Lizard Biology 1(1): art. 1, 2000.

A Collection of Translations of Type Descriptions of Monitor Lizards. Part 1, Varanus indicus and its Allies 
(Reptilia: Varanidae)  

Teri Sprackland and Robert Sprackland

   The taxonomic literature describing many species has been written in languages other than English. With the advent of English as the nearly universal language of science in the mid 20^th century, there has been a decline in biologists familiar with other languages, making access to type descriptions difficult in many cases. The authors present careful translations of some type description of monitor lizards related to Varanus indicus Daudin, 1802. We present translations of three 19^th century accounts and a 20^th century review of varanid types in the Museum National D’Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

The literature covering type descriptions has been written in many languages. By the middle of the 20^th century, English had become the de facto official language of scientific discourse. By the latter part of the century, many schools had reduced or eliminated foreign language study from their curricula, making both classical and foreign languages less available to contemporary researchers. Many universities dropped a dual foreign language competency for doctoral candidates to a single language plus computer proficiency, or deleted the language requirement entirely. Such reduction of language training in English speaking countries has resulted in the modification of formation of Latinized names in the 4^th Edition of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 1999), making the construction of names less restricted to formal rules of Latin grammar.

     The authors have undertaken considerable translation in conjunction with the senior author’s pursuit of herpetological history (Thireau, Sprackland and Sprackland, 1998) and the junior author’s research into lizard systematics Sprackland, 1995, 1997). We present the following historically significant accounts concerning varanid types from four French sources. These focus on lizards related to and including the mangrove monitor, Varanus indicus Daudin, 1802. Teri Sprackland did the translations and syntactical editing; Robert Sprackland did herpetological and zoological nomenclatural editing. We have not italicized names that were not italicized in the original documents.

The Documents  

1. 1802 DAUDIN, François‑Marie (25 March 1774-? 1804).
Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particular des Reptiles. From Volume III.

“THE INDIAN TUPINAMBIS (1) See plate xxx this volume. 
[Reproduced below--Ed.]

     This new species is very close to the spotted Tupinambis of  Bengal, and differs only in the following characters:
     Its head is somewhat tapered, slightly truncated at the tip of the snout. Its color is completely black and covered with very numerous white spots that are irregularly spread across the top of the chin, body, limbs, and the cylindrical base of the tail; all the underparts are, in contrast, a pale and shiny gray.
     The tail is compressed, simply cut on top, and is not surmounted by a double, serrated crest. I counted no more than 90 transverse rows of scales on the back, and about 80 on the stomach from the anterior arms to the cloaca.
     This pretty Tupinambis was discovered on the island of Amboin by Riche, along with a marsh turtle whose plastron has two hinges and that I have described, based upon this naturalist's information, under the name Tortoise of Amboin.
     Bontius, in his work on the natural history of the East Indies, has very poorly drawn and described, under the name Senembi, a local reptile that I believe to be the same as the Indian Tupinambis.
      Dimensions of the Indian Tupinambis in my collection:  

                                                            Feet       Inches      Lines *  

Total Length                                             2          11           7
Length of Head                                         2           6
Circumference of Skull                              1           2
Circumference of Nostrils                                       6
Thickness of Skull (=Width)                      1           2
Length of Neck                                         4           4
Circumference of Neck                             5            8
Length of Body                                        8            9
Circumference of Body                             6           0
Length of Tail                                           7           6
Length of Foreleg to end of claws             4            9
Length of hindleg to end of claws              5           6

(1) Tupinambis indicus, black above, scattered white spots; tail compressed, without keeled serration.
 Senembi, iguana, 2nd figure, Bontius, Hist. Nat. Medie. Indiae Orientalis. (From Latin)”

[*Based on the old French units of measure, 1 pied (foot) = 12 pouces (inches) = 32.4 cm; 1 inch = 3.24 mm = 12 lignes (line); 1 line = 2.25 mm. Ed.]
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2. 1830 LESSON, Rene‑Primevere (20 March 1794‑28 April 1849).
Voyage Autour du Monde, Sur la Corvette de la Majeste, La Coquille, by M.L.I. Duperrey, Capitaine de fregate.

[Note: numbers are from the sequence of all herpetofauna described in the text.]

     “15. MONITOR KALABECK. Varanus kalabeck Less.

