Further Notes on the Nomenclature of Middle American Toads (Bufonidae)

Abstract

C OPE (1875 ‘‘1876’’:98) erected the genus Cranopsis, by monotypy, for the single Central American species Cranopsis fastidiosus Cope, 1875 ‘‘1876’’. In the same paper (p. 98) he erected the genus Ollotis, by monotypy, for the species Ollotis coerulescens Cope, 1875 ‘‘1876’’ (a subjective synonym of Cranopsis fastidiosus according to Savage (1972:25). Cope (1889:20) recognized that Cranopsis Cope, 1875 ‘‘1876’’ is a junior homonym of Cranopsis Adams, 1860 (Mollusca) and Cranopsis Dall, 1871 (Brachiopoda), and provided the new name Cranophryne. Frost et al. (2006a:364) considered a taxon of Middle American toads to be a genus, for which they, in error, used the name Cranopsis. Subsequently, Frost et al. (2006b:558) noted that Cranopsis was unavailable and applied the generic name Ollotis, for this taxon. Unfortunately, Frost et al. (2006a, 2006b) neglected an available name for this taxon, Incilius Cope, 1863. Incilius had been coined for a collection of American toads (Rana lentiginosa Shaw [5Anaxyrus terrestris], Bufo cognatus Say, 1823 [5Anaxyrus cognatus], Bufo woodhousii [5Anaxyrus woodhousii], Bufo americanus Le Conte, 1831 [5Anaxyrus americanus], Bufo nebulifer Girard, 1854 [5currently Ollotis nebulifer], Bufo veraguensis Schmidt, 1857 [5Rhinella veraguensis], Bufo coniferus Cope, 1862 [5currently Ollotis coniferus], Chilophryne dialopha Cope, 1862 [5Anaxyrus quercicus], and ‘‘probably’’ Bufo biporcatus Gravenhorst, 1829 [5Ingerophrynus biporcatus]), and no type species was designated in that original publication. Frost et al. (2006a:222) designated Bufo cognatus Say, 1823, as the type species of Incilius Cope, 1863, in order to place it as a junior synonym of Anayxurus Tschudi, 1838 (a genus of North American toads). However, Frost et al. (2006a, 2006b) missed that Kellogg (1932:29) had already designated the type species of Incilius as Bufo coniferus Cope, 1862. This act rendered Incilius Cope, 1863, a subjective senior synonym of Ollotis Cope, 1875 ‘‘1876’’. For this reason all species now included in Ollotis should be transferred to Incilius for reason of the priority. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS