Jungfer, K.-H.

In Issues 2017

On Warszewicz’s trail: the identity of Hyla molitor O. Schmidt, 1857. pp. 18-24 plus Supplementary material.

Abstract. The Polish botanist Józef Warszewicz (1812−1866) travelled extensively in Central and South America be­tween 1844 and 1853 and, apart from plants, also collected frogs subsequently used to describe new species. Several of his locality data proved to be erroneous and especially species purportedly from western Panama were later rediscovered in South America. I revisit parts of his itinerary, the history, type locality, and morphology of Hyla molitor, supposedly from western Panama, but never encountered again, and conclude that it is conspecific either with Dendropsophus labialis or D. luddeckei, both Andean species from Colombia that are morphologically indistinguishable. Speculating that the types of H. molitor may have originated from the surroundings of Bogotá, where Warszewicz had actually been, I consider it a senior synonym with priority over D. labialis and transfer the taxon to Dendropsophus.
Key words. Anura, Colombia, Dendropsophus labialis, Dendropsophus molitor nov. comb., Hylidae, Panama, synonymy, type localities, Warszewicz.