     In the language of the natives of Waigiou.
     About the size of the Tupinambis with green spots of New Holland (=Australia), the monitor we are describing sometimes acquires double the girth. Its skin is dense, rough, thick, and very granular, with the scales "elevated". Its tail is long, triangular, compressed, and the upper border has a sharp ridge. Its limbs are robust, ending in free digits, which are robust and armed with powerful claws. The inferior surface of the hands and feet is very "granular". Its head is oblong, elongated, conical, and its jaws are set with very strong cutting teeth. Its tongue is long and extensible. The auditory opening is very largely open and naked.
     The color of this monitor is of a dark black on the body and sides, a black that shows an innumerable quantity of golden‑yellow stars formed of big outstretched points grouped next to each other in groups of three to four, and most frequently isolated in the spaces between the stars. These points, numbering 6, 7, or 8, draw numerous little straight lines on the sides. The belly is a clear yellowish‑ white. The neck and throat are a fairly pure white color, but the black, regular rays, also formed from granular points, cover the thorax and become sinewy and confused on the abdomen. The tail is broken into regular zones of black and yellow. The yellow becomes white in individuals preserved in alcohol.
     This monitor is very common on the island of Waigiou. We encountered them at practically every step, individuals perched on the branches of trees and on the lookout for little birds, or else they were on branches laying across the roots of mangroves fallen into the water, and catching the fish that went to find cover there. The natives search avidly for the meat of this saurian, and content themselves to grill it before eating it. The skin of large individuals serves to cover tamtams, a kind of drum in use by the Papuan Negroes of these islands.  

     16. MONITOR DOUARRHA. Varanus douarrha Less.  

     In the language of the natives of New Ireland.
     Little, and no more than the girth of the Cépedian Tupinambis, this monitor has proportionate limbs, short digits, weak claws, and elongate tail, compressed on the sides. All parts of the body covered in "grenue" scales, closely packed as in Tupinambis stellatus, with which it has many similarities. Its head is slightly depressed, and has a mixture of striations and yellowish spots on a black background, but these spots and stripes are in fairly regular lines. The belly is whitish, and the upper body and tail are matte-black, enameled by numerous white-yellowish rose shapes. These rose shapes are the result of the accumulation of yellowish-white, 4, 5, or 6 spots, sometimes arranged in a circle, sometimes in straight lines, with a regular interval between the roses. The tail is very compressed and black. White ovals form regular bands on its diameter, and in the intervals between these are other, less apparent bands. The limbs are colored as the back and sides.
     We found only one individual of this species, perched on a tree in Port Praslin, New Ireland. A native asked us for it, and gestured to us that it was very good eating. The monitor sometimes changes color, and the black of its skin turns into a lustrous bronze.”  

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3. 1836 DUMÉRIL, A. Marie Constance and BIBRON, Gabriel.
Érpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles.  p. 489

               “8. Varanus chlorostigma. Nobis.*

               Characteristics: Circular nostrils on sides of snout, a little closer to tip of snout than to inferior angle of eyelids. A curved series of 7 or 8 enlarged scales, wider than long, on each superorbital region. Cutting teeth, finely serrated on their edges. The black body is sprinkled with yellow spots.
                Synonyms: Monitor chlorostigma- Cuvier Coll. Museum.

                               Monitor chlorostigma- Gray, Animal Kingdom.

               Description: The head of Varanus chlorostigma, while being elongated, is not as elongated as the 2-banded monitor. The snout is not as long as the former. The nostrils, instead of being oval, are round and not as large. They are not as close to the snout tip...about midway between the eye and snout tip, but just closer to the former than the latter. The nasal pockets are oblong. They produce a slight swelling on the snout atop and a bit to the rear of the external nostrils. We only found six little intermaxillary teeth, on top as well as on the bottom. There are 53 upper labial scales, including the rostral, and 49 lower scales including the mental. The polygonal head scales for longitudinal bands on the snout, and circular series across the skull. The superorbital areas supports 7 or 8 large, oblong, quadrilateral scales, placed one after each other in a slightly curved line. The tail and limbs of the Varanus chlorostigma resemble precisely those of the 2-banded monitor, but the tubercles of its back, from the top of its neck and its feet, are neither as narrow nor as strongly squared as those of the latter. Their shape is oval, and the surface presents, on its medial longitudinal line, a very slight keel. As with most other species in the genus, the tail is ringed with rectangular scales, and is surmounted by a longitudinal keel. One sees the same shape on the belly, but these are smooth.
               Coloration: All upper parts of the Varanus chlorostigma are sprinkled with yellow on a brown background. In certain individuals these are gathered in groups of 4 to 7, rarely more. The belly is light yellow, sometimes in a uniform manner, sometimes in dark pinpoint spots, or else the belly, throat and underparts of limbs are covered with zigzag brown anastomatizing lines. Some specimens have the lower jaw barred with black.
               Distribution: Varanus chlorostigma is from the country of New Guinea, New Ireland, the country of Papuans and the tiny surrounding islands, such as Rawack, Waigeou, etc. The collection of specimens before us was collected by MM. Quoy and Gaymard.”

[*Note: "Nobis" (Latin for "we") probably reflects the belief of Duméril and Bibron that they were the first to use Varanus as the genus name for this species. They also misspell the name of collector Guimard as “Gaymard.”—RGS.]

