| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Melanoseps occidentalis zairensis BRYGOO & ROUX-ESTEVE 1982
Melanoseps occidentalis occidentalis (PETERS 1877) |
| Common Names | E: Western Limbless Skink |
| Synonym | Herpetosaura occidentalis PETERS 1877: 416
Scelotes occidentalis — WERNER 1898
Melanoseps occidentalis — TORNIER 1901: 62
Scelotes schebeni STERNFELD 1910
Scelotes occidentalis — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1942
Scelotes schebeni — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1943
Melanoseps occidentalis — ROMER 1953
Melanoseps schebeni — BRYGOO & ROUX-ESTEVE 1982
Scelotes schebeni — WELCH 1982
Melanoseps occidentalis — BRYGOO & ROUX-ESTEVE 1982
Melanoseps occidentalis — BROADLEY 1998
Melanoseps occidentalis — WHITING et al. 2003
Melanoseps occidentalis zairensis BRYGOO & ROUX-ESTEVE 1982
Melanoseps occidentalis zairensis BRYGOO 1985
Melanoseps occidentalis zairensis — BROADLEY et al. 2006 |
| Distribution | Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, C/E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Angola, Central African Republic
Type locality: “Cameruns (W. Africa)” [= Cameroon],
schebeni: Namibia; Type locality: Winduk [= Windhoek]
zairensis: C Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZMB 9122
Holotype: ZMB 28898, the only known specimen of schebeni, is lost (fide BRYGOO & ROUX-ESTEVE 1982, Bauer 2016) [schebeni]
Holotype: MHNG 2072.67; paratypes: MHNG, MNHN [zairensis] |
| Diagnosis | |
| Comment | Limb morphology: limbless; Scelotes schebeni is missing both forelimbs AND hindlimbs (Danny Meirte, pers. comm., 12 Apr 2013).
Subspecies: The status of Melanoseps occidentalis zairensis remains unclear. Although it is known from about 20 (type) specimens, there seems hardly any subsequent study of it. Marques et al. 2018 chose to consider it as synonym of M. occidentalis, without justification.
Synonymy: following Bauer 2016. Sternfeld 1911 already synonymized schebeni with M. occidentalis, which has been confirmed by Bauer 2016.
Distribution: For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022. |
| Etymology | The specific name occidentalis (Latin) refers to the western distribution of this species. |
| References |
- Bauer, A.M.; Günther,R. & Klipfel,M. 1995. The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815-1883). SSAR Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, 714 pp.
- Bauer, Aaron M. 2016. On the taxonomic status of two enigmatic southern African fossorial skinks, Scelotes bicolor and S. schebeni. African Journal of Herpetology 65 (1): 33-38 | DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2016.1138149 - get paper here
- Böhme, Wolfgang; Eberhard Fischer & Harald Hinkel 2023. Reptilien aus dem Irangi Forest, Provinz Kivu-Süd, Demokratische Republik Kongo. Sauria 45 (4): 29
- Broadley, D.G. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp.
- Brygoo E R; Roux-Esteve R 1982. Un genre de lezards scincines d'Afrique: Melanoseps. Bulletin du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle SECTION A ZOOLOGIE BIOLOGIE ET ECOLOGIE ANIMALES 3 (4) 1981: 1169-1191
- Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
- Chirio, Laurent and Ivan Ineich 2006. Biogeography of the reptiles of the Central African Republic. African Journal of Herpetology 55(1):23-59. - get paper here
- 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
- Marques, Mariana P.; Luis M. P. Ceríaco , David C. Blackburn , and Aaron M. Bauer 2018. Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola -- Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840–2017). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (Ser. 4) 65: 1-501 (Supplement II)
- Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vande Weghe, J.P. 2008. Les reptiles du Gabon. Smithsonian Institution, Washington: 272 pp. - get paper here
- Peters, W. 1878. Herpetologische Notizen. II. Bemerkungen über neue oder weniger bekannte Amphibien. Monatsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1877: 415-423 - get paper here
- Romer, J.D. 1953. Reptiles and Amphibians Collected in the Port Harcourt Area of Nigeria. Copeia 1953 (2): 121-123 - get paper here
- SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS, A., CALVO-REVUELTA, M. & DE LA RIVA, I. 2022. Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea. Zootaxa 5202 (1): 1-197 - get paper here
- Sternfeld,R. 1910. Eine neue Echse aus Deutsch-Südwestafrika. Sitzungsber. Ges. naturf. Freunde Berlin (8): 372 - get paper here
- Tornier, G. 1901. Die Reptilien und Amphibien der Deutschen Tiefseeexpedition 1898/99. Zool. Anz. 24:61—66 - get paper here
- Trape, J.F.; Trape, S. & Chirio, L. 2012. Lézards, crocodiles et tortues d'Afrique occidentale et du Sahara. IRD Orstom, 503 pp. - get paper here
- Werner, FRANZ 1898. Verh. Wien. Zool.-Bot. Ges. 1898: 530
- Whiting, A.S.; Aaron M. Bauer and Jack W. Sites, Jr. 2003. Phylogenetic relationships and limb loss in sub-Saharan African scincine lizards (Squamata: Scincidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29 (3): 582-598 - get paper here
- Witte, G. F. de & R. LAURENT 1942. Contribution à la Faune Herpétologique du Congo belge. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 36 (2): 101-115
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