3473
Author
Published, First
text
Zootaxa
2012
2012-09-07
3473
1
60
journal article
11755334
3D1227F1-4953-4EEA-8600-FE1F117D1B08
Hydrus palustris
Schneider, 1799
Hydrus palustris
Schneider, 1799: 249
; based on
Russell (1796: 25
, pl. 20, “Paragoodoo”).—Type locality “
Indiae orientalis
”, namely Eastern
India
; here restricted by virtue of
neotype
designation and geographic inference to the coastal areas of northern
Andhra Pradesh State
, eastern
India
.—Onomatophore.
Neotype
, by present designation: BMNH 1904.7.27.32 (specimen depicted by
Russell, 1796
: pl. 33); see below.
Status. An objective synonym of
Hydrus piscator
Schneider, 1799
. Synonymized with
Tropidonotus quincunciatus
by
Schlegel (1837: 309)
; synonymized with
H. piscator
by
Boulenger (1893: 230)
Comments.
Schneider (1799: 249)
cited Russell’s vernacular name as
Paragudu
. The name
Paragoodo
, as well as other Russell’s vernacular names, is in Telugu, a language spoken only in the areas of the Coromandel Coast, now the coastal areas of northern
Andhra Pradesh State
(see above). As a consequence, the original
type
locality of
H. palustris
Schneider, 1799
is restricted by inference also to the lowlands along the northern Coast of Coromandel, namely the coastal areas of northern
Andhra Pradesh State
, eastern
India
.
The
holotype
of
H. palustris
was the specimen depicted by
Russell (1796
: pl. 20) but is seemingly lost. It is not present in the collection of skins deposited in the collections of the BMNH (see above under the account of
H. piscator
). The
holotype
of
H. palustris
Schneider, 1799
being lost, we here designate a
neotype
in order to fix the nomenclatural status of this taxon within the
Xenochrophis piscator
-complex. In agreement with the various dispositions of Article 75.3 of the
International code of zoological nomenclature
(
Anonymous 1999
; referred to hereafter as the
Code
) and based on (1) the need to fix the status of
H. palustris
and associate this combination with specimens showing a moderate dorsal chessboard-like pattern present in most of peninsular
India
, (2) the loss or destruction of the
holotype
, which is not present either in the collections of BMNH or ZSI, (3) the morphological similarity of the selected
neotype
with the
holotype
as depicted on Russell’s plate, (4) the origin of the
neotype
from a locality on the eastern coast of
India
, we here designate as
neotype
of
H. palustris
Schneider, 1799
the
holotype
of
H. piscator
, namely BMNH 1904.7.27.32 (specimen depicted by
Russell, 1796
: pl. 33).