Ptenopus adamanteus BECKER, ALEXANDER & TOLLEY, 2025
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Ptenopus adamanteus
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Diamond coast barking gecko Afrikaans: Diamantkus blafgeitjie |
| Synonym | Ptenopus adamanteus BECKER, ALEXANDER & TOLLEY 2025: 300 Ptenopus garrulus maculatus – FITZSIMONS 1935: 525; (in part) Ptenopus garrulus maculatus – FITZSIMONS 1937b:160 (in part) Ptenopus garrulus maculatus – HAACKE 1969: 92 (in part) Ptenopus garrulus maculatus – MERTENS 1971: 44 (in part) Ptenopus garrulus maculatus – HAACKE 1975 (in part) Ptenopus garrulus (in part) – BRAIN 1962: fig. 3 (in part) |
| Distribution | Namibia (Karas Region) Type locality: Grosse Bucht, south of Lüderitz, Karas Region, Namibia (–26.73379, 15.10412, 29 m a.s.l.), |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. NMNW R11390, adult male, collected by Francois S. Becker and Bertha Buiswalelo on 27 September 2022. Paratypes. NMNW R11391–3 (two adult males and one adult female NMNW R11391 = allotype), same collec- tion details as the holotype; NMNW R11350, subadult female, collected from the pump house along main road, Sperrgebiet, ||Karas Region, Namibia (-26.9932, 15.3584), by Dayne Braine on 10 September 2021. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Southern populations of this member of the genus have a small body size (SVL max. 45.1 mm, mean 