Nops glaucus Hasselt. The 1887

Nops glaucus Hasselt, 1887

Nops glauca Hasselt, 1887: 77, pl. 6, figs 1–4, 10. Female holotype from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, Neervoort v. d. Poll (RMNH.ARA 5882; examined by photographs). Petrunkevitch, 1911: 134. Roewer, 1942: 316.

Nops glaucus: Bonnet, 1958: 3114 (emendation of N. glauca). Chickering, 1967: 10.

Remarks. Our searches for holotype brought us to the Museum of Leiden (now Naturalis Biodiversity Center) in the Netherlands, where according to the article of Hasselt (1887) the holotype was deposited. The curator of the Museum, Karen van Dorp, found a single specimen that was collected by Neervoort van de Poll and identified as Nops glaucus, but without any label to identify it as the holotype. Although the current Museum policy is not to send unique material, they sent photographs from this specimen. Several details suggest that this specimen may actually be the holotype, but unfortunately it is a subadult female. Hasselt (1887) described the species after examining a unique specimen, a female apparently immature as he mentioned... ut videtur, nondum ex omni parte matura... Even he wrote that the measures are not accurate because he was afraid of damaging his unique specimen... Meusurae meae debita accuratione ideo tautillum carent, quia exemplar unicum nocere metuebam... He also wrote that this unique specimen was collected by Neervoort van de Poll... Enfin, en 1885, notre jeune voyageur Hollandais, Mr. Neervoort van de Poll, a eu la bonne chance de trouver un nouvel exeraplaire du genre, dans l ′île de Bonaire, de nos colonies Indooccidentales... The Naturalis Biodiversity Center has the collection of the National Museum of Natural History of Leinden (Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie), with which Mr. Neervoort van de Poll collaborated. All these details: unique specimen, female subadult, and especially the collector and locality, suggest that the Leiden specimen is actually the holotype. Unfortunately, this specimen is an immature and no other material was located from this Caribbean island.