Lygodactylus leopardinus LOBÓN-ROVIRA, BAUER, PINTO, TRAPE, CONRADIE, KUSAMBA, JÚLIO, CAEL, STANLEY, HUGHES, BEHANGANA, MASUDI, PAUWELS & GREENBAUM, 2023
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Lygodactylus leopardinus
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Lygodactylus leopardinus LOBÓN-ROVIRA, BAUER, PINTO, TRAPE, CONRADIE, KUSAMBA, JÚLIO, CAEL, STANLEY, HUGHES, BEHANGANA, MASUDI, PAUWELS & GREENBAUM 2023: 35 |
| Distribution | Democratic Republic of Congo (Équateur) Type locality: Balolombo Village, Busira River, Équateur Province, DRC, S00.25939, E19.63575, 305 m a.s.l. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: UTEP 22577 (ELI 2330), male with broken tail and ventral incision, collected on 18 July 2013 by Chifundera Kusamba, Wandege M. Muninga, Mwenebatu M. Aristote, and Eli Greenbaum. Paratype: UTEP 22596 (ELI 3584), female, collected from Katopa, ICCN Camp, Maniema Province, DRC, S02.74769, E25.10323, 450 m a.s.l. on 2 July 2015 by Eli Greenbaum. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: This species represents a moderately sized Lygodactylus [maximum SVL 34.7 mm (mean 33.6 ± 1.3 mm)], with males having the most distinctive gular patterning of the L. gutturalis group (described below, Fig. 3). Females without gular pattern. Eight supralabials and 6–7 infralabials. Males with seven precloacal pores. This species can be differentiated from all taxa of the angularis group taxa by the same osteological differences described above (e.g. postorbitofrontal reduced almost vestigial vs. well developed in the angularis group) and a unique leopard-like pattern on the dorsum. Also, it can be easily differentiated from L. angularis and L. baptistai based on the gular patterning (broken pattern vs. V-shaped pattern in L. angularis and the unique pattern of L. baptistai described above; see Fig. 5). The species can be confused with L. heeneni and L. paurospilus based on the broken gular ornamentation; however, it can be differentiated from them as follows: unique leopard-like dorsal pattern in L. leopardinus sp. nov. (vs. light brown dorsal background with a light cream vertebral line of blotches in L. heeneni (Fig. 7), similar to L. paurospilus (based on preserved specimens; Fig. 8; Supporting Information, Fig. S4); broken pattern that converges anteriorly (vs. a broken pattern that converges posteriorly (V-shaped) in L. heeneni and L. paurospilus); fewer precloacal pores than L. heeneni (7 vs. 9–10); and osteological features described above. Lygodactylus leopardinus sp. nov. is the most distinctive species within the gutturalis subgroup and the only species within the picturatus group with a broken gular pattern. It can be easily distinguished from other closely related species based on its unique gular pattern and the leopard-like dorsal pattern, which is not present in related taxa. Females lack gular patterning (vs. weakly present in other members of the gutturalis subgroup). It can also be differentiated based on minor meristic differences as follows: greater number of scales between the eyes (30–36 vs. 17–24 in L. gutturalis, 25 in L. dysmicus, 19–28 in L. kibera sp. nov., 19–22 in L. karamoja sp. nov., and 19 in L. mirabundus sp. nov.); and lower number of ventral scales at midbody (14–15 vs. 15–20 in L. gutturalis, 21 in L. dysmicus, 16–19 in L. depressus, 16–18 in L. kibera sp. nov., 16–18 in L. karamoja sp. nov., and 21 in L. mirabundus sp. nov.). (Lobón-Rovira et al. 2023) |
| Comment | Distribution: for a map of localities see Lobón-Rovira et al. 2023: 18 (Fig. 6). |
| Etymology | The name ‘leopardinus’ is an adjective referring to the leopard-like dorsal pattern present in males of this species. |
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