An annotated catalog of the type specimens of amphibia in the collection of the museo civico di storia naturale, Milan, Italy

Abstract

We present a detailed description of the type specimens of amphibians (frogs and salamanders) held in the scientific research collections of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milan, Italy. These collections are historically important because of their rich sampling from the early 20th Century of present-day Libya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, countries for which scientific collections are generally uncommon. Further, in the mid-19th Century the scientist Giorgio Jan amassed in Milan a diverse collection of amphibian and reptile specimens from institutions across Europe and the United States. There is a long history in the scientific literature stating that these specimens, brought together by Jan, were lost or destroyed due to the Allied bombing of Milan in 1943. We report the results of a thorough survey of the amphibian collection, revealing many type specimens previously thought lost, as well as several specimens from Jan's mid-19th Century collection believed to have been destroyed. Among the latter are specimens corresponding to three nomina nuda created by Jan in an 1857 catalog. We provide details for all type specimens as well as a short synopsis of the history and taxonomic status of each. The scientific collections of amphibians in Milan contain type specimens of one salamander, Hydromantes italicus bonzanoi, and 17 frog species of which three are not currently considered synonyms of older names: Arthroleptis elegans, Arthroleptis Phrynobatrachus sciangallarum, Arthroleptis Phrynobatrachus zavattarii, Bufo gardoensis, Bufo incertus,Bufo sibilai, Fichteria somalica, Hyperolius zavattarii, Kassina somalica, Megalixalus parkeri, Rana (Pyxicephalus) cimmarutai, Rana cornii, Rana fichteri, Rana oxyrhynchus migiurtina, Rana somalica, Rana zavattarii, and Rappia rossii.