Herpetology

The herpetology collection houses two major groups of vertebrates that, by tradition, are studied under the discipline of Herpetology; these are amphibians and reptiles.

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Representation of the morphological diversity of some of the groups preserved in the MNCN.

 

Amphibians constitute a prominent zoological group due to presenting a set of unique characteristics among terrestrial vertebrates. The presence of metamorphosis, larval stage, diversified reproductive systems, cutaneous respiration, permeable and glandular skin, dependence on moist environments to complete their life cycle, communication systems, and the conservation threats and problems they face are some of the characteristics that have caught the attention of biologists throughout generations. Currently, amphibians encompass around 8,223 species and are represented by three major morphologically distinct groups: (1) Gymnophiona (generally known as caecilians), which include 214 species distributed in tropical regions, (2) Caudata (newts and salamanders), comprising 759 species distributed across the Holarctic and neotropical regions, and (3) Anura (frogs and toads), the most diverse and widely distributed group, with 7,250 species.

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Two nearly extinct species, threatened by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and preserved at the MNCN. The specimen on the left, Telmatobius culeus, represents the oldest case detected with the presence of chytrid in amphibians. On the right, Atelopus ignescens, once abundant in the paramos of Quito and surrounding areas (Ecuador).

 

On the other hand, reptiles or sauropsids are a group of amniotes that, excluding birds, comprise 11,341 species distributed among the groups Rhynchocephalia (tuataras) with one species, Crocodylia with 26, Testudines with 360, and Squamata (scaled reptiles) with 10,954 species including lizards, amphisbaenians, and snakes. This last group is particularly relevant in the field of medicine as some of them, albeit a minority, are capable of synthesizing venom.

The Herpetology Collection of the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) houses over 70,000 specimens, including 751 species of amphibians and 918 species of reptiles. The type material housed includes 723 specimens of amphibians and reptiles, corresponding to 104 taxa. The specimens are mainly preserved in fluid (70% ethanol, except for amphibian larvae, which are kept in 10% formalin). The remaining preserved material is grouped into (1) the collection of disarticulated skeletons preserved dry, consisting of 2,900 specimens, (2) the collection of transparentized and stained specimens, totaling 3,613 specimens preserved in glycerin, and (3) the collection of historically valuable but less utilized naturalized specimens, consisting of 182 reptile specimens.

The collection originated in 1771, in the Natural History cabinet founded by King Carlos III after acquiring the collection of Pedro Franco Dávila. Among the first specimens preserved in the collection are some naturalized crocodiles referenced by the first dissector of the cabinet, Juan Bautista Bru, in 1784, and the marine turtles Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758), Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758), and Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus, 1758), sent from Cuba by the naturalist Antonio Parra between 1788 and 1793.

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A small sample of the naturalized specimens exhibited in the Royal Cabinet of Natural History at the MNCN.

 

The preserved material mainly originates from the Iberian Peninsula and also from North Africa, South America, the Philippines, and Equatorial Guinea, territories where there was traditionally Spanish presence. In this context, the collection has been enriched by significant contributions from scientific expeditions, such as the Pacific Scientific Commission (1862-1865), where species described by Jiménez de la Espada stand out, many of whose type specimens are part of the collection, and those carried out within the framework of the Permanent Commission for the Study of Northwest Africa in the early 1900s, where the material collected by Manuel Martínez de la Escalera stands out, which provided material from both Morocco and Equatorial Guinea (Rio Muni).

 

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Holotype of Nototrema testudineum Jiménez de la Espada, 1870, collected during the Pacific Scientific Commission. Currently classified as Gastrotheca testudinea.

 

The collection has continued to grow with contributions from herpetologists such as Eduardo Boscá between 1879 and 1882, or more recently from museum researchers (Borja Sanchíz, Ignacio De la Riva, Alfredo Salvador, Mario García París, Rafael Márquez, among others), as well as significant donations and exchanges with other research centers or museums.

