Chersobius solus (BRANCH, 2007)
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Chersobius solus
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| Higher Taxa | Testudinidae, Testudinoidea, Testudines (turtles) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Nama dwarf tortoise, Nama padloper, Berger’s Cape Tortoise G: Nama-Zwergschildkröte |
| Synonym | Homopus solus BRANCH 2007 Homopus bergeri LINDHOLM 1906 Homopus boulengeri — MERTENS 1955: 33 Homopus boulengeri — MERTENS 1971: 24 Homopus boulengeri — GREIG & BURDETT 1976: 270. Homopus bergeri — BOYCOTT 1986, 10 Homopus bergeri — BRANCH et al. 1988: 5 Homopus bergeri — BRANCH 1989: 75 Homopus bergeri —IVERSON 1992: 264 Homopus bergeri — DAVID 1994: 50 Homopus bergeri — BONIN et al. 1996: 136 Homopus bergeri — ROGNER 1996: 81 Homopus sp. — BRANCH 1998: 28 Homopus sp. — BOYCOTT & BOURQUIN 2000: 180 Homopus bergeri — SCHLEICHER & LOEHR 2001 Homopus sp. — CUNNINGHAM & SIMANG 2007: 129. Homopus “Namibian form” — VETTER 2002: 47 Homopus ‘solos’ — DAVAUX 2003: 40 Homopus bergeri (solos) — BONIN et al. 2006: 227 Homopus solus — SCHLEICHER 2015 Chersobius solus — HOFMEYER et al. 2016 Chersobius solus — TTWG 2021 |
| Distribution | S Namibia (escarpment mountains near Aus, but with scattered records from other isolated mountains in the sand and gravel plains of the southern Namib Desert, e.g., the Kowiesberg near Luderitz, low granite hills 4-5 km SW from Tschaukaib siding (2615Da), and 2-3 km SE from Haalenberg siding) Type locality: vicinity of Aus, Luderitz District, Namibia |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: PEM R8754 (CDNEC 6381), an adult female collected by Peter Mostert during June 1982. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A small Homopus that forms part of the ‘Chersobius group’, and thus differs from H. areolatus and H. femoralis by possessing five claws on each forelimb, an obvious plastral concavity in mature males, a single inguinal and 11-12 marginals. Among the ‘Chersobius group’ it differs from H. signatus, its nearest geographical neighbour, and from H. boulengeri, to which it was originally referred (Mertens 1955, 1971), by having an areolar carapace colour pattern (usually speckled in signatus and patternless in boulengeri); usually lacking prominent buttock tubercles in both sexes (present in both sexes in signatus, but usually only in males in boulengeri); having two axillaries (usually single in both signatus and boulengeri); a tricuspid beak (usually bicuspid in signatus and rounded in boulengeri); a small, narrow nuchal (broad in signatus); a relatively shallower shell; fragmented prefrontals (usually more elongate and longitudinally divided in signatus and boulengeri); usually having 11 marginals (mainly 12 in signatusand always 12 or more in boulengeri); having a well-defined ridge on the bridge (rounded in boulengeri); and having the anal midline suture longer than the femoral (femoral suture longer than the anal in H. boulengeri). |
| Comment | Taxonomy: the type of H. bergeri Lindholm 1906 is actually Psammobates tentorius verroxii (A. Smith 1839, fide Branch 2007). |
| Etymology | The specific epithet solusis Latin for alone or lonely, describing both the separation of the species’range from that of all other members of the genus, as well as the desolate, parsely-populated habitat in which the tortoise lives. In addition, the name alludes phonetically (sol) to the sun and the heat of the Namib Desert. |
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