Ctenomys torquatus Lichtenstein, 1830

Garbino, Guilherme S. T. & Nogueira, Marcelo R., 2017, On the mammals collected by Friedrich Sellow in Brazil and Uruguay (1814 – 1831), with special reference to the types and their provenance, Zootaxa 4221 (2), pp. 172-190 : 180

Ctenomys torquatus Lichtenstein, 1830 (ZMB_MAM 1198, 1199)

Lectotype ( ZMB _MAM 1198) and paralectotype ( ZMB _MAM 1199) were designated by Langguth & Abella (1970), and both consist of well-preserved skins. The skull of ZMB _MAM 1198 is damaged, but the skull of ZMB _MAM 1199 is practically intact. Ctenomys torquatus is a hystricognath rodent with a restricted distribution in northwestern Uruguay and in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul ( Bidau 2015). Lichtenstein (1830) did not give an exact locality, but mentioned that the type specimen of Ctenomys torquatus came from the banks of the Rio Uruguay. As Bidau (2015:2703) notes, there is still confusion on the type locality of this tuco-tuco. If we compare Sellow’s itinerary ( Fig. 1 ) with the relatively restricted geographic distribution of the species, there are many locality possibilities.

The labels of both specimens read “ Uruguay Sellow 1828.” With this temporal information, it should be possible to restrict the type locality to areas visited by Sellow in 1828 where C. torquatus occurs, as Langguth & Abella (1970) have suggested. In 1828, however, the naturalist was traveling northwards from the state of Santa Catarina to São Paulo, far from Rio Grande do Sul, where the species is found. In December 1827 Sellow already was in the state of Santa Catarina ( Urban 1893), where the species does not occur. The zoological specimens he collected from October 1827 to May 1830 came from the Brazilian states of Santa Catarina, Paraná and São Paulo ( Streseman 1948).

Due to the impossibility of determining an exact type locality for this geographically restricted and taxonomically well-defined species, we believe that a further restriction of its type locality is unwarranted at this time. We acknowledge that the locality must lie along the route traveled by Sellow in northwestern Uruguay and southwestern Rio Grande do Sul .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Localities traveled by Friedrich Sellow between 1814 and 1831, and main vegetation types along the route. For locality coordinates, see Gazetteer in Appendix I.