Echoes of a lost museum: Revision of the herpetological collections sent by Barbosa du Bocage from the Lisbon Museum to the British Museum of Natural History

As part of a nineteenth century scientific network, José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage regularly sent “duplicate” specimens from the zoological collections of the National Museum of Lisbon to natural history museums across Europe. These duplicates gained exceptional significance following the 1978 fire that destroyed the Lisbon Museum’s zoological collections, making them the last surviving representatives of its historical holdings.

Despite their importance for taxonomic and nomenclatural stability, the full extent of Bocage’s duplicate specimens remains poorly documented. Here we present a comprehensive and integrative revision of the herpetological material sent by Bocage to the British Museum of Natural History. We assess its historical, taxonomic and nomenclatural value, providing an illustrated and annotated catalogue of type specimens.

A total of 92 specimens representing 57 species were sent from Lisbon between 1864 and 1896, including 30 type specimens for 27 nominal taxa. We provide evidence for the correction of the type locality associated with the only surviving syntype of Agama anchietae, as well as the recognition of previously unknown types of Chioglossa lusitanica, Hylambates angolensis, Hylambates cynnamomeus, Cystignathus bocagii, Hyperolius insignis, Hyperolius huillensis, Hemidactylus cessacii and Ophirhina anchietae.