On the Status of the Anaconda Eunectes barbouri Dunn and Conant

Strimple, P D; Puorto, Giuseppe; Holmstrom, William F.; Henderson, Robert W.; Conant, Roger

doi:10.2307/1565623

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…When Wagler (1830) described the genus Eunectes, B. murina became the type species. Aside from Stull (1935) resurrecting the old Linnaean name scytale to replace murinus, and the epithet E. barbouri being subsumed into E. murinus (Strimple et al, 1997;Dirksen, 2000), the species has had a remarkably stable taxonomic history. See McDiarmid et al (1999), Dirksen (2002), and Dirksen and Böhme (2005) for a more complete synonymy.…”

Section: Eunectes Beniensismentioning

confidence: 99%

Boas of the World (Superfamily Booidae): A Checklist With Systematic, Taxonomic, and Conservation Assessments

Reynolds¹,

Henderson²

2018

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology

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Section: Eunectes Beniensismentioning

confidence: 99%

Boas of the World (Superfamily Booidae): A Checklist With Systematic, Taxonomic, and Conservation Assessments

Reynolds¹,

Henderson²

2018

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology

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How not to describe a species: lessons from a tangle of anacondas (Boidae: Eunectes Wagler, 1830)

Wüster,

Kaiser,

Hoogmoed

et al. 2024

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

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A recent revision of the anacondas (Serpentes: Boidae: Eunectes), with the description of a new species of green anaconda, generated extensive publicity, but also provoked considerable controversy due to inadequacies of the evidence used and errors in nomenclature. We here use the case of this problematic publication to: (i) highlight common issues affecting species delimitations, especially an over-reliance on mitochondrial DNA data, and reiterate best practices; (ii) reanalyse the data available for anacondas to establish the true current state of knowledge and to highlight lines of further research; and (iii) analyse the nomenclatural history and status of the genus. While our analysis reveals significant morphological variation in both green and yellow anacondas, denser sampling and an analysis of informative nuclear markers are required for meaningful species delimitation in Eunectes. Tracing the history of name-bearing types establishes Trinidad as the type locality for Boa murina Linnaeus, 1758 and allows identification of the extant lectotype for the species. Finally, we emphasize the responsibility of both journals and authors to ensure that published taxonomic work meets the burden of evidence required to substantiate new species descriptions and that species are named in compliance with the rules of zoological nomenclature.

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Morphological trends and genetic divergence in anacondas, genus Eunectes Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes: Boidae)

Tarkhnishvili

Hille²,

Waller³

et al. 2022

Amphib.-Reptilia

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The genus Eunectes Wagler, 1830 is divided into four nominal species: E. murinus (Linnaeus, 1758), E. notaeus Cope, 1862, E. deschauenseei Dunn and Conant, 1936, and E. beniensis Dirksen, 2002 (E. barbouri Dunn and Conant, 1936 being a synonym of E. murinus). We analyze multivariate morphological traits (scalation, coloration pattern, and body shape), sequences of one mitochondrial and five nuclear genes, and genetic patterns of randomly amplified DNA (RAPD) markers of historical geographical samples representing all known taxa. We show that the genus consists of two distinct evolutionary lineages, ‘big-bodied’ (only E. murinus) and ‘small-bodied’ anacondas. The latter group includes three morphologically distinct allopatric forms, E. notaeus, E. deschauenseei, and E. beniensis. Both phenotypically and genotypically, E. beniensis is more distant from E. notaeus and E. deschauenseei than the two latter species are from each other. However, the three nominal species of small-bodied anacondas did not show clear reciprocal monophyly and did not reach the stage of complete lineage sorting. Instead, genetic data support the presence of three incipient species of small-bodied anacondas.

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On the Status of the Anaconda Eunectes barbouri Dunn and Conant

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Boas of the World (Superfamily Booidae): A Checklist With Systematic, Taxonomic, and Conservation Assessments

Boas of the World (Superfamily Booidae): A Checklist With Systematic, Taxonomic, and Conservation Assessments

How not to describe a species: lessons from a tangle of anacondas (Boidae: Eunectes Wagler, 1830)

Morphological trends and genetic divergence in anacondas, genus Eunectes Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes: Boidae)

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