In recent years various museums have issued lists of the type specimens
in their collections. These lists are valuable to systematists by
providing these workers with information that otherwise sometimes is
difficult to obtain. Although by comparison with the large museums in
the eastern part of the United States, such as the American Museum of
Natural History, the United States National Museum, and the Museum of
Comparative Zoology at Harvard, the herpetological collections in the
Museum of Natural History at The University of Kansas are relatively
small (70,000 specimens), a large number of types are contained in the
collection. The largest number of types are of species described from
Costa Rica by Edward H. Taylor between 1949 and 1958. Beginning in
1932 and continuing until World War II, Taylor described many species
from México; types of these species were contained in the Edward H.
Taylor--Hobart M. Smith collection. Inquiries from herpetologists
reveal that many workers suppose that the EHT-HMS collection is in
the Museum of Natural History. Such is not the case, for the EHT-HMS
collection has been divided between the Chicago Natural History Museum
and the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History.
The list of type specimens presented here includes all holotypes
and paratypes that are known in the museum as of April 15, 1962.
Only specimens actually designated as paratypes by the original
describer are considered as such. Each species or subspecies is
listed in the combination as it was originally proposed. If the name
has been subjected to subsequent nomenclatural change or has been
placed in synonymy, the name in current use is given after an equals
sign, together with a citation to the authority for the change. The
arrangement in the following list is alphabetical by genus and species
within orders (suborders in the Squamata). Current combinations of
names that have been changed subsequent to their original proposal are
listed in the correct alphabetical place with a cross-reference to the
original combination.
All original citations have been checked, and actual dates of
publication are given for each. The checking of original citations,
museum catalogues, labels, and sometimes collectors’ field catalogues
has revealed numerous errors. In some cases the catalogue numbers
of the holotypes and paratypes given by Taylor actually were his
field numbers. In the following list the museum numbers that were
subsequently assigned are given. Certain localities have been given
incorrectly; for example, Taylor described several species from Moravia
de Chirripó, which he gave as being in Limón Province, Costa Rica.
Actually Moravia de Chirripó is in Cartago Province. We have attempted
to correct all such errors.
The holotype and two paratypes of _Rana taylori_ Smith are stated to
be in the Museum of Natural History. Smith (Herpetologica, 15:214,
December 8, 1959) proposed the name _Rana taylori_ for three specimens
discussed by Taylor (Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 35:906, July 1, 1952),
who gave the numbers 2976-2978. Number 2978 was designated the holotype
of _Rana taylori_ by Smith, who never saw the frogs. The numbers
2976-2978 are E. H. Taylor’s field numbers; the specimens never have
been catalogued in the Museum of Natural History, and their present
location is unknown.
The 125 species and subspecies represented by holotypes and paratypes
in the collection are distributed among the orders of amphibians and
reptiles as follows: