Cordylus momboloensis BATES, LOBÓN-ROVIRA, STANLEY, BRANCH & PINTO, 2023
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Cordylus momboloensis
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| Higher Taxa | Cordylidae (Cordylinae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Mombolo girdled lizard P: Lagarto-espinhoso do Mombolo |
| Synonym | Cordylus momboloensis BATES, LOBÓN-ROVIRA, STANLEY, BRANCH & PINTO 2023: 629 Cordylus angolensis — BROADLEY & BRANCH 2002: 10 (partim) (not Bocage, 1895 Cordylus angolensis — BRANCH et al. 2005: 137 (partim) Cordylus angolensis — BROADLEY 2006: 1 (partim) Cordylus angolensis — STANLEY et al. 2011: 67 (partim) Cordylus angolensis — GREENBAUM et al. 2012: 32 (partim) Cordylus angolensis — REISSIG 2014: 33 + map (partim) Cordylus angolensis — STANLEY et al. 2016: 202 + map (partim) |
| Distribution | Angola (Cuanza Sul Province) Type locality: Sandula (Mombolo), Cuanza Sul Province, Angola (–12.1789°, 15.0292°; 1975 m a.s.l.) |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. PEM R25217, an adult male, collected on 6 November 2016 by William R. Branch, Ninda Baptista and Pedro Vaz Pinto. Paratypes. Allotype: MNCN 50761, an adult gravid female from Sandula (Mombolo), Cuanza Sul Province, Angola (–12.1811°, 15.0316°; 2095 m a.s.l.) collected 29 May 2019 by Pedro Vaz Pinto. Other paratypes: AMNH R47333 (adult male), AMNH R47331 (adult female), AMNH R47332 (adult female), AMNH R47334 (adult female) and AMNH R47335 (subadult female), all from Mombolo, Angola (exact site unknown, but likely at the Chapman’s farm of Sandula, same co-ordinates as for the holotype) collected on 11 September 1925 by ‘H. Chapman and A. Chapman’ during the Vernay Angola Expedition. MNCN 50760 (male), FKH 0127 (male), FKH 0128 (male), FKH 0125 (female), from Vondo (Uassamba Mountain), Cuanza Sul Province, Angola (–11.2415°, 14.6288°; 1989 m a.s.l) collected 3 February 2019 by Pedro Vaz Pinto. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. (Where variation in additional material falls outside the range of type material, this is indicated in parentheses.) A medium to large rupicolous Cordylus with a moderately depressed head and body. Referred to Cordylus (rather than any other species of Cordylidae) by the following combination of characters: head distinct from body, two pairs of large and well developed limbs (body serpentiform, head indistinct from body, and limbs rudimentary in Chamaesaura), scales on back large and keeled (granular in Platysaurus, partly granular in Pseudocordylus and Hemicordylus), non-spinose occipitals [and post-occipitals] (occipitals spinose in Smaug), 23–24 transverse dorsal scale rows (40–43 in Ninurta; 31–46 in Karusasaurus; 15–16 in Ouroborus); loreal absent (present in Smaug, Nirnuta, Ouroborus, Karusasaurus, and Namazonurus). Cordylus momboloensis sp. nov. is distinguishable from other members of its genus by the following combination of characters: (1) back dark brown with a paravertebral series of pale markings; (2) top of head with pale blotches; (3) iris of the eye mostly pale green (bluegreen to some eyes), with a brown ring around the pupil; (4) scales of the first transverse row of dorsals similar in appearance to those of the row behind; (5) loreal shield absent; (6) nostril pierced in the posterior part of a large nasal, situated behind the suture of rostral and first supralabial, always well separated from the first supralabial, and usually separated from the preocular; (7) an interrupted row of non-spinose occipitals consisting of 2–3 scales on either side of head; (8) a row of 5–6 non-spinose post-occipitals, the median scales of which are in contact with the posterior parietals and separate the occipitals; (9) Frontonasal separated from the frontal by a pair of prefrontals, each of which exceeds it in size; (10) Anterior pair of parietals usually in contact anteriorly; (11) dorsolateral and lateral scales weakly to moderately spinose; (12) tail spinose, more weakly so distally; (13) dorsal scale rows transversely 22–24; (14) dorsal scale rows longitudinally 18–23; (15) ventral scale rows transversely 22–27; (16) ventral scale rows longitudinally 12–13 [rarely 11 or 14]; (17) subdigital lamellae on 4th toe 11–15; (18) femoral pores per thigh 5–8 in males, 4–6 in females [rarely 0; 7 on one side in a non-type specimen, TM 46476]; (19) differentiated femoral scales [generation glands] per thigh in males 25–37; (20) premaxillary teeth 9. Its status as a new species is supported by monophyly with high levels of support from a suite of three mitochondrial and six nuclear markers (see above); and it differs from C. angolensis, the most similar species genetically and morphologically, by an uncorrelated ND2 p-distance of 9.22% (Table 3). (Bates et al. 2023) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after the local name (“m’bolo”) for Mombolo which in Umbundo – main language in central Angola – is applied to bread or staple food. It is a reference to the fact that the region in question consists of a fertile and relatively large highland plateau (surrounded by mountains, in Luanza Sul Province). Most of the available specimens, including the holotype as well as the first series of specimens of this species collected during the Vernay Angola Expedion in 1925, were collected in Mombolo. |
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