Hemidactylus paivae CERÍACO, AGARWAL, MARQUES & BAUER, 2020
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Hemidactylus paivae
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Portuguese: Osga de Jorge Paiva E: Paiva’s Gecko |
| Synonym | Hemidactylus paivae CERÍACO, AGARWAL, MARQUES & BAUER 2020 Hemidactylus verruculatus — BOCAGE 1866: 42 Hemidactylus longicephalus — FERREIRA 1904: 117 [part] Hemidactylus longicephalus — PARKER 1936: 128 Hemidactylus longicephalus — LOVERIDGE 1947: 187 Hemidactylus longicephalus — HELLMICH 1957: 49 Hemidactylus bocagii — BOULENGER 1885: 126 [part] Hemidactylus bocagii — BOCAGE 1895: 11 Hemidactylus bocagii — BOCAGE 1897: 193 Hemidactylus longicephalus — CERÍACO et al. 2014: 671 Hemidactylus longicephalus — CERÍACO et al. 2018: 412 [part] Hemidactylus longicephalus — RÖSLER 2015: 8 Hemidactylus longicephalus — MARQUES et al. 2018: 184 Hemidactylus longicephalus — BRANCH et al. 2019: 315 |
| Distribution | Angola (Kwanza Sul, Malanje, Uíge, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Namibe) Type locality: CADA Amboim (outskirts of Gabela) (-10.86754°, 14.32281°, 930 m), Kwanza Sul Province, Republic of Angola |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. CAS 263312 (field number AMB 9886; Fig. 28; Table 6), adult male, collected by Luis M. P. Ceríaco, David C. Blackburn and Aaron M. Bauer on 7 December 2015. Paratypes. All specimens from the Republic of Angola. Eleven specimens: UF 187198 (field number AMB 9906), adult male; UF 187197 (field number AMB 9879), adult male; UF 187199 (field number 9907), adult female; CAS 263313 (field number AMB 9875), adult male; CAS 263314 (field number AMB 9877), adult male; CAS 263316–263318 (field numbers AMB 9904, 9905, 9908 respectively), adult females; all specimens with the same collecting data as the holotype. MHNCUP/REP 469 (field number AMB 9636), adult male collected in Laúca (-9.762749o, 15.143798o, 750 m), Malanje Province, Republic of Angola, collected by Luis M.P. Ceríaco and Mariana P. Marques on 20 March 2017. MHNCUP/REP 470 (field number AMB 9656), adult male on 24 March 2017; MUHNAC/MB03-MB03-001234 (field number AMB 9197), on 15 March 2017, from the same locality. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. A medium sized Hemidactylus, maximum snout-vent length 68.4 mm (Fig. 27). Dorsal pholidosis heterogeneous, with 14–16 irregularly arranged longitudinal rows of subtrihedral, striated, moderately keeled tubercles. Two well-developed pairs of postmentals, the inner pair slightly longer than the outer pair, about two thirds size of the mental, and in broad contact behind the mental. ventrolateral folds distinct, about 28–34 scale rows across venter. Six to eight divided scansors beneath first digit of both manus and pes, eight or nine beneath fourth digit of manus, 10–11 beneath the fourth digit of pes. Males with a continuous series of 6–8 precloacal pores. Original tail roughly cyclotetragonal, strongly spinose; dorsal scales on the tail slightly larger than dorsals of body, striated, imbricate, with a longitudinal series of two enlarged, strongly keeled, striated, pointed tubercles on either side of the median dorsal furrow. Subcaudal scales small and imbricate, about one fifth of tail width. Dorsum greyish with a series of sometimes incomplete dark-brown transverse markings from occiput to sacrum, sometimes bordered by a thin cream-colored stripe extending from behind the eyes to the insertion of the forelimbs; tail with distinct alternating light and dark bands. Comparisons with West and Central African species. Hemidactylus paivae sp. nov. is readily distinguished from H. kamdemtohami and H. richardsonii by the lack of basal digital webbing; from H. matschiei by having spiny tubercles on the dorsum and tail and having small subcaudal scales; and from H. steindachneri by lacking a longitudinal row of keeled tubercles on the ventrolateral border of flanks. It is distinguished from H. echinus by lacking both paired rows of tubercles on the ventral surface of the tail and a double row of enlarged spines on the lateral side of the tail and it differs from H. ansorgii by having a bulkier, more compact body (versus largely dorsoventraly flattened and slender) and by having enlarged keeled tubercles on the body and tail (small nad inconspicuous in H. ansorgii). The new species may be differentiated from H. pseudomuriceus by having small subcaudal scales (versus enlarged median plates) and from H. muriceus by having a higher number of dorsal tubercle rows (14–16 versus 7–12). It may be distinguished from H. hecqui in not having the nostrils in contact with the first supralabial. Hemidactylus paivae sp. nov. can be distinguished from H. longicephalus sensu stricto by having a lower number of tubercle rows on the dorsum (14–16 versus 16–18) and a larger size (max SvL 68.4 mm versus 54.8 mm). It can be distinguished from the newly described H. nzingae sp. nov. by its larger size (max SvL 68.4 mm versus 51.5 mm), having lower number of tubercle rows on the dorsum (14–16 versus 18–21), a higher number of granular scales between the dorsal tubercles (4–9 versus 2–3), a higher number of rows of ventral scales (28–34 versus 22–27), and having feebly keeled dorsal and caudal tubercles (versus strongly keeled and pointed in H. nzingae sp. nov.). It can be distinguished from H. benguellensis by a much lower number of precloacal-femoral pores (6–8 versus 23–33) in males, by having higher number of granular scales between the dorsal tubercles (4–9 versus 2–3), and by its larger size (max SvL 68.4 mm versus 54.5 mm). Hemidactylus benguellensis also has a row of pointed tubercles separating the venter and the flanks, which are completely devoid of any tubercles, whereas in H. paivae sp. nov. this ventrolateral row of tubercles is lacking, and tubercles extend across the flanks and dorsum. It may also be distinguished from H. bayonii by its larger size (max SvL 68.4 mm versus 36.2 mm) and by having strongly keeled and pointed dorsal and caudal tubercles (versus feebly keeled in H. bayonii). Hemidactylus paivae sp. nov. is easily distinguishable from H. mabouia by the lower number of precloacal-femoral pores in males (6–8 versus 28–39), a lower number of rows of ventral scales (28–34 versus 34–37), by having strongly keeled and pointed dorsal and caudal tubercles (versus feebly keeled in H. mabouia). The median subcaudal scales of H. mabouia are enlarged, about half of tail width in extent, whereas the median subcaudals are small, approximately one fourth of tail width, in the new species. Updated diagnosis: Lobon-Rovira et al. 2021: 484. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The species is named after Jorge Américo Rodrigues de Paiva (1933–), Angolan-born Portuguese botanist, researcher of the Herbarium of the University of Coimbra (COI), Portugal, and professor at the same university, for his major contributions to the knowledge of the flora and biodiversity of Angola, and for the fact that his birthplace (Cambondo, Kwanza Norte Province) lies within the expected distribution range of the newly described species. Following Article 31.1.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Anonymous 1999), the masculine surname Paiva is treated as Latin and forms the specific epthet in the genitive case, “paivae.” |
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