Barydesmus scaber (Koch, 1847) new combination

Platyrhacus scaber Koch, 1847: 131 (original description); Koch 1863: 74, Pl. XX fig. 41a–b (description); Silvestri 1896: 191 (as Platyrhachis scaber; designation as type species of the genus); Hoffman 1956: 46 (taxonomic comments).

Polydesmus (Stenonia) scaber: Saussure & Humbert 1872: 154 (combination; taxonomic comment).

Types: Type specimen from Brazil, without further locality; we lack information on its current location; it is most likely lost (Hoffman 1953b).

Distribution: Brazil.

Comments: in the first reference to this species, Koch (1847) erroneously identified it as Polydesmus scaber Perty, 1833, a species in the family Chelodesmidae . In his following work Koch (1863) omitted any reference to Perty's species, and so they have been treated as different taxa ever since. Silvestri (1896) designated P. scaber as the type species for Platyrhacus . Given the initial taxonomic uncertainty and to prevent possible nomenclatural problems at the genus and family level, Hoffman (1974) proposed to change of type species of Platyrhacus to the Javan P. fuscus Koch, 1847 . This proposal was accepted by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature (Melville 1979). This species requires neotype designation (Hoffman 1953a).