Lacertus Garsault, 1764

The spelling Lacertus used by Garsault (1764: pl. 668, 669, 674; table, p. 14) for his genus accommodating the “Lézards” is distinct from Lacerta Linnaeus, 1758 . It was consistently used by the author in this work and the following ones (Garsault 1765, 1767) and therefore cannot be considered as an incorrect subsequent spelling as stated by Welter-Schultes & Klug (2009: 234) or a typographical error. The spelling Lacertus had a common pre-Linnaean usage and appeared in particular in sources of Garsault that we identified above (e.g. Gessner 1554, 1587; Schröder 1672; Ray 1693). This spelling was also used by de la Cepède (1788 c: 447), to whom this neonym was previously credited (David et al. 2002: 24). Following the criteria provided by Dubois (1987), we consider it as an autoneonym of Lacerta Linnaeus, 1758 (family LACERTIDAE Batsch, 1788 2). Therefore, the nominal species Lacerta agilis Linnaeus, 1758, being the nucleospecies of Lacerta by subsequent designation of Fitzinger (1843: 20), is also that of Lacertus .

Garsault (1764) illustrated three nominal species, easily identifiable, in the genus Lacertus: Lacertus aquatilis, Lacertus terrestris and Lacertus viridis . These are discussed successively below.