Trachylepis binotata (Bocage, 1867)

Parrinha, Diogo, Calado, Francisco M. G., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2025, Echoes of a lost museum: Revision of the herpetological collections sent by Barbosa du Bocage from the Lisbon Museum to the British Museum of Natural History, Vertebrate Zoology 75, pp. 353-404 : 353-404

Trachylepis binotata (Bocage, 1867) *

Specimen.

Angola: Benguella : BMNH 1946.8.15.37 [ syntype, originally BMNH 1867.7.23.26 ; Fig. 22 ] .

Comments.

Bocage (1867 a) first mentioned several specimens collected by Anchieta in Benguela, Dombe and Catumbela as Euprepes binotatus . A detailed description, however, was only provided in a subsequent paper in the same issue of the Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, where Bocage mentioned only Benguela ( Bocage 1867 c). Nevertheless, all localities mentioned in the first paper are relatively close to each other in coastal Benguela Province and the specimens on which Bocage based his descriptions were most likely the same, hence most authors have considered Benguela, Dombe and Catumbela to be type localities ( Marques et al. 2018; Ceríaco et al. 2024). Shortly before the publication of the formal description in August 1867, Bocage presented a specimen to the British Museum on 13 July as “ Euprepes binotatus Bocage n. sp. ” ( NHMA /DF/ZOO/200/1/195 ). The specimen entry is crossed over in the register, most likely due to a cataloguing error (see Mochlus sundevallii account). Additional surviving syntypes from Catumbela and Benguela exist in the collections of the ZMB ( ZMB 5830) and MNHN ( MNHN 1462), respectively ( Brygoo 1985; Bauer et al. 2003; Ceríaco et al. 2024). Boulenger (1887) did not recognize binotata as valid, citing the British Museum type under Mabuia quinquetaeniata .

Figures

Figure 22. Syntype of Trachylepis binotata (BMNH 1946.8. 15.37). Photos by DP.