Nucras broadleyi BRANCH, CONRADIE, VAZ-PINTO & TOLLEY, 2019
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Nucras broadleyi
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| Higher Taxa | Lacertidae, Eremiadinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Angolan Sandveld Lizard |
| Synonym | Nucras broadleyi BRANCH, CONRADIE, VAZ-PINTO & TOLLEY 2019 Nucras tessellata var. taeniolata — BOCAGE 1895: 30 Nucras tessellata var. taeniolata — BOULENGER 1910: 474 Nucras tessellata var. holubi — BOULENGER 1917: 210 Nucras intertexta var. holubi — BOULENGER 1920: 20 Nucras tessellata — MONARD 1937: 73 Nucras tessellata — LAURENT 1964: 56 Nucras ornata — BROADLEY 1965: 23 Nucras tessellata — BROADLEY 1972: 30 Nucras tessellata — CERIACO et al. 2016: 56 Nucras tessellata — BURGER 2014: 171 Nucras aff. tessellata — MARQUES et al. 2018: 221 Nucras aff. tessellata — BRANCH et al. 2019: 317 Nucras broadleyi — BAPTISTA et al. 2020 |
| Distribution | Angola (Namibe) Type locality: 10 km west of Lola, edge of Bentiaba River valley, Namibe Province, Angola (-14.29028, 13.53056, WGS 84, 802 m asl |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: PEM R24005, AG 018), A subadult male. Collected by W.R. Branch, P. Vaz Pinto, and J.S. de Almeida on 2 November 2015. Paratypes (2). a) A subadult female (PEM R24157, AG 166), 8.8 km southwest of Farm Mucungo, Namibe Province, Angola (-14.80167, 12.41917, WGS 84, 385 m asl). Collected by W.R. Branch, P. Vaz Pinto, and J.S. de Almeida on 8 November 2015. b) An unsexed adult (TM 40392), “34 km S of Moçâmedes to Porto Alexandre, Angola, 1512Ca” (= 34 km S Namibe to Tômbwa), Namibe Province, Angola (approx. -15.48220, 12.18289). Collected by W.D. Haacke on 30 March 1971. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Assigned to Nucras due to a well-defined collar (absent in Ichnotropis), toes not serrated or fringed (versus serrated or fringed in Meroles), subdigital lamellae smooth (versus keeled in Pedioplanis and Heliobolus), subocular bordering lip, the nostril is pierced between two nasals, nasal well separated from upper labial, and dorsal scales small, smooth, and juxtaposed. The new species can be diagnosed from other Nucras species based on a combination of the following characters: series of transversely enlarged plates present under forearm (versus absent or only feebly enlarged in Nucras lalandii), a small series (0–6) of small granules present between supraciliaries and supraoculars (versus mostly absent in N. boulengeri and N. lalandii), 23–29 lamellae under 4th toe (versus less than 22 in N. lalandii), dorsum with a series of longitudinal pale stripes (versus dark cross bands present in N. lalandii and N. scalaris or a series of pale vertebral spots, sometimes forming irregular transverse bands in N. intertexta or lack of any dorsal patterns in N. aurantiaca), four pale stripes on nape with outer stripes forming a continuous light stripe with the outer edges of the parietals (similar to Broadley’s (1972) N. tessellata tessellata var. “T;” differs from N. livida and N. tessellata where the outer stripes often do not form a continuous light stripe with the outer edges of the parietals; differs from N. caeiscaudata and N. ornata where there are only three longitudinal stripes present on nape and sometimes the vertebral ones are absent), well defined occipital scale separating parietals (versus reduced or absent in northern Namibia N. holubi, which is referred to as N. intertexta damarana Parker; as well as absent in N. caesicaudata), parietal foramen absent (often present in all other species except N. taeniolata), and postnasals separated (usually fused in N. taeniolata). |
| Comment | Phylogenetics: The uncorrected p-distances show that this clade differs by >8% for 16S, >14% for ND4, and >1% for RAG1 sequence divergence from other members of the N. tessellata clade. Habitat: mopane woodlands, dry savannas, and semi-desert shrublands; sandy plains with scattered low granite outcrops, with varying degrees of short grass cover and scattered bushes. Chresonymy: from Branch et al. 2019; see also for references. Sympatry: This region also harbors numerous other endemic species, such as Afrogecko ansorgii, Pachydactylus angolensis, Poyntonophrynus grandisonae, Pedioplanis benguellensis, Rhoptropus taeniostictus, Typhlacontias rudebecki, and T. punctatissimus bogerti (Ceríaco et al. 2016, 2018; Marques et al. 2018; Branch et al. 2019, cited in Branch et al. 2019). See Baptista et al. 2020 for morphometric, meristic, coloration and habitat data. |
| Etymology | Named after Donald G. Broadley for his numerous contributions to the herpetofauna of Africa. |
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