Taxonomic revision of Hemidactylus brookii Gray: a re-examination of the type series and some Asian synonyms, and a discussion of the obscure species Hemidactylus subtriedrus Jerdon (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
Author
Mahony, Stephen
text
Zootaxa
2011
3042
37
67
journal article
46266
10.5281/zenodo.278832
9d274a58-46e3-471c-8945-bbf84a9b1ba1
1175-5326
278832
Hemidactylus kushmorensis
Murray, 1884
Hemidactylus kushmorensis
was described based on a
type
series of six specimens also deposited in the Kurrachee Museum (
Murray 1884b
). In contrast with the above mentioned description, Murray did provide a tabulated comparison of
H. kushmorensis
with “allied” congeners, but excluded
H
.
brookii
. Murray also sent
13 specimens
which he considered “typical of the species” to the British Museum (incorrectly referred to as “
types
” in the museum specimen register) (
Boulenger 1890
). These specimens conform with all defining characters in the original description. It is not likely that these specimens were actual representatives of the original
type
series due to difference in the collection localities.
As
in the previous case for
H
.
gleadowi
, an attempt to locate the
type
specimens of
H. kushmorensis
by the staff at the Zoological Survey of
Pakistan
, was unsuccessful (R. Masroor
in litt.
2009). These
type
specimens must be considered lost, and the specimens of
H. kushmorensis
in BMNH are the only existing specimens representing Murray’s original concept of this taxa. In the following systematics section, I designate a
neotype
for
H
.
kushmorensis
(BMNH [18]87.9.22.8) to stabilise the nomenclatural status of the species. Again, the designation of a
neotype
results in a change of the
type
locality from “Bhaner, Upper Sind frontier”, to nearby “Ural, Upper Sind”. This change is beneficial as it provides an additional precise locality for
H
.
kushmorensis
whose geographical range was originally referred to broadly as “Upper Sind, Kushmore and Thool Talookas”.