202 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 88 



Goin and Layne (1958, p. Ill) argued that, on the basis of the 

 Copenhagen decisions (Hemming, 1953, p. 25), it would be better 

 to leave the name maxima for the frog so long known under that 

 name and to consider the boans Linnaeus, 1758, a nomen oblitum 

 pending the precise wording in the revised Code. This precise wording 

 is now available (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 

 London, 1961, Art. 23,b), and on this basis we consider boans Linnaeus, 

 1758, as unavailable (Code, Art, 23,b, ii) and use the name maxima 

 Latreille, 1768, for the frog so long known under that name. 



With the suppression of the name boans Linnaeus, 1758, the name 

 boans Latreille, 1801, becomes available for the frog that Cochran 

 called albopunctata from southern Brazil (Cochran, 1955, p. 80). 



So far as we know, the only recent major work to use the name 

 boans for what we here call maxima is that of Rivero (1961, p. 96). 



The names of two recently described forms seem to be synonyms 

 of H. maxima. We have examined the paratype of Hyla wavrini 

 and it seems to be maxima without any question. Parker (1936, p. 2) 

 quite properly diagnosed it as separate from jaber and rosenbergi 

 but apparently he did not compare it with maxima. On direct com- 

 parison with specimens of rosenbergi, faber, and maxima, the specimen 

 in the British Museum proved to be, in our opinion, a specimen of 

 maxima without any doubt. Examination of the specimen that 

 Melin used as the type of Hyla miranda-ribeiri demonstrated that 

 it likewise is a maxima. It has the reticulate palpebral membrane, 

 dermal appendages on the heels, and dusky webbing on the hands 

 and feet, all characteristic of maxima. 



With the assignment of wavrini and miranda-ribeiri to synonymy 

 there are still three closely related, large, very similar appearing tree 

 frogs that are apt to be confused; namely, maxima, rosenbergi, and 

 iaber. These frogs generally are tannish to brownish in dorsal ground 

 color and often have a narrow dark median stripe down the back. 

 Although these frogs are all closely related they are not just races of 

 a single species, for two of them, maxima and rosenbergi, have over- 

 lapping ranges in the Rio Dagua drainage in southwestern Colombia. 

 While rosenbergi is a frog of the Pacific coast in South America (one 

 record from C6rdoba, Colombia), maxima is wide-ranging through 

 the Amazon Valley from French Guiana to the eastern slope of the 

 Andes, and it also occurs in the Rio Atrato drainage of Choc6 and has 

 penetrated southward to the valley of the Rio Dagua in northern 

 Valle. We suspect that maxima most likely reached the Rfo Atrato 

 drainage by way of the Atlantic coast of Colombia rather than across 

 the Andes, and that the absence of records for much of the northern 

 coast of Colombia is due simply to lack of collecting. 



