Ichnotropis robusta CONRADIE, KEATES, GREENBAUM, LOBÓN-ROVIRA, TOLLEY, BENITO, VAZ-PINTO, VAN BREDA & VERBURGT, 2025
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Ichnotropis robusta?
Ichnotropis robusta
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Robust rough-scaled lizard |
| Synonym | Ichnotropis robusta CONRADIE, KEATES, GREENBAUM, LOBÓN-ROVIRA, TOLLEY, BENITO, VAZ PINTO, VAN BREDA & VERBURGT 2025: 651 Ichnotropis cf. grandiceps – CONRADIE et al. 2022: 198 Ichnotropis aff. grandiceps – BENITO et al. 2025: 893 |
| Distribution | Angola (Moxico) Type locality: Cuando River source (–13.0035°, 19.1275°, 1343 m a.s.l.), Moxico Province, Angola |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. PEM R23420 (field number WC-4816), adult male, collected by Werner Conradie and James Harvey on 21 November 2016. Paratypes. 4 specimens: a) PEM R23361 (field number WC-4063) and PEM R23362 (field number WC-4056), adult females, collected on the road between Cuanavale River source camp and Samanunga village (–13.0380°, 18.8298°, 1605 m a.s.l.), Moxico Province, Angola by Werner Conradie and Luke Verburgt on 13 March 2016; b) PEM R23421, adult male, same collection details as holotype; c) PEM R23482 (field number WC-4804), adult male, collected from Cuando River source, trap 4 (–13.0016°, 19.1296°, 1372 m a.s.l.), Moxico Province, Angola by Werner Conradie and James Harvey on 15 November 2016. Additional juvenile material: PEM, INBAC. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Assigned to Ichnotropis due to the absence of a well-defined collar, digits not serrated or fringed, subdigital lamellae keeled, and subocular bordering the lip. A large Ichnotropis with a single frontonasal; subocular bordering the lip; a single anterior loreal; feebly developed head shield striations; prefrontals well separated from the anterior supraocular; and supraciliaries separated from the supraoculars by a series of smaller scales. The new species can be distinguished from other Ichnotropis species based on a combination of the following characters: Prefrontals well separated from the anterior supraocular (versus mostly in contact in I. bivittata, I. microlepidota and I. tanganicana); high number of midbody scale rows (43–48 versus 25–42 in I. capensis sensu lato); large, robust head and rounded snout (versus small depressed head and pointed snout in I. capensis sensu lato); four (46%) to five (50%) supralabials anterior to the sub-ocular (versus mostly four in I. capensis sensu lato); distinctive large trapeziform occipital wedged between the parietals, not protruding past parietals (versus occipital usually extending posteriorly, well beyond the level of the parietals in I. capensis sensu lato). The new species resembles I. grandiceps in its large size, robust, rounded head; prefrontals well separated from anterior subocular; high midbody scale rows (43– 48 versus 44–47) and genetic similarity. Due to the lack of comparative adult material of I. grandiceps, no clear morphological and colouration differences could be observed between the two species. However, the two species exhibit clear differences in habitat preferences. All I. grandiceps material have either been found in drier Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands or Combretum-Vachellia bushveld (Broadley 1967b; Haacke 1970; Pietersen et al. 2017) at lower elevations (less than 1000 m a.s.l.), while the new species is associated with the higher elevations (above 1300 m a.s.l.) of the Angolan Plateau, which consists of moister Angolan Miombo woodland. In the phylogenetic analysis, the uncorrected p distances show that the new species differs by >6.7% for 16S and >16.3% for ND4 sequence divergence from other Ichnotropis species (Table 2). (Conradie et al. 2025) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 7637 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in Conradie et al. 2025: 649 (Fig. 14). |
| Etymology | Named after the feminine form of the Latin adjective robustus, meaning ‘robust’ or ‘sturdy’, in reference to the large, heavy-built adults of this species. |
| References |
|
| External links |