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4. 1987 BRYGOO, Edouard.
Les types de Varanides (Reptiles, Sauriens) du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle Catalogue critique. Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, 4(9): 21-38.

“Monitor chlorostigma Gray, 1831, In Griffith's Animal Kingdom, 9:26.

               Holotype by monotypy: MHNP 2202 (1536), 261 (131) mm; V 8/1; alcohol; Rawack Island, by QUOY and GAIMARD.
               "Green Spotted Monitor. Mon. Chlorostigma, nob." followed by two lines of description and "Rawack, Mus. Paris." (Gray)
               The name, chosen by Cuvier, was published as such by Gray. The specimen from Rawack, already mentioned by Duméril and Bibron (1836:490) as belonging to Varanus chlorostigma is mentioned again by C. and A. Duméril (1851:51). Guibe (1954) does not mention it.
               Gray (1838:19) transferred the species to Hydrosaurus, while Fitzinger made it the type species, by original designation, of his genus Euprepiosaurus. Boulenger (1885:316) placed the species in synonymy of Varanus indicus, and Mertens (1926:274; 1963:12) made it part of the nominate subspecies.

                              =Varanus (Varanus) indicus indicus (Daudin, 1802)

  Varanus douarrha Lesson, 1830, In Duperrey, Voyage...Coquille, Zoologie, 2(1): 53-54.
     "Monitor douarrha. Varanus douarrha Less. Douarrha, in the language of the natives of New Ireland..." (Lesson)
      "La Coquille" stayed at Port Praslin from 12 to 21 August, 1823. A "Tupinambis" was given to the museum with this locality, supposedly from "La Coquille." The specimen, a holotype by monotypy, was not listed in the catalogue of 1851, and should be considered lost.
    Boulenger (1885:316) placed this species in synonymy of Varanus indicus, using the incorrect original binomial, "Monitor," in his citation, an error repeated by Mertens (1942:263; 1963:13). Ultimately, Mertens (1942:262-263) placed this species in synonymy with the nominate subspecies.

                              =Varanus (Varanus) indicus indicus (Daudin, 1802)

Varanus kalabeck Lesson, 1830, In Duperrey, op. cit.

               "Very common on Waigiou." (Less.)
               "La Coquille" was at Waigeou from 6 until 16 September 1823. One or more "Tupinambis" from this location were noted in the list of the collection. This material was not in the catalogue of 1851, and is presumed lost.
               Neither Duméril and Bibron (1837 [sic]) nor Gray (1845) mentions this species. It was recognized and noted by Peters and Doria (1878) as Monitor kalabeck, which they credit to Lesson. Boulenger and later authors continued this error (substituting Monitor for Varanus).
               According to Mertens (1942), this is a subspecies of Varanus indicus.

                             =Varanus (Varanus) indicus kalabeck Lesson, 1830  

Tupinambis indicus Daudin, 1802, Hist. nat. Rept., Year X, Volume 3:46-47, pl. XXX.

               The Indian Tupinambis of Daudin. The type series is not well defined, and it seems that only the original description survives. Bibron (1851:50) distinguished between Varanus bengalensis and a group corresponding to Tupinambis indicus of Daudin, but did not designate types when using this binomial, nor did he note the presence of Riche's specimen in the collection.
               Duméril & Bibron (1836:480, 482) placed indicus in synonymy with V. bengalensis, mentioning a pre-Linnean Lacertus indicus of Olaus Wormius (1655), and use of T. indicus by Kuhl (1820:124, =bengalensis). They state "in all these specimens one can see a black postocular stripe and a yellow line along each finger. The varan of Bengal is identical to the Tupinambis indicus of Daudin."
               The validity of this species was recognized by W. Peters (1876:531, Monitor indicus) and more recently by Boulenger (1883, 1885) and Mertens (1926:274; 1942, 1963), who recognized two subspecies in addition to the nominate race (=kalabeck and spinulosus).

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    We are grateful to Michel Thireau (Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle, Paris) for his help and many courtesies during our two visits to Paris. We also thank Gina Douglas (Linnean Society of London) and Edouard Brygoo for providing access to needed literature, and to Craig Adler for providing RGS with original volumes of Daudin.

LITERATURE CITED

ICZN, 1999. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. International
    Commission for Zoological Nomenclature, London.

Sprackland, Robert. 1997.  Mangrove monitor lizards. Reptiles 5(3): 48-63.

Sprackland, Robert. 1995.  Evolution, systematics and variation of Pacific mangrove
     monitors and their kin. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University College London.

Thireau, M., R. Sprackland, and T. Sprackland. 1998.  A report on Seba’s specimens in the
     herpetological collection of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, and their status as
     Linnean types. The Linnean 13(4): 38-45.

THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 539 SUMMIT DRIVE, SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, 95060, U.S.A. Email (TS): Teri_Sprackland@excite.com; (RGS): RobertSprackland@excite.com. 

28 January 2000.