Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 58(1) March 2001 37 Case 3143 Euphryne obesus Baird, 1858 (Reptilia, Squamata): proposed precedence of the specific name over that of Sauromalus ater Dumeril, 1856 Richard R. Montanucci 1 , Hobart M. Smith 2 , Kraig Adler 3 , David L. Auth 4 , Ralph W. Axtell 5 , Ted J. Case 6 , David Chiszar 7 , Joseph T. Collins 8 , Roger Conant 9 , Robert Murphy 10 , Kenneth Petren 11 , Robert C. Stebbins 12 (Addresses on p. 40) Abstract. The purpose of this application is to conserve the long used and well known specific name of Sauromalus obesus (Baird, 1858) for the chuckwalla (family iguanidae) from the southwest of North America by giving it precedence over the little used name S. ater Dumeril, 1856. Keywords. Nomenclature; taxonomy; Reptilia; Squamata; iguanidae; Sauromalus ater; Sauromalus obesus; chuckwallas; southwestern North America. 1. In 1856 Dumeril (p. 536, pi. 23, figs. 3 and 3a) described a new genus and single new species of iguanid lizard as Sauromalus ater on the basis of a single specimen presented by Lieutenant M. Jaures to the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. The holotype (MHNP 813), which lacks locality data, was collected somewhere in western Mexico during a world circumnavigating voyage of the French frigate La Danaide. 2. The absence of a type locality for Sauromalus ater has remained an acknowl-edged problem for systematists working with Sauromalus (see Schmidt, 1922; Shaw, 1945; Hollingsworth, 1998). Shaw (1945, p. 273), unable to study the holotype due to political conditions in Europe, drew upon descriptive information in Dumeril & Bocourt (1870) and Mocquard (1899), and concluded that the holotype must have originated from one of the islands off the southern coast of the Baja California peninsula. Hence, in referring to the type locality, Shaw (1945, p. 284) stated: 'Not definitely known but undoubtedly one of the several islands in the southern part of the Gulf of California where this species is known to occur'. Subsequently and without justification, Smith & Taylor (1950) further restricted the type locality to Isla Espiritu Santo. 3. Two years after Dumeril, Baird (1858, p. 253) described the new genus and single new species Euphryne obesus and noted that it was 'abundant in the canons of the Colorado, of California, collected by Maj. Thomas, Mexfico] Boundary Survey, and Lt. Ives' Expedition'. The type specimen was given as USNM 4172 in the U.S. National Museum, Washington. Subsequently, Baird (1859, p. 6, pi. 27) indicated the locality of USNM 4172 as 'Fort Yuma'. Van Denburgh (1922) and Shaw (1945) correctly noted the location of Fort Yuma in California. Montanucci (2001) discussed the confusion caused by Baird's piecemeal publication of data and clarified
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