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Platysaurus broadleyi BRANCH & WHITING, 1997

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Higher TaxaCordylidae (Platysaurinae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Augrabies Flat Lizard, Broadley’s Flat Lizard 
SynonymPlatysaurus broadleyi BRANCH & WHITING 1997
Platysaurus broadleyi — ADOLPHS 2006
Platysaurus broadleyi — STANLEY et al. 2011
Platysaurus broadleyi — LIVIGNI 2013: 286
Platysaurus broadleyi — CONRADIE et al. 2019 
DistributionRepublic of South Africa (Northern Cape Province; restricted to the vicinity of the Orange River, from Augrabies to Klein Pella, just west of Onseepkans).

Type locality: Augrabies Falls National Park, Gordonia District, Northern Cape Province, South Africa.  
ReproductionOviparous 
TypesHolotype: DNMNH (= TM) 79828 (= Transvaal Museum, Pretoria), paratypes: PEM 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A medium-sized Platysaurus (adult SVL: 64-84 mm) distinguished from all other congenerics, except the Cape Flat Lizard P. capensis, in that the scales on the side of the neck are indistinguishable from those on the dorsum. From its nearest neighbour, P. capensis, it differs in many features of adult male colouration (condition in male P. capensis in brackets), most noticeably the possession of yellow, orange, or mixed yellow-orange upper surfaces to the forelimbs (blue); a tan dorsum on the tail (orange); a dark blue throat (light blue); and an extensive black belly (blue peripherally with a relatively smaller black central patch). It also differs from P. capensis in having significantly different numbers of gulars, longitudinal rows of ventrals, transverse rows of ventrals, dorsal forelimb scale rows, lamellae beneath the fourth toe, collar scales, and transverse dorsal scale rows (Tables 1- 3). Platysaurus broadleyi is further distinguished from P. capensis by its smaller upper forelimb scales, these being subequal to those on the hindlimb (autapomorphic); and the nostril usually (58.4 %) piercing a large nasal, the latter in contact with its counterpart behind the rostral. 
CommentEastern populations of P. capensis are now Platysaurus broadleyi. 
EtymologyNamed in honor of Donald G. Broadley (1932-2016), famous African herpetologist. See Bates & Branch 2018 for an obituary. 
References
  • Adolphs, K. 2006. Bibliotheca Cordyliformium. Squamata Verlag, Sankt Augustin, 303 pp.
  • Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp.
  • Bates, Michael F. & William R. Branch 2018. End of an era for African Herpetology—An obituary for a remarkable man: Donald George Broadley (29 May 1932 – 10 March 2016). African Journal of Herpetology, DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2018.1437085 - get paper here
  • Baxter-Gilbert, J & Riley, J L; 2019. Platysaurus broadleyi (Augrabies Flat Lizard) Heterospecifc coprophagy. Herpetological Review 50 (2): 376 - get paper here
  • BAXTER-GILBERT, JAMES; JULIAN PARSONS, CHARLOTTE BOSTOCK & JULIA L. RILEY 2019. Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) predation on an Augrabies flat lizard (Platysaurus broadleyi). Herpetological Bulletin 147: - 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
  • Blackburn, D.G. 1993. STANDARDIZED CRITERIA FOR THE RECOGNITION OF REPRODUCTIVE MODES IN SQUAMATE REPTILES. Herpetologica 49 (1): 118-132 - get paper here
  • Branch, W. R. & M. J. Whiting 1997. A new Platysaurus (Squamata: Cordylidae) from the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. African Journal of Herpetology 46 (2): 124-136. - get paper here
  • Bukovsky, J. 2016. Welterstnachzucht von Platysaurus broadleyi. Reptilia 21 (119): 13
  • CONRADIE, WERNER; WILLIAM R. BRANCH, & GILLIAN WATSON 2019. Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 2: Reptiles (Squamata). Zootaxa 4576 (1): 001–045 - get paper here
  • Cooper Jr., W.E. 2005. Duration of movement as a lizard foraging movement variable. Herpetologica 61 (4): 363-372 - get paper here
  • Cooper, W.E. & Whiting, M.J. 2003. Prey chemicals do not affect giving-up time at ambush posts by the cordylid lizard Platysaurus broadleyi. Herpetologica 59 (4): 455-458 - get paper here
  • Greeff, J.M., and M.J. Whiting. 1999. Dispersal of Namaqua fig seeds by the lizard Platysaurus broadleyi (Sauria: Cordylidae). Journal of Herpetology 33:328-330 - get paper here
  • Greeff, J.M., and M.J. Whiting. 2000. Foraging-mode plasticity in the lizard Platysaurus broadleyi . Herpetologica 56: 402-407 - get paper here
  • LiVigni, F. (ed.) 2013. A Life for Reptiles and Amphibians, Volume 1. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 495 pp. - get paper here
  • Mouton, P. Le Fras N. 2011. Aggregation behaviour of lizards in the arid western regions of South Africa. African Journal of Herpetology 60 (2): 155-170 - get paper here
  • MOUTON, P. LE FRAS N.; DAHNÉ A. JANSE VAN RENSBURG and JOHANNES H. VAN WYK 2010. Epidermal glands in cordylid lizards, with special reference to generation glands. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158: 312–324. - get paper here
  • Schutz, L., D. Stuart-Fox & M.J. Whiting 2007. Does the Lizard Platysaurus broadleyi Aggregate Because of Social Factors? Journal of Herpetology 41 (3): 354-359. - get paper here
  • Scott, Ian A.W.; J. Scott Keogh and Martin J. Whiting 2004. Shifting sands and shifty lizards: molecular phylogeny and biogeography of African flat lizards (Platysaurus). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31: 618–629 - get paper here
  • Stanley, Edward L.; Aaron M. Bauer; Todd R. Jackman, William R. Branch, P. Le Fras N. Mouton 2011. Between a rock and a hard polytomy: rapid radiation in the rupicolous girdled lizard (Squamata: Cordylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 58(1): 53-70. - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Whiting, M.J. 1999. When to be neighbourly: differential agonistic responses in the lizard Platysaurus broadleyi . Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 46:210-214 - get paper here
  • Whiting, M.J. 2002. Field experiments on intersexual differences in predation risk and escape behaviour in the lizard Platysaurus broadleyi . Amphibia-Reptilia 23 (1): 119-124 - get paper here
  • Whiting, M.J., and J.M. Greeff. 1999. Use of heterospecific cues by the lizard Platysaurus broadleyi for food location. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 45:420-423 - get paper here
  • Whiting, M.J., and P.W. Bateman. 1999. Male preference for large females in the lizard Platysaurus broadleyi (Sauria: Cordylidae). Journal of Herpetology 33:309-312 - get paper here
  • WHITING, MARTIN J.; WILLIAM R. BRANCH, MITZY PEPPER & J. SCOTT KEOGH 2015. A new species of spectacularly coloured flat lizard Platysaurus (Squamata: Cordylidae: Platysaurinae) from southern Africa. Zootaxa 3986 (2): 173–192 - get paper here
 
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