Heliobolus crawfordi MARQUES, CERÍACO, HEINICKE, CHEBOURI, CONRADIE, TOLLEY & BAUER, 2022
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Heliobolus crawfordi
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| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Crawford-Cabral’s bushveld lizard Portuguese: lagartixa de Crawford-Cabral |
| Synonym | Heliobolus crawfordi MARQUES, CERÍACO, HEINICKE, CHEBOURI, CONRADIE, TOLLEY & BAUER 2022 Eremias lugubris — BOCAGE 1867, 1895 [part] Eremias lugubris — BOULENGER 1921 [part] Eremias lugubris — MONARD 1937 [part] Eremias lugubris — MERTENS 1938 [part] Lamperemias lugubris — SZCZERBAK 1975 [part] Heliobolus lugubris — BRANCH 1998 [part] Heliobolus lugubris — MARQUES et al. 2018 [part] Heliobolus lugubris — BRANCH et al. 2019 [part] |
| Distribution | Angola (central coastal regions). Type locality: N’Dolondolo, Namibe Province, Angola, (-13.8133°S, 13.1362°E), 681 m elevation. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: CAS 266269, adult male, collected by Luis M.P. Ceríaco, Suzana A. Bandeira and Ishan Agarwal, on 21 November 2016. Paratypes (n = 16): AMNH-R 41567, 41570, 41587; CAS 266267, 266268, 266271, 266273, 266275; PEM R21625, 22058, 22059, 24004, 24019, 24024, 24025, 24168. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Medium-sized lizard, identified to genus by the following combination of characters: well-developed limbs, slender body, elongated snout, long tail, and a distinct collar on ventral region of neck. Heliobolus crawfordi sp. nov. can be distinguished from other members of its genus by the following combination of characteristics: (1) slender body of medium-size, mean SVL 52.2 mm; (2) long-tailed (mean 121.9 mm), tail more than twice body length; (3) midbody scale rows 70–90 (mean: 78); (4) low number of subdigital lamellae under the fourth toe (mean: 22); (5) parietals usually separated; (6) cranial shields not ornamented and temporal shield smooth; (7) lateral dark marking extending through the ear to the posterior margin of the eye; (8) presence of bright yellow dots ventrolaterally. |
| Comment | Natural history: Juveniles seem to imitate Anthia (Carabidae) ground beetles through their iconic white and yellow markings on a black body, their adopting an “arched” position when walking, and imitating the general shape of a beetle. Diet: Little is known about the natural history of this species, but its ecological habits and behavior are expected to be similar to other Heliobolus species, being oviparous and insectivorous. |
| Etymology | Species named after the Portuguese mammalogist João Crawford-Cabral (Funchal, 1929–2020), a researcher at the former Instituto de Investigação Científica de Angola (IICA), Sá da Bandeira [currently Lubango], Huíla Province, Angola, and the recently defunct Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical (IICT), Lisbon, Portugal. Crawford-Cabral played a pivotal role in the establishment and development of the zoological collections of IICA, currently housed at the Instituto Superior de Ciências de Educação (ISCED) in Lubango, Huíla Province, Angola, as well as in the publication of several important syntheses of biogeographic analyses on Angolan vertebrates. The specific epithet is a patronym in the masculine genitive singular. |
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