2922, 3016, 3812, 3813 and 3823 (all formerly AMG 6566); Paradys, Western Cape Province, South Africa; C. de Villiers, no date listed. (c) PEM A1564 (formerly AMG 6899); same details as lectotype.

Remarks. The ‘ type bottle’ contained a total of 11 specimens (four adult males, three adult females and four sub-adult specimens) all collected from Jonkershoek and all labeled AM 5625, one additional adult specimen from Jonkershoek (AMG 6899), and eight specimens (three females and five males) from Paradys (AMG 6566). The type description clearly states the “ Types ” comprise a series of adult males collected at “Jonkershoek near Stellenbosch, C.P.” (p. 294). We therefore restrict the type series to the four adult males from this locality. The additional material in the ‘ type bottle’, can at best be considered ‘additional material’, although the text makes no direct reference to the four sub-adult specimens from Jonkershoek (PEM A1570, 1581, 1612, 1756) or the five males from Paradys (PEM A2327, 2507, 2844, 2922, 3813). Direct reference is made to the females from both Jonkershoek (PEM A1569, 1571, 1607) and Paradys (PEM A3016, 3812, 3523) in the text (p. 296). To stabilize the situation, given the uncertainty over specimen numbers, we designate one of the adult males from Jonkerhoek, i.e. PEM A1568 as the lectotype as this specimen best fits the type description. The additional three adult males from Jonkershoek therefore become paralectotypes, and the remaining specimens have no nomenclatural standing. Fullbody X-rays exist for all of the material listed. The species was elevated to full species status by Channing, Hendricks and Dawood (1994).