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Sample of some of the specimens received through various exchanges with other institutions. A) Aparasphenodon brunoi (Miranda Ribeiro, 1920), B) Phyllomedusa burmeisteri (Boulenger, 1882), C) Itapotihyla lagsdorffii (Duméril and Bibron, 1841), D) Boana faber (Wied-Neuwied, 1821), E) Proceratophrys boiei (Wied-Neuwied, 1824).

 

 

Featured pieces

Exemplary type

Move backward
Hyla reticulata Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Centrolene geckoideum Jiménez de la Espada, 1872 Cerathyla bubalus Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Telmatobius sibiricus De la Riva and Harvey, 2003 Pleurodema granulosum Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Leptodactylus stenodema Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Podarcis lilfordi codrellensis Pérez Mellado & Salvador, 1988 Rana ridibunda riodeoroi Salvador and Peris, 1975 "1974" Microkayla huayna De la Riva, Cortez F., and Burrowes, 2017 Phrynopus katantika De la Riva and Martínez-Solano, 2007 Oreobates quixensis Jiménez de la Espada, 1872 Schistometopum garzonheydti Taylor and Salvador, 1978 Hyalinobatrachium carlesvilai Castroviejo-Fisher, Padial, Chaparro, Aguayo-Vedia, and De la Riva, 2009 Lacerta lilfordi xapaticola Salvador, 1979 Bryophryne quellokunka De la Riva, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher, and Padial, 2017 Pelodytes hespericus Díaz-Rodríguez, Gehara, Márquez, Vences, Gonçalves, Sequeira, Martínez-Solano, and Tejedo, 2017 Leptodactylus latinasus Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Oxyrhynchus iserni Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Zootoca vivipara louislantzi Arribas, 2009 Telmatobius timens De la Riva, Aparicio, and Ríos, 2005 Proctoporus carabaya Goicoechea, Padial, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher & De la Riva, 2013 Hyloxalus fuliginosus Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Bufo marinus var. platensis Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Algyroides hidalgoi Boscá, 1916 Phrynopus quimsacruzis De la Riva, Reichle, and Bosch, 2007 Bryophryne tocra De la Riva, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher, and Padial, 2017 Atelopus planispina Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Hyla antoniiochoai De la Riva and Chaparro, 2005 Leptodactylus goliath Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Pristimantis koehleri Padial and De la Riva, 2009 Gephyromantis runewsweeki Vences and De la Riva, 2007 Alytes obstetricans almogavarii Arntzen and García-París, 1995 Phrynopus illampu De la Riva, Reichle, and Padial, 2007 Limnophys napaeus Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Hyla delarivai Köhler and Lötters, 2001 Cerathyla palmarum Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Urotropis platensis Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Thamnodynastes gambotensis Pérez-Santos & Moreno, 1989 Iberolacerta monticola astur Arribas and Galán, 2014 Lacerta lilfordi espongicola Salvador, 1979 Rana pyrenaica Serra-Cobo, 1993 Podarcis bocagei carbonelli Pérez Mellado, 1981 Alytes dickhilleni Arntzen and García-París, 1995 Vipera seoanei cantabrica Braña and Bas, 1983 Podarcis lilfordi porrosicola Pérez-Mellado & Salvador, 1988 Ichthyophis bernisi Salvador, 1975 Tympanoceros newtonii Bocage, 1895 Gongylus ocellatus bedriagai Boscá, 1880 Lacerta lilfordi nigerrima Salvador, 1979 Chalcides viridanus coeruleopunctatus Salvador, 1975 Hyalinobatrachium kawense Castroviejo-Fisher, Vilà, Ayarzagüena, Blanc, and Ernst, 2011 Bufo marinus var. napensis Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Leptodactylus labrosus Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Hyla roeschmanni De Grys, 1938 Amphioglossus meva Miralles,Raselimanana,Rakotomalala,Vences and Vieites, 2011 Phyllomedusa chaparroi Castroviejo-Fisher, Köhler, De la Riva, and Padial, 2017 Lacerta lilfordi imperialensis Salvador, 1979 Bufo marinus var. fluminensis Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Salamandra algira tingitana Donaire-Barroso and Bogaerts, 2003 Leptodactylus wuchereri Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Psychrophrynella teqta De la Riva and Burrowes, 2014 Salamandra algira atlantica Hernandez and Escoriza, 2019 Proctoporus iridescens Goicoechea, Padial, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher & De la Riva, 2013 Phrynopus ankohuma Padial and De la Riva, 2007 Rana aragonensis Palanca-Soler, Vieites, and Martínez-Suárez, 1995 Phrynopus saltator De la Riva, Reichle, and Bosch, 2007 Chioglossa lusitanica longipes Arntzen y Alexandrino, 2007 Proctoporus kiziriani Goicoechea, Padial, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher & De la Riva, 2013 Lacerta lilfordi pobrae Salvador, 1979 Cerathyla proboscidea Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Typhlops leptolepis Domínguez, Fong & Iturriaga, 2013 Psammodromus jeanneae Busack, Salvador & Lawson, 2006 Hyalinobatrachium tricolor Castroviejo-Fisher, Vilà, Ayarzagüena, Blanc, and Ernst, 2011 Discoglossus jeanneae Busack, 1986 Pristimantis galdi Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Phrynopus chacaltaya De la Riva, Padial, and Cortéz, 2007 Lacerta agilis garzoni Palacios and Castroviejo, 1975 Edalorhina perezi Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Nototrema testudineum Jiménez de la Espada, 1780 Eleutherodactylus madidi Padial, Gonzales-Álvarez, and De la Riva, 2005 Phrynopus kallawaya De la Riva and Martínez-Solano, 2007 Hylodes verrucosus Jiménez de la Espada, 1872 Chaunus tacana Padial, Reichle, McDiarmid, and De la Riva, 2006 Microkayla chapi De la Riva, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher, and Padial, 2017 Eleutherodactylus (Craugastor) pluvicanorus De la Riva and Lynch, 1997 Psammodromus algirus ketamensis Galán, 1931 Phrynopus condoriri De la Riva, Aguayo, and Padial, 2007 Agama castroviejoi Padial, 2005 Phrynopus illimani De la Riva and Padial, 2007 Cerathyla braconnieri Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Pelodytes ibericus Sánchez-Herraíz, Barbadillo-Escrivá, Machordom, and Sanchíz, 2000 Hyla perezii Boscá, 1880 Telmatobius espadai De la Riva, 2005 Lacerta lilfordi estelicola Salvador, 1979 Lacerta monticola cyreni Müller y Hellmich, 1937 Oreobates gemcare Padial, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher, Guayasamin, Lehr, Delgado, Vaira, Teixeira, Aguayo-Vedia, and De la Riva, 2012 Microkayla chilina De la Riva, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher, and Padial, 2017 Cystignathus hidalgoi Jiménez de la Espada, 1875 Ischnocnema sanderi Padial, Reichle, and De la Riva, 2005 Cochranella guayasamini Twomey, Delia, and Castroviejo-Fisher, 2014 Pristimantis reichlei Padial and De la Riva, 2009 Psammodromus manuelae Busack, Salvador & Lawson, 2006 Hylodes philippi Jiménez de la Espada, 1872 Hyloxalus bocagei Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 Phrynopus harveyi Muñoz, Aguayo, and De la Riva, 2007 Bryophryne wilakunka De la Riva, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher, and Padial, 2017 Centrolene charapita Twomey, Delia, and Castroviejo-Fisher, 2014
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Collection staff

Conservadores


Marta Calvo Revuelta

mcalvo@mncn.csic.es

 

Alberto Sánchez Vialas

albertosv@mncn.csic.es

 

Responsable científico

Ignacio De la Riva

iriva@mncn.csic.es