Bufo lugubrosus Girard 1853

Bufo lugubrosus Girard, 1853

(Figs. 1–2)

Although no name-bearing type was formally designated, the specimen UNSNM 16359 was considered as such by Cochran (1961). Included data indicate that it was collected in January of 1839 in Valparaíso, Chile, by J. Drayton (Joseph Drayton, one of the two illustrators that accompanied the expedition). The date in the catalogue is clearly wrong: By the end of January, 1839 the expedition was still in Tierra del Fuego, preparing the leg to Antarctica (Wilkes 1844). Although Article 72.4.7 of the International Commission Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 1999 (ICZN 1999) indicates that mention of “ type ” or equivalent in a museum catalog or label is not evidence that the specimen correspond to type material, still circumstantial evidence suggest that this individual was the one on which the description was based, including its provenance, collector, year of collection, coincidences with Girard’s (1853) description and its redescription (Girard 1858a), and with the illustration contained in the atlas (Girard 1858b, Plate 6, figs. 10–15).

The species was synonymized with Bufo spinulosus Wiegmann 1834 by Boulenger (1882), who had at hand, among several other specimens, one male collected by Charles Darwin in Valparaíso. Boulenger’s synonymy also included Bufo chilensis Tschudi, 1838, whose synonymy with Rana arunco Molina, 1782 was noted by Cei in several occasions (i.a. 1962b, c) and finally accepted since Ortiz and Lescure (1990). Nowadays three species of Rhinella are recorded in Valparaíso area, Rhinella arunco, R. atacamensis, and R. spinulosa, apparently occupying different altitudinal levels. The exosomatic characters and coloration of UNSNM 16359 (fig. 1), the re-description by Girard (1858a) and its illustration in Girard (1858b) show enough similitudes with the species currently known as Rhinella atacamensis. Thus, Girard’s species, under the new combination, Rhinella lugubrosa, is a senior synonym of Bufo spinulosus atacamensis Cei, 1962b (today Rhinella atacamensis), and not a junior synonym of what today is known as Rhinella spinulosa (Wiegmann, 1834). However, here it is convenient to follow the mandates of Article 23.9 of the Code (IZCN, 1999) and reverse the precedence of names. Indeed, the name Bufo lugubrosus Girard, 1853 was not used as valid since 1882, when Boulenger synonymized it with Rhinella spinulosa (article 23.9.1.1), while the name Rhinella atacamensis (as such, or as Bufo spinulosus atacamensis or Bufo atacamensis) was cited by more than 10 authors in at least 25 works in the last 56 years (article 23.9.1.2), including, among others, Cei (1962b, c), Correa et al. (2008; 2010; 2012), Da Silva & Mendelson (1999), De la Riva et al. (2005), Di Tada et al. (2001), Díaz-Páez & Ortiz (2003); Donoso-Barros & Cei (1962), Gallardo (1992) Lutz (1971), Martin, R.F. (1972) Moreno et al. (2002), Ortiz & Díaz-Páez (2006), Penna & Veloso (1981), Pramuk (2006), Ramírez de Arellano et al. (2008), Ruiz et al. (1987), Urra (2013), Veloso (1973; 2006), Veloso & Núñez (1998) and Vidal et al. (2009). Thus, Rhinella atacamensis is a nomen protectum, while Bufo lugubrosus is considered a nomen oblitum.