Flexiseps mandokava (RAXWORTHY & NUSSBAUM, 1993)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Flexiseps mandokava?
Flexiseps mandokava
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Malagasy: Mandokava |
| Synonym | Amphiglossus mandokava RAXWORTHY & NUSSBAUM 1993: 327 Amphiglossus mandokava — GLAW & VENCES 1994: 315 Amphiglossus mandokava — SCHMITZ et al. 2005 Amphiglossus mandokava — MIRALLES et al. 2011 Flexiseps mandokava — ERENS et al. 2017 |
| Distribution | Madagascar (Antsiranana: Montagne d’Ambre, 800-900m elevation; 12°30'S 49°10'E) Type locality: south- western corner of the Manongarivo Special Reserve, 14°04' S, 48°18' E, 380 m altitude, Ambanja Fivondronana, Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) Province, Madagascar. |
| Reproduction | oviparous (phylogenetic imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: UMMZ 192702, male (approaching maturity), collected 17 February 1988 by Christopher J. Raxworthy. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-large Amphiglossus, 148 mm SVL with 38 longitudinal rows of scales around midbody, 103 scales between mental scale and anal scale, 44 presacral vertebrae, short limbs (forelimbs 17 mm total length, do not reach tympanum, when laid forwards), and 10 lamellae under fourth toe of hindfoot. Only three other species of Amphiglossus are known to have such a high number of scale rows (36 or greater): A. astrolabi, A. reticulatus, and A. waterloti: and all have much longer forelimbs (that reach the tympanum) and far fewer (37-38) presacral vertebrae (Brygoo, 1981a). In all of these, the nostril is positioned centrally above the first upper labial (Brygoo, 1980a,b) which places it further back and higher on the head. The nostril of A. mandokava is positioned above the suture of the rostral and the first upper labial, which is the condition of all other species of Amphiglossus. The only other species known to reach a SVL > 130mm and have > 100 ventral scales between the mental and anal scale is Amphiglossus ardouini. However Amphiglossus ardouini has far fewer (32-33) scale rows, the forelimbs are longer, and there are 15-20 lamellae under the fourth toe of the hindfoot (Brygoo, 1983). All other species of Amphiglossus have <35 scale rows, <93 scales between the mental and anal scale, and a maximum SVL of 117 mm (RAXWORTHY & NUSSBAUM 1993: 328). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | “Mandokava” is the Malagasy name for Amphiglossus mandokava, but is also used for A. waterloti and A. astrolabi by the local Tsimihety people. |
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