Hemidactylus kushmorensis Murray, 1884

Mahony, Stephen, 2011, Taxonomic revision of Hemidactylus brookii Gray: a re-examination of the type series and some Asian synonyms, and a discussion of the obscure species Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon (Reptilia: Gekkonidae), Zootaxa 3042, pp. 37-67 : 43

Hemidactylus kushmorensis Murray, 1884

Hemidactylus kushmorensis was described based on a type series of six specimens also deposited in the Kurrachee Museum ( Murray 1884b). In contrast with the above mentioned description, Murray did provide a tabulated comparison of H. kushmorensis with “allied” congeners, but excluded H. brookii . Murray also sent 13 specimens which he considered “typical of the species” to the British Museum (incorrectly referred to as “ types ” in the museum specimen register) ( Boulenger 1890). These specimens conform with all defining characters in the original description. It is not likely that these specimens were actual representatives of the original type series due to difference in the collection localities. As in the previous case for H. gleadowi , an attempt to locate the type specimens of H. kushmorensis by the staff at the Zoological Survey of Pakistan, was unsuccessful (R. Masroor in litt. 2009). These type specimens must be considered lost, and the specimens of H. kushmorensis in BMNH are the only existing specimens representing Murray’s original concept of this taxa. In the following systematics section, I designate a neotype for H. kushmorensis (BMNH [18]87.9.22.8) to stabilise the nomenclatural status of the species. Again, the designation of a neotype results in a change of the type locality from “Bhaner, Upper Sind frontier”, to nearby “Ural, Upper Sind”. This change is beneficial as it provides an additional precise locality for H. kushmorensis whose geographical range was originally referred to broadly as “Upper Sind, Kushmore and Thool Talookas”.