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Sepsina alberti HEWITT, 1929

IUCN Red List - Sepsina alberti - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Albert's (Burrowing) Skink 
SynonymSepsina alberti HEWITT 1929 (nom. subst.)
Sepsina alberti — WELCH 1982: 78
Sepsina alberti — BAUER et al. 1993 
DistributionNW Namibia (Kaokoveld)

Type locality: Kaokoveld  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: SAM (South African Museum) 
Diagnosis 
CommentSepsina alberti is a replacement name for Sepsina hessei HEWITT which is preoccupied by Sepsina hessei Boettger from the Congo (1887). 
EtymologyNamed after Albert John Hesse (1895–1987). The species was first named hessei by Hewitt in 1927, with thanks for Hesse’s assistance in collecting in the Kaokaveld region, but this turned out to be a junior homonym of Sepsina hessei Boettger from the Congo (named after a different Hesse – the malacologist Paul Hesse (1857-1939), who collected in the Congo). As a replacement name, Hewitt clearly just changed the name to continue to celebrate his Hesse by using his first personal name rather than surname. Boelens et al. speculated that the species might have been named after George Albert Boulenger, but couldn’t explain why Hewitt would have used Boulenger’s second name, or how Boulenger was associated with the species! (Glenn Shea, pers. comm., 2 Feb 2024)
 
References
  • Bauer, Aaron M.; Branch, William R. & Haacke, Wulf D. 1993. The herpetofauna of the Kamanjab area and adjacent Damaraland, Namibia. Madoqua (Windhoek) 18 (2): 117-145. - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • FitzSimons, V.F. 1943. The lizards of South Africa. Transvaal Museum Memoir No.1 (Pretoria), 528 pp.
  • Herrmann, H.-W.; W.R. Branch 2013. Fifty years of herpetological research in the Namib Desert and Namibia with an updated and annotated species checklist. Journal of Arid Environments 93: 94–115 - get paper here
  • Hewitt, J. 1929. On some Scincidae from South Afrika, Madagascar and Ceylon. Annals Transvaal Mus. 13: 1-8 - get paper here
  • Welch, K.R.G. 1982. Herpetology of Africa; a checklist and bibliography of the orders Amphisbaenia, Sauria, and Serpentes. Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., Malabar, FL 293 pp.
 
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