Talk:Takydromus haughtonianus

Etymology of the eponym
Beolens, Watkins & Grayson in their book, The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles (2011), write that this species is named after "Major-General Henry Lawrence Haughton (1883–1955)". The Reptile Database repeats this assertion. Such an etymology is impossible because Jerdon named the species in 1870, 13 years before the baby who would become the Major-General was born. Jerdon states that the holotype was sent to him by "Mr. H.L. Haughton", without any military rank as a prefix. The father of the Major-General was Lieutenant-Colonel John Haughton. In a biography, Lieutenant-Colonel John Haughton, Commandant of the 36th Sikhs, a Hero of Tirah, a Memoir, by Major A.C. Yate (1900), Yate writes on page 89, "His son (christened Henry Lawrence, after his youngest brother) was born on November 1 [1883]." I suggest that it might have been this uncle H.L. Haughton who sent the specimen to Jerdon, and after whom Jerdon named this species. Lyttle-Wight (talk) 14:01, 17 January 2024 (UTC)