G. A. Rivas, L. E. Sibira & T. R. Barros
14
ANARTIA
Publicación del Museo de Biología de la Universidad del Zulia
ISSN 1315-642X (impresa) / ISSN 2665-0347 (digital)
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7951605 / Anartia, 35 (diciembre 2022): 14-21
Catalogue of Type Specimens in the amphibians and reptiles
collection of the Museo de Biología, Universidad del Zulia
(MBLUZ), Maracaibo, Venezuela
Catálogo de Ejemplares Tipo de la colección de anbios y reptiles del Museo de
Biología de la Universidad del Zulia (MBLUZ), Maracaibo, Venezuela
Gilson A. Rivas, Luis E. Sibira & Tito R. Barros
Museo de Biología, Facultad Experimental de Ciencias, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
Correspondence: anolis30@hotmail.com
(Received: 15-10-2022 / Accepted: 08-12-2022 / On line: 19-05-2023)
ABSTRACT
We provide a complete and updated catalogue of the Type Specimens of the amphibians and reptiles collection of the
Museo de Biología de la Universidad del Zulia (MBLUZ), Maracaibo, Venezuela. is collection contains a total of 23
type specimens (four Holotypes: one amphibian and three reptiles, and 19 Paratypes: ve amphibians and 14 reptiles),
representing 14 species. e taxa represented by these Types were described between 1996 and 2020. So far, only one of
their names is regarded as a junior synonym (Cryptobatrachus remotus Infante-Rivero, Rojas-Runjaic & Barrio-Amorós,
[2009]). e Type Specimens belonging to the families Strabomantidae, Hemiphractidae, Microhylidae (Anura), Sphaero-
dactylidae, Anolidae, Scincidae, Colubridae and Dipsadidae (Squamata), come mainly from western Venezuela and, to a
lesser extent, from Caribbean islands, the Venezuelan coastal range, southern Venezuela and Colombia. An appreciable
number of publications on amphibians and reptiles in Venezuela have been derived from this collection; however it faces
serious infrastructure and security problems generated by the current institutional crisis of national universities, due to the
unprecedented economic and social deterioration in the country.
Keywords: Amphibia, biological collections, Reptilia, taxonomy, zoological history.
RESUMEN
Se provee un catálogo completo y actualizado de los Ejemplares Tipo de la colección de anbios y reptiles del Museo de
Biología de la Universidad del Zulia (MBLUZ), Maracaibo, Venezuela. Esta colección contiene actualmente un total de
23 Ejemplares Tipo (cuatro Holotipos: un anbio y tres reptiles y 19 Paratipos: cinco anbios y 14 reptiles), representando
14 especies. Los taxones representados por estos Tipos fueron descritos entre 1996 y 2020. Hasta el momento sólo uno
de sus nombres se considera un sinónimo junior (Cryptobatrachus remotus Infante-Rivero, Rojas-Runjaic & Barrio-Amo-
rós, [2009]). Los Ejemplares Tipo pertenecientes a las familias Strabomantidae, Hemiphractidae, Microhylidae (Anura),
Sphaerodactylidae, Anolidae, Scincidae, Colubridae and Dipsadidae (Squamata), proceden principalmente del occidente
de Venezuela y en menor grado de islas del Mar Caribe, Cordillera de La Costa, Sur de Venezuela y Colombia. De esta
colección ha derivado un número apreciable de publicaciones sobre anbios y reptiles de Venezuela, no obstante afronta
graves problemas de infraestructura y seguridad generados por la actual crisis institucional de las universidades nacionales,
producto del deterioro económico y social sin precedentes en el país.
Palabras clave: Amphibia, colecciones biológicas, historia de la zoología, Reptilia, taxonomía.
Herpetological type specimens in MBLUZ
15
INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY
e Museo de Biología de la Universidad del Zulia
(MBLUZ) was established at the beginning of the 1980s.
Although, Bisbal & Sánchez (1997) recorded that the
Museo de Biología de la Universidad del Zulia (MBLUZ)
was established in 1979, there is no documentary or fac-
tual evidence of that. We have been unable to document
a proper date of foundation, for which reason we herein
propose to take into consideration the earliest possible his-
torical record in catalogue, represented by the date of col-
lection of sh specimen No 1, obtained by ichthyologist
José Moscó on September 11, 1980. Moscó began teach-
ing at La Universidad del Zulia in 1979. He is considered
the founder of MBLUZ and its rst Director.
José Moscó, was a biologist graduated at the Universi-
dad Central de Venezuela, where he was also a co-founder
of its Museo de Biología (MBUCV). In 1979 he was em-
ployed at the Colegio Universitario de Carúpano (now
IUT “Jacinto Navarro Vallenilla”), state of Sucre, when
he was called to Maracaibo by Professor Víctor de Espi-
nosa, then the Director of the División de Estudios Bási-
cos Sectoriales of the Facultad Experimental de Ciencias,
Universidad del Zulia (FEC-LUZ). So, he quickly came
to FEC-LUZ to occupy the post le by American ich-
thyologist Donald C. Taphorn, who had indeed privately
started a collection of shes from the Lake Maracaibo
basin. is primordial but important collection was do-
nated by Taphorn to the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de
Guanare (MCNG) at the Universidad Nacional Experi-
mental de Los Llanos Occidentales “Ezequiel Zamora”
(UNELLEZ) in Guanare, Venezuela, where he developed
not only a lifelong successful career as a researcher and
professor, but also founded a very important museum of
natural sciences.
e MBLUZ harbors collections of fossils, plants,
aquatic invertebrates, shes, amphibians and reptiles and
to a lesser degree, mammals, birds and arthropods. e
latter three are just considered small reference collections
of the local fauna. e amphibians and reptiles collection
contains around 1,900 catalogued numbers (ca. 2,300 spec-
imens), mainly from western Venezuela, particularly from
the states of Zulia and Falcón, but also some specimens
from other regions of the country, including the eastern
Coastal Range, and some Venezuelan islands in the Carib-
bean Sea, including Isla de Margarita, La Blanquilla, and
the archipelagos of Los Roques, La Orchila, Los Herma-
nos, Las Aves and Los Frailes. is collection is one of the
smallest in the country in terms of diversity of species and
number of samples from dierent bioregions; however, it
contains material from some Venezuelan localities gener-
ally poorly explored, as well as some rare or unique taxa.
In recent times, the herpetological collection of
MBLUZ increased in numbers and diversity thanks to
collaborative agreements with other national research and
higher education institutions, such as the Instituto Vene-
zolano de Investigaciones Cientícas (IVIC). Many of the
samples lately recovered during MBLUZ-IVIC joint eld
activities came from some Venezuelan insular territories in
the Caribbean and represent species otherwise rarely col-
lected in the country, some of them still undescribed.
In its early times, the herpetological collection of
MBLUZ was formed by sporadic captures made dur-
ing eld trips and practices of the zoology courses of the
Departamento de Biología (FEC-LUZ), local research
projects carried out by university professors and samples
donated by students and researchers from other museums
(e. g., Barros et al. 1996, Barros 2000, Ugueto et al. 2007).
One of us (TRB), currently the Director of MBLUZ,
began collecting amphibians and reptiles systematically
as a biology student in the mid-1980s. So, he established
the founding nucleus of the collections of the Herpetol-
ogy Section, with the aid of other students, curators and
professors, such as Ramón Acosta, José Moscó, John
Moody, Sandra Azuero, Wilfrido Cabezas, Rosanna Cal-
chi, Miguel Duarte, Carmen García, Alfredo Pérez, Nay-
ibe Pérez and Ángel L. Viloria, among others.
e acquaintance of Á. L. Viloria with Mr. Cornelio
Bravo, then a laboratory technician at the Facultad de Me-
dicina of the Universidad del Zulia, who had been closely
attached both personally and professionally to the late Dr.
Adolfo Pons (1914-1982)
1
, eventually led to the rediscov-
ery of part of his snake collection, formerly stored at the
Estación Biológica Kasmera (on the Río Yasa area of the
Sierra de Perijá, state of Zulia, Western Venezuela). Bravo
and Viloria made eorts towards an agreement between
the faculties of medicine and sciences, which facilitated
the donation of the valuable remains of the Pons’ Collec-
tion to the MBLUZ (see Pons 1965). ese samples came
to the latter at around 1986.
1 Adolfo Pons was a Venezuelan physician; an academic specialized in tropical medicine. He made relevant scientic contributions not only to the
knowledge of tropical diseases endemic to the Lake Maracaibo basin, but also to the ethnography of the local aboriginal people of Western Venezue-
la, and notably, to the ornithology and herpetology of this region, especially of the Sierra de Perijá (northernmost Andes). His admirable collection
of birds from the State of Zulia (ca. 8,000 specimens), at rst kept separately at the three eld stations he established for the Universidad del Zulia:
Las Peonías Lagoon (N of Maracaibo), Zipayare (near the border between Zulia and Lara States) and Kasmera (Rio Yasa, Perijá range), was donated
to the Museo de Historia Natural La Salle (MHNLS, Caracas) just aer Pons’ passing in 1982 (Ginés 1984).
G. A. Rivas, L. E. Sibira & T. R. Barros
16
As a result of research carried out by MBLUZ sta and
agreements or exchanges with other institutions, its num-
ber of Types has increased between 2010 and 2017. is
can be appreciated through reading the list of Type Speci-
mens of the Venezuelan zoological collections provided
by Bisbal & Sánchez (1997), where no Type Specimens of
amphibian or reptile were recorded for MBLUZ. Another
small collection of reptiles at the Universidad del Zulia is
kept by the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CIB) of
the Facultad de Humanidades y Educación. It contains a
series of lizards and snakes collected by Harold Molero,
mainly as a product of eld work for his thesis on the re-
productive cycle and feeding habits of Basiliscus basiliscus
(Molero 1981, 2018). It does not contain types.
An appreciable number of publications and theses on
amphibians and reptiles in Venezuela have been derived
from collections of MBLUZ, in spite of the economic,
social and political situation over the last two decades in
the country, coupled with unfavorable institutional condi-
tions derived from pandemic connement in recent years.
Part of the university premises (LUZ), including the mu-
seum (MBLUZ), has suered various transgressions, the
and looting, with the consequent deterioration of infra-
structure and material collections. Since 2021, Type Ma-
terial in the collections, among other material, has been
evacuated to safer places. ere have also been other ef-
forts to safeguard biological and heritage material, as per-
mitted, according to the possibilities of mobilization and
availability of funds. Nevertheless, much of the collections
still remains under risk, waiting to be salvaged and allo-
cated to another facility.
On the basis of the above mentioned events, a call for
national and international help and support is made to en-
sure the adequate preservation and safeguard of the bio-
logical collections of MBLUZ. Additionally, the following
catalogue has been prepared, according to the recommen-
dation of the International Code of Zoological Nomen-
clature (Chapter 16, Article 72, numeral 10, and recom-
mendation 72F.4), which concerns the publication of
information distinguishing the Type material held by in-
stitutions devoted to zoological taxonomy (ICZN 1999).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
e sequence of the taxa follows Frost (2023) and Uetz
et al. (2022) for amphibians and reptiles, respectively. For
each species the following information is presented (when
available): scientic name, genus, species, author, year, ho-
lotype, paratype, catalogue number, sex, locality, collector,
date of collection and current name. Brackets have been
used to distinguish information inserted to complete some
of the above data that does not appear either published in
the original description or in the specimen’s labels, includ-
ing abbreviations, acronyms, omission or other pertinent
information. Additionally, some comments on nomencla-
ture changes, validity of the taxa, or any other information
of interest, such as their conservation status may be includ-
ed. When applicable, the collection that currently harbors
the specimens is specied.
e correct acronym for the Museo de Biología de la
Universidad del Zulia is MBLUZ, as stated by Sabaj (2020,
2022). Other collection abbreviations follow the same au-
thor, except for CIEZAH (Colección Herpetológica Re-
gional del Centro de Investigaciones en Ecología y Zonas
Áridas of the Universidad Nacional Experimental “Fran-
cisco de Miranda; for examples see Mijares-Urrutia & Ar-
ends 1999 and Barros et al. 2007)
2
.
RESULTS
CLASS AMPHIBIA
Family Strabomantidae Hedges, Duellman & Heinecke,
2008
Pristimantis turik Barrio-Amorós, Rojas-Runjaic &
Infante-Rivero, [2008]: 79.
Holotype: MBLUZ 155 (male), Cueva del Agua
(galería inferior de la cueva de la Pared Norte), Mesa
Turik, municipio Rosario de Perijá, Sierra de Perijá, estado
Zulia, Venezuela (10º 24’ N, 72º 42’ W), 1,700 m asl. 19
March 1991 by Á[ngel L.] Viloria.
Remarks: the manuscript was accepted for publication
on January, 16, 2008; therefore the correct date of the pub-
lication of this description is not the printed date in the
journal (2007), but 2008. e location of this specimen
is unknown. is Venezuelan endemic species is currently
valid.
Pristimantis yukpa Barrio-Amorós, Rojas-Runjaic &
Infante, [2008]: 84.
Paratypes (corrected to MBLUZ 151; see comments
below): MBLUZ 023-025 (three adult females), Caño
2 Another collection representative of the fauna of western Venezuela is the Colección Herpetológica Regional del Centro de Investigaciones en
Ecología y Zonas Áridas (CIEZAH) of the Universidad Nacional Experimental “Francisco de Miranda” (UNEFM), formerly kept in Santa Ana de
Coro, but currently immersed in the Museo de la Estación Biológica de Rancho Grande (EBRG) near Maracay, Aragua state.
Herpetological type specimens in MBLUZ
17
María Lionza, San José de Los Altos, municipio Jesús En-
rique Lossada, Sierra de Perijá, estado Zulia, Venezuela
(10º 41’ N, 72º 26’ W), 551 m asl. 10 March 1987, Á[ngel
L.] Viloria, R[ossana] Calchi and C[armen Z.] García.
Remarks: the manuscript of the description of this
taxon was accepted for publication on January, 16, 2008;
therefore the correct date of publication is not the printed
date in the journal (2007), but 2008. Checking the muse-
um catalogue, numbers MBLUZ 023-025 belong to three
dierent species (Pipa parva, Pseudopaludicola pusilla and
Leptodactylus sp., respectively), with a dierent locality
(Río Machango, Estado Zulia, Venezuela) from the one
where the paratypes of Pristimantis yukpa (wrongly cited
as MBLUZ 023-025 in original description) have been
collected. On the other hand, there are three individuals
of “Eleuterodactylus” catalogued under number MBLUZ
151 from the type locality of P. yukpa, with a note written
in pencil that says “loaned to César Barrio on March 2,
2000”; therefore the true number of the three paratypes
of P. yukpa housed in MBLUZ is 151, instead of MBLUZ
023-025. However and similar to that which occurs with
the Holotype of Pristimantis turik (MBLUZ 155), the
current location of the three specimens under number
MBLUZ 151 is unclear. It is currently a valid species with
a geographic distribution in Colombia and Venezuela
(Arias et al. 2023).
Family Hemiphractidae Peters, 1862
Cryptobatrachus remotus Infante-Rivero, Rojas-Runjaic &
Barrio-Amorós, [2009] (not “2008”): 48.
Paratypes: MBLUZ 154 (male), Cueva de Los Lau-
reles, Socuy River (Limón River system, Lake Maracaibo
Basin), municipio Jesús Enrique Lossada, Sierra de Perijá,
Zulia State, Venezuela (10º 45’ 04.00” N, 72º 27’ 42.00”
W), ±610 m asl. 20 December 1990, Tito R[afael] Barros.
Remarks: this species name is a currently regarded as a
junior synonym of Cryptobatrachus pedroruizi Lynch 2008
(Meza-Joya et al. 2021). e specimen is well protected
and in good state of preservation.
Family Microhylidae Günther, 1858
Otophryne pyburni Campbell & Clarke 1998: 309.
Paratype: MBLUZ 346, Yapima, Vaupés, Colombia
(01º 01’ N–69º 27’ W), 145 m asl. [05 April 1975 by Nate
Waltz].
Remarks: the present specimen was obtained by ex-
change with the Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Re-
search Center, e University of Texas at Arlington
(UTA). Its former catalogue number was UTA 5352
[Field number NW 62] (Campbell & Clarke 1998). is
specimen is well protected and in good state of preserva-
tion.
CLASS REPTILIA
Family Sphaerodactylidae Underwood, 1954
Gonatodes astralis Schargel, Rivas, Makowsky, Señaris,
Natera, Barros, Molina & Barrio-Amorós, 2010: 329.
Paratype: MBLUZ 931 (adult male), Serranía de Los
Pijiguaos, 140 km southwest of Caicara del Orinoco, [Dis-
trito Cedeño], estado Bolívar, Venezuela, 600 m asl. 31
March 1987, Ramón Rivero [eld number RAR 554].
Remarks: the present specimen was obtained by ex-
change with the Museo de la Estación Biológica de Rancho
Grande (EBRG). Its former catalogue number was EBRG
2031 (Schargel et al. 2010). It is a valid species. is speci-
men is well protected and in good state of preservation.
Gonatodes nauagus Rivas, Ugueto, Schargel, Barros,
Velozo & Sánchez, 2013: 6.
Paratypes (seven specimens, all from Venezuela):
MBLUZ 1010, adult male from Playa Juan Gerardo, by
Gilson Rivas, José Julián Rodríguez and Ronnis Guevara
on 20 October 2010. MBLUZ 1011, female, between
Playa Juan Gerardo and Playa El Barco, La Blanquilla (11º
53’ 22.84” N–64º 37’ 10.62” W) by Gilson A. Rivas, José
J. Rodríguez and Ronnis Guevara. MBLUZ 1012, female,
and MBLUZ 1013, hatchling, from Playa Piedra Ahoga-
da, La Blanquilla (11°49’23.87”N–64°38’09.15”W), 10 m
asl, obtained on 21 October 2010 by Gilson A. Rivas, José
J. Rodríguez and Ronnis Guevara. MBLUZ 1147, male,
on 1 February 2012 by Gilson A. Rivas, Angel Fernández,
Jose J. Rodríguez and Jackeline Reid. MBLUZ 1146, ju-
venile, lomas de granito, La Blanquilla (11°51’53.42”N–
64°37’25.41”W), 15 m asl on 25 January 2012, 5 m asl.
by Gilson A. Rivas, Angel Fernández, José J. Rodríguez
and Jackeline Reid. MBLUZ 1148, female, La Blanquilla
(11°51’32.24”N–64°37’27.17”W), 20 m asl on 2 Febru-
ary 2012, by Gilson A. Rivas, Ángel Fernández, José J. Ro-
driguez and Jackeline Reid.
Remarks: the Holotype of this species was catalogued
initially under number MBLUZ 1009, and later transferred
to EBRG (5224), as it appears in the original description
(Rivas et al. 2013). Two specimens (MBLUZ 1012-13) are
now housed in the Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Re-
G. A. Rivas, L. E. Sibira & T. R. Barros
18
Otophryne pyburni paratype from the Papurí River. is is a rare microhylid species that possesses a geographic distribution in
southeastern Colombia, southern Venezuela, northeastern Brazil and the Guianas. is species is one of the three that con-
form the genus in Venezuela; however few specimens of this genus are housed in Venezuelan museums. e paratype MBLUZ
346 represents one of the few specimens of this species housed in a Venezuelan collection. Photograph by William W. Lamar.
Gonatodes nauagus, female paratype MBLUZ 1148. is lizard species was rst discovered by P. Wagenaar Hummelink in
1940, again observed in 2010 and described in 2013.Photograph by Luis Alejandro Rodríguez J.
Herpetological type specimens in MBLUZ
19
search Center, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).
Currently a valid species. e specimens in MBLUZ are
well protected and in good state of preservation.
Gonatodes rayito Schargel, Rivas, García-Pérez, Rivero-
Blanco, Chippindale & Fujita, 2017: 553.
Paratypes (ve specimens, all from Venezuela):
MBLUZ 283-1 (male), 283-2 (female), [La Gira, near]
town of Betijoque [municipio Rafael Rangel, estado Tru-
jillo, Venezuela], 450–550 m asl. [15 December 1990 by
Tito R. Barros]. MBLUZ 828-1 (male), 828-2 (female):
Hacienda La Onía, El Vigía, estado Mérida, Venezuela
(08°35’48” N, 71°41’27” W; 150 m). [2 August 2004 by
Tito R. Barros, Fernando Rojas-Runjaic and César Barrio-
Amorós]. MBLUZ 1398 (juvenile): near Cueva del Pi-
rata, La Azulita, estado Mérida, Venezuela (08° 42’ 47” N,
71° 26’ 26” W, 1,030 m asl) (Schargel et al. 2017).
Remarks: currently a valid species. All ve specimens
in MBLUZ are safe and in good condition of preservation.
Family Anolidae Cocteau, 1836
Anolis anatoloros Ugueto, Rivas, Barros, Sánchez-Pacheco
& García-Pérez, 2007: 17.
Paratype: MBLUZ 896 (adult male), San Isidro, es-
tado Barinas, Venezuela [08º 50’ 83” N, 70º 34’ 23” W],
1,480 m asl. 10 June 2006, J[uan] M[anuel] Guayasamín
and C[ésar] L[uis] Barrio-Amorós.
Remarks: MBLUZ 896 was originally deposited at the
Museo de Historia Natural La Salle, Caracas (MHNLS
17873), later donated to MBLUZ during the time one of us
(GR) acted as curator in MHNLS, and nally transferred
on 2007 to the Natural History Museum, London, under
the catalogue number BMNH 2007.3 (now NHMUK).
Species treated by some authors as Dactyloa anatoloros
(Nicholson et al. 2018). Currently a valid species.
Phenacosaurus tetarii Barros, Williams & Viloria, 1996: 3.
Holotype: MBLUZ 215 (adult male), on the roads that
lead to the Páramo del Tetari, Sierra de Perijá [municipio
Machiques], estado Zulia, Venezuela (10º 06’ 34” N, 72º 53’
00” W), 2,790 m asl. 24 October 1989, Ángel [L.] Viloria.
Remarks: species treated by some authors as Anolis
tetarii or Dactyloa tetarii (Nicholson et al. 2018, Uetz et
al. 2022). is specimen is in good state of conservations,
although pale or colorless, perhaps due to the preservation
technique initially applied to it.
Phenacosaurus euskalerriari Barros, Williams & Viloria,
1996: 16.
Holotype: MBLUZ 308 (adult male), in the canyons of
Mesa Turik, Sierra de Perijá [municipio Jesús Enrique Los-
sada], estado Zulia, Venezuela [10º22’ 23” N, 72º44’27”
W], 1,600 m asl. 22 March 1991, Jon Ugarte.
Remarks: treated in recent literature as Anolis euskaler-
riari or Dactyloa euskalerriari (Nicholson et al. 2018, Uetz
et al. 2022). is specimen is in good state of conserva-
tions, although pale or colorless, perhaps due to the pres-
ervation technique initially applied to it.
Family Scincidae Gray, 1825
Mabuya zuliae Miralles, Rivas, Bonillo, Schargel, Barros,
García-Pérez & Barrio-Amorós 2009: 605.
Paratypes (three specimens, all from Venezuela):
MBLUZ 190 (female), Aractogba, Barí indigenous com-
munity, Serranía de Abusanki, Sierra de Perijá, municipio
Machiques, estado Zulia, Venezuela [09º 34’ 32” N, 72º
55’ 15” W], 175 m asl. [10 August 1989 by Tito Rafael
Barros]. MBLUZ 254 (female), Frontalia, Río de Oro,
municipio Catatumbo, estado Zulia, Venezuela, 75 m
asl. [31 May 1990 by Tito Rafael Barros]. MBLUZ 737
(male), Embalse de [Pueblo Viejo], [Parque Natural] Bur-
ro Negro, municipio Lagunillas, estado Zulia, Venezuela
[10°10’58.0” N, 71°02’42.3” W], 60 m asl. [March 2003
by Alfredo Montilla].
Remarks: MBLUZ 254 was sent in exchange to UTA,
now it is catalogued as UTA 56691; MBLUZ 190 was
sent in exchange to EBRG, now it is catalogued as EBRG
5131 (Camargo & Bisbal 2016). Hedges & Conn (2012)
erected the new genus Maracaiba to place this species,
together with M. meridensis Miralles, Rivas & Schargel,
2005. MBLUZ 737 was not properly handled when col-
lected and its abdomen is broken (open). Its viscera are
everted, as they were at the moment of preservation.
Family Colubridae Cope, 1886
Oxybelis rutherfordi Jadin, Blair, Orlofske, Jowers, Rivas,
Vitt, Ray, Smith & Murphy, 2020.
Paratype: MBLUZ 1268 [adult], between San Fran-
cisco de Macanao and Cerro Los Cedros, Isla de Mar-
garita, [estado] Nueva Esparta, Venezuela (11° 01’ 34” N,
64° 17’ 30” W) by Gilson Rivas, Eusebio Millán, Ángel
Fernández, and Reina Gonto on 10 October 2013.
G. A. Rivas, L. E. Sibira & T. R. Barros
20
Remarks: currently a valid species, probably with a
wider distribution in northern Venezuela and East of the
Andes (Jadin et al. 2020). MBLUZ 1268 is in good condi-
tion of preservation.
Family Dipsadidae Bonaparte, 1838
Atractus turikensis Barros, 2000: 3.
Holotype: MBLUZ 301 (male [adult]), campamento
1800, Mesa Turik, Sierra de Perijá, [municipio Jesús En-
rique Lossada], estado Zulia, Venezuela (07º42’ 50” N,
10º24’ 00” W), 1,800 m asl, 20 March 1991, Ángel [L.]
Viloria.
Paratype: MBLUZ 302 (female [adult]), campamento
1800, Mesa Turik, Sierra de Perijá [municipio Jesús En-
rique Lossada], estado Zulia, Venezuela (07º42’ 50” N,
10º24’ 00” W), 1,800 m asl, 20 March 1991, Ángel [L.]
Viloria.
Remarks: the location of sample MBLUZ 301 is cur-
rently unknown. MBLUZ 302 is in good condition of
preservation, except for a small piece of skin removed to
illustrate the coloration pattern. Note that the legend of
gure 1 in Barros (2000) states that the small piece of
skin was taken from the holotype, however as it is men-
tioned by the author on page 4, gures 1 and 2 are based
on paratype MBLUZ 302, as it is conrmed in this work.
e Paratype housed in the Museo de Ciencias Naturales
de Guanare, Universidad Nacional Experimental de Los
Llanos Occidentales “Ezequiel Zamora” (MCNG 1914),
was catalogued initially as MBLUZ 303 and collected by
Francisco Herrera.
Pseudoeryx relictualis Schargel, Rivas, Barros, Péfaur &
Navarrete 2007: 237.
Paratype: MBLUZ 895 [juvenile], near Bobures, mu-
nicipio Antonio José de Sucre, estado Zulia, Venezuela
(09º 14’ 34” N, 71º 02’ 29” W), [ca. 10 m asl], October
2004, Jacinto Sánchez.
Remarks: the Type Specimen was catalogued rst in
MBLUZ and later exchanged with the Amphibian and
Reptile Diversity Research Center, e University of Tex-
as at Arlington (UTA 54114), as it appears in the original
description (Schargel et al. 2007). Currently a valid species.
ACKOWLEDGEMENTS
We are especially grateful to William W. Lamar, Oscar
Lasso-Alcalá, Miguel A. Campos, Mayke de Freitas, Luke
Mahler, Greg Pandelis, Eric N. Smith, Donald Taphorn
and Ángel L. Viloria, for their support of this work, and
for their critical reading of its preliminary versions.
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