Congolacerta vauereselli (TORNIER, 1902)
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Congolacerta vauereselli
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| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Sparse-scaled Forest Lizard |
| Synonym | Lacerta vauereselli TORNIER 1902: 701 Algiroides boulengeri PERACCA 1917 (fide LOVERIDGE 1957: 229) Lacerta vauereselli — SCHMIDT 1919: 495 Zootoca vauereselli — BOULENGER 1920: 149 Algiroides boulengeri — BOULENGER 1920: 351 Lacerta (Zootoca) vauereselli — WITTE & LAURENT 1942 Adolfus vauereselli — ARNOLD 1973 Adolfus vauereselli — ARNOLD 1989 Adolfus vauereselli — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 17 Adolfus vauereselli — GREENBAUM et al. 2011 Congolacerta vauereselli — GREENBAUM et al. 2011 Congolacerta vauereselli — SPAWLS et al 2018: 185 |
| Distribution | W Uganda, W Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, C/E Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) Type locality: Kagera, west of Lake Victoria, Tanzania. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZMB 17700 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Several mensural, meristic, and qualitative characters that diagnose Congolacerta are shown in Tables 3–5, including: modest SVL (50–58 mm); dorsoanterior border of quadrate bone rounded; size of long free ribs immediately posterior to thoracic ribs very elongated; posterior border of medial loop of clavicle present and thickened; small to very small postfemoral mite pockets present (Arnold, 1986b); intramuscular portion of hemipenial armature deeply cleft anteriorly; shape of hemipenial clavulae complexly lobed; female genital sinus bilobed; habitat forest clearings and grasslands; and ventral coloration usually unpigmented (C. vauereselli) or yellow with black or brown blotches (C. asukului) [from GREENBAUM et al. 2011]. |
| Comment | TORNIER (1902) did not explain the source of the name. Type species: Lacerta vauereselli TORNIER 1902 is the type species of the genus Congolacerta GREENBAUM, VILLANUEVA, KUSAMBA, ARISTOTE & BRANCH 2011. Comparisons: Arnold 1989 presents a list of 51 characters across 4 species of Adolfus (A. jacksoni, alleni, africanus, vauereselli). Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
| Etymology | The origin of the species name is not mentioned by Tornier. Klaver (2022), following Mertens (1949) and Bischoff (2001), concluded that it is a word play pronouncing the letters V, R, S and L in German, i.e. ”vau”, ”er”, ”es” and “el”, probably standing for Vertebrata, Reptilia, Sauria, and Lacertidae. The genus name is derived from Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the genus occurs along most of the eastern montane border (Albertine Rift), and lacerta, a lizard. Gender is feminine. |
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