Polychrus marmoratus Merrem

Vanzolini, Paulo E. & Myers, Charles W., 2015, The Herpetological Collection Of Maximilian, Prince Of Wied (1782 - 1867), With Special Reference To Brazilian Materials, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2015 (395), pp. 1-155 : 31

Polychrus marmoratus Merrem

Plate 8

1824 Isis : 663 (listed).

1825 Beitra¨ge: 120.

1829 Abbildungen: Lief. 13.

PRESENT STATUS: Polychrus marmoratus (Linnaeus, 1758) .

REMARKS: In letterpress accompanying the Abbildung, Wied noted that Spix’s plate was incorrectly colored and that the living color of this well-known lizard had been nowhere described, and that he had obtained only a female for illustration. In the Beitra¨ge, Wied said that his specimen was taken alive at Villa Vic¸oza; it measured 405- + 1007- 5 150 (our conversions 108 mm + 260 mm 5 368 mm). This specimen seems to have disappeared prior to Wied’s preparation of his 1860 manuscript catalog, which lists it only from Guiana (species no. 37 [AMNH R- 105 and R-1695, are cataloged as Maximilian specimens from Guiana]).

Wied’s unpublished manuscript name for this species was ‘‘ Polychrus virescens ,’’ which was validated by Schinz (1822: 65). Wied (1825a: 124) explained in the Beitra¨ge that Schinz had used the name virescens based on a short note from him. For commentary on the name Polychrus virescens as used by Voigt (1832), Wagler (1828: pl. 12), and Schinz (1833–1835: 88–89, pl. 28), see Myers et al. (2011: 4, 8). Myers et al. (2011) furthermore summarized that ‘‘ Polychrus virescens Schinz is correctly shown in Peters and Donoso- Barros (1970: 234) as a synonym of Polychrus marmoratus (Linnaeus) , but it had been Wied’s manuscript name for a new species that he subsequently re-identified as Polychrus marmoratus , [sensu] Merrem.’’

Although Polychrus marmoratus has a huge distribution in northern South America ; there are only a few synonyms, but the type localities are vague or lacking (see Peters and Donoso-Barros, 1970: 234). Depending on an analysis of geographic variation and species boundaries, the nomen oblitum Polychrus virescens Schinz conceivably could be resurrected for a Brazilian population.