Prince Maximilian zu Wied's great exploration of coastal Brazil in 1815–1817 resulted in important collections of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, many of which were new species later described by Wied himself. The bulk of his collection was purchased for the American Museum of Natural History in 1869, although many “type specimens” had disappeared earlier. Wied carefully identified his localities but did not designate type specimens or type localities, which are taxonomic concepts that were not yet established.

Information and manuscript names on a fraction (17 species) of his Brazilian reptiles and amphibians were transmitted by Wied to Prof. Heinrich Rudolf Schinz at the University of Zurich. Schinz included these species (credited to their discoverer “Princ. Max.”) in the second volume of Das Thierreich … (1822). Most are junior objective synonyms of names published by Wied.