Vipera Garsault, 1764

Dubois, Alain & Bour, Roger, 2010, The nomenclatural status of the nomina of amphibians and reptiles created by Garsault (1764), with a parsimonious solution to an old nomenclatural problem regarding the genus Bufo (Amphibia, Anura), comments on the taxonomy of this genus, and comments on some nomina created by Laurenti (1768), Zootaxa 2447, pp. 1-52 : 31-32

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.195113

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5629437

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D887CC-FFE4-FFAD-24FB-F9D5FEB1FB4C

treatment provided by

Plazi (2016-04-09 17:19:36, last updated 2024-11-26 23:44:58)

scientific name

Vipera Garsault, 1764
status

 

Vipera Garsault, 1764

The plate 666 of Garsault (1764) shows his Vipera or “Vipere”, clearly an “asp viper”, a common species in western Europe, currently known as Vipera aspis ( Linnaeus, 1758) (family VIPERIDAE Oppel, 1811 a). In agreement with this figure, we hereby designate Coluber aspis Linnaeus, 1758 as nucleospecies of Vipera Garsault, 1764 . As discussed below, the latter generic nomen is both a senior hadromonym and senior doxisonym of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 .

Laurenti’s (1768: 99) genus Vipera was described with ten prenucleospecies. The nomina of two of them, Vipera Francisci Redi and Vipera Mosis Charas , are trinomina, but, as discussed above, they can be “saved” through the use of Article 11.9.5, and must now be spelt Vipera francisciredi and Vipera mosischaras .

Gmelin (1789: 1091) created the nomen Coluber redi . He mentioned the nomen Vipera Francisci Redi in its synonymy, so his nomen must be considered an autoneonym of Vipera francisciredi Laurenti, 1768 , as acknowledged by Mertens & Wermuth (1960: 195) and McDiarmid et al. (1999: 393). The nomen Coluber redi Gmelin, 1789 is an invalid junior isonym of Vipera francisciredi Laurenti, 1768 , therefore a nomen distinct from the latter. It was not part of the prenucleospecies of the genus Vipera Laurenti, 1768 , and is therefore not eligible for nucleospecies designation for the latter.

As a consequence, Fitzinger’s (1843: 28) designation of this nominal species (as “ Vip. Redii Latr.”) as nucleospecies of Vipera , is invalid. It is therefore in error that Stejneger (1936: 140) wrote: “ This being Laurenti’s Vipera francisci redi which equals [sic] Coluber aspis Linnaeus , the latter becomes the genotype of Vipera ”. This statement is twice wrong because neither Coluber redi nor Coluber aspis were members of the prenucleospecies of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 . However, some subsequent authors ( Mertens & Müller 1940: 54; McDiarmid et al. 1999: 389) followed this error and considered Coluber redi Gmelin, 1789 as the nucleospecies of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 . Mertens & Wermuth’s (1960: 194) subsequent mention of Vipera francisci redi as “ species typica ” of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 was the first to cite this biological species under the nomen used by Laurenti (1768). This statement was repeated by Bruno (1985: 40). Although based on a wrong interpretation, this would indeed be the valid designation of a nucleospecies for this genus if it was not predated by another designation. As a matter of fact, and even if they ignored it later, Mertens & Müller (1928: 51) had previously designated Vipera illyrica Laurenti, 1768 as nucleospecies of Vipera Laurenti, 1768 . This nominal species was part of the prenucleospecies of the genus, so this designation, which is the first Code -compliant one to have been published, is valid. The nomen Vipera illyrica is a junior doxisonym of Vipera ammodytes ( Linnaeus, 1758) (see Mertens & Wermuth 1960: 194).

Vipera Laurenti, 1768 is therefore an invalid junior doxisonym of Vipera Garsault, 1764 . As both taxa Coluber aspis Linnaeus, 1758 and Vipera illyrica Laurenti, 1768 are currently referred by all authors to the same genus Vipera and even to the same “group” (e.g., Obst 1983) or subgenus Vipera (e.g., Mallow et al., 2003), the shift of authorship and date of the nomen of this genus has no disturbing nomenclatural consequences and must be implemented, as already suggested by Welter-Schultes & Klug (2009: 238). Therefore no change is required in the binomina of the 27 species currently recognized in this genus ( Mallow et al. 2003) and their subspecies. The only change needed in their nominal-complexes is the inclusion of the author’s name and date between parentheses, to point to the transfer from Vipera Laurenti, 1768 to Vipera Garsault, 1764 .

Bruno, S. (1985) Le vipere d'Italia e d'Europa. Bologna, Edagricole, i - viii + 1 - 272, pl. 1 - 12.

Garsault, F. A. P. de (1764) Les Figures des plantes et animaux d'usage en medecine, decrits dans la Matiere Medicale de Mr. Geoffroy Medecin. Paris, [i - v] + 1 - 20, pl. 644 - 729.

Gmelin, J. F. (1789) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locus. Editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata. Tomus 1, pars 3. Lugduni, Delamolliere, 1033 - 1516.

Laurenti, J. N. (1768) Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin Reptilium emendatam cum experimentis circa venena et antidota Reptilium austriacorum. Viennae, Joan. Thom. Nob. de Trattnern, i - ii + 1 - 215, pl. 1 - 5.

Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Tomus I. Holmiae, Laurentii Salvii, [i - iv] + 1 - 824.

Mallow, D., Ludwig, D. & Nilson, G. (2003) True vipers. Natural history and toxinology of Old World vipers. Malabar, Florida, Krieger, i - xiv + 1 - 359.

McDiarmid, R. W., Campbell, J. A. & Toure, T. A. (1999) Snake species of the world. A taxonomic and geographic reference. Volume 1. Wahington, The Herpetologists's League, i - xi + 1 - 511.

Mertens, R. & Muller, L. (1928) Liste der Amphibien und Reptilien Europas. Abhandlungen herausgegeben von der senckenbergischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 41, 1 - 62.

Mertens, R. & Muller, L. (1940) Die Amphibien und Reptilien Europas. (Zweite Liste, nach dem Stand vom 1. Januar 1940). Abhandlungen herausgegeben von der senckenbergischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 451, 1 - 56.

Mertens, R. & Wermuth, H. (1960) Die Amphibien und Reptilien Europas. Dritte Liste, nach dem Stand vom 1. Januar 1960. Frankfurt am Main, Waldemar Kramer, i - xi, 1 - 264.

Obst, F. J. (1983) Zur Kenntnis der Schlangengattung Vipera (Reptilia, Serpentes, Viperidae). Zoologische Abhandlungen aus dem Staatliche Museum fur Tierkunde in Dresden, 38 (13), 229 - 235.

Oppel, M. (1811 a) Ordre II. Reptiles a ecailles. Section 2. Ophidiens. Annales du Museum d'Histoire naturelle, 1810 , 16, 254 - 295 + 376 - 393.

Stejneger, L. (1936) Types of the amphibian and reptilian genera proposed by Laurenti in 1768. Copeia, 1936 (3), 133 - 141.

Welter-Schultes, F. W. & Klug, R. (2009) Nomenclatural consequences resulting from the rediscovery of Les figures des plantes et animaux d'usage en medicine, a rare work published by Garsault in 1764, in the zoological literature. Bulletin of zoological Nomenclature, 66 (3), 225 - 241.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Reptilia

Order

Squamata

Family

Viperidae