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Platysaurus maculatus BROADLEY, 1965

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Higher TaxaCordylidae (Platysaurinae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesPlatysaurus maculatus maculatus BROADLEY 1965
Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda BROADLEY 1965 
Common NamesE: Spotted Flat Lizard 
SynonymPlatysaurus maculatus maculatus BROADLEY 1965
Platysaurus maculatus maculatus BROADLEY 1965
Platysaurus maculatus maculatus — BROADLEY 1978
Platysaurus maculatus — BRANCH et al. 2005
Platysaurus maculatus maculatus — STANLEY et al. 2011
Platysaurus maculatus — SPAWLS et al 2018: 208

Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda BROADLEY 1965
Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda BROADLEY 1965
Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda — BROADLEY 1978
Platysaurus maculatus lineicauda — STANLEY et al. 2011 
DistributionMozambique, S Tanzania

Type locality: Mitucué Mountain, Niassa Province, Mocambique.  
ReproductionOviparous 
TypesHolotype: NMZB, previously UM 8054, paratypes: NMW, IICT
Holotype. NMZB (formerly UM = Umtali Museum) 7975, an adult female. Collected by D. G. Broadley and D. K. Blake on 22nd November, 1964, paratype: IICT [lineicauda] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: In·general appearance this species is very similar to P. torquatus, for which it was mistaken in the field, but it also shows affinities with P. mitchelli. It agrees with the latter species and differs from all other forms in the genus in possessing a pair of supranasals; it is also the only species in which two superposed postnasals frequently occur. It differs from P. mitchelli in its smaller size (maximum head and body length 76 mm., compared with 112 mm. in mitchelli), presence of enlarged scales on the side of the neck, and larger gulars (20-30 between posterior sublabials, 31-36 in mitchelli). The dorsal pattern of spots and stripes in females and juveniles is very variable, but never resembles the patterns found in other species. The basic difference is that the dorso-lateral stripe (or series of spots) begins at the upper edge of the ear opening and the stripe beginning on the supraciliaries (which continues as the lateral stripe in all other species) converges on the vertebral stripe and then runs parallel to, and midway between, the vertebral and dorso-Iateral stripes. Typical P. maculatus is the only form in the genus which almost invariably has six sublabials. P. mitchelli has five or six, the latter being more common. 
Comment 
References
  • Bittencourt-Silva GB, Bayliss J, Conradie W. 2020. First herpetological surveys of Mount Lico and Mount Socone, Mozambique. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 14(2) [General Section]: 198–217 (e247) - get paper here
  • Blackburn, D.G. 1993. STANDARDIZED CRITERIA FOR THE RECOGNITION OF REPRODUCTIVE MODES IN SQUAMATE REPTILES. Herpetologica 49 (1): 118-132 - get paper here
  • Branch, W.R.; Rödel, M.-O. & Marais, J. 2005. Herpetological survey of the Niassa Game Reserve, northern Mozambique - Part I: Reptiles. Salamandra 41 (4): 195-214 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. G. 1978. A revision of the Genus Platysaurus A. Smith. Occ. Papers Nat. Museum south. Rhodesia, B, 6 (4): 129-185
  • Broadley, D.G. 1965. A new species of Platysaurus from northern Mozambique. Arnoldia (Rhodesia) 1 (33): 1-4
  • Broadley, Donald G. 1995. Geographical Distribution. Sauria: Cordylidae: Platysaurus maculatus maculatus Broadley, 1965. African Herp News (22): 52-53. - get paper here
  • Buruwate, T. C., & Lloyd-Jones, D. J. 2024. Amphibian and Reptile Diversity of Niassa Special Reserve, Northern Mozambique. Journal of East African Natural History, 113(1), 1-18 - get paper here
  • Ceríaco LMP, Parrinha D, Marques MP 2021. Saving collections: taxonomic revision of the herpetological collection of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) with a protocol to rescue abandoned collections. ZooKeys 1052: 85-156 - get paper here
  • Conradie, Werner; Gabriela B. Bittencourt-Silva, Hanlie M. Engelbrecht, Simon P. Loader, Michele Menegon, Cristóvão Nanvonamuquitxo, Michael Scott, Krystal A. Tolley 2016. Exploration into the hidden world of Mozambique’s sky island forests: new discoveries of reptiles and amphibians. Zoosyst. Evol. 92 (2): 163–180, DOI 10.3897/zse.92.9948 - get paper here
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248
  • Miguel, A. R., Kaiser, H., Vargas, N. D., & Borges-Martins, M. 2024. Diversity and natural history of reptiles from coastal environments in Gilé National Park, northern Mozambique. Herpetology Notes, 17, 173-199
  • SCHNEIDER, C. & M. BARTS 2011. Das Porträt Platysaurus maculatus maculatus BROADLEY. Sauria 33 (4): 1-2 - get paper here
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Stanley, Edward L.; Aaron M. Bauer; Todd R. Jackman, William R. Branch, P. Le Fras N. Mouton 2011. Between a rock and a hard polytomy: rapid radiation in the rupicolous girdled lizard (Squamata: Cordylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 58(1): 53-70. - get paper here
 
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