Back in time to unlock the future: tracing the type-specimens of Corallus hortulana (Linnaeus, 1758) (Serpentes: Boidae), with designation of a lectotype for the Amazon tree boa.

ABSTRACT

Corallus hortulana presents a large array of tones and color pattern variability throughout its distribution (= polychromatism), which trigged the description of several taxa now considered to be primary synonyms. Linnaeus described two of these (Boa enydris and Boa hortulana) on the same page of the 10th Edition of the Systema Naturae. However, both names had been widely used in literature almost in an optional way, until their formal synonymization more than two centuries after the original description. Additionally, the type specimen of Boa hortulana was reported as missing since the late 19th century. These two factors may have enabled the unjustified switched association of types, which was perpetuated in the literature to the present day. Our main goals here were to trace the correct type specimens for each species through a literature review and specimen examination, and to amend the switched association of type material. We found two specimens in the collection of the Uppsala University that are unmistakably associated with Boa hortulana. Herein we designate one of them as its lectotype in order to promote nomenclatural stability considering its huge phenotypic variability and the future possibility of eventually splitting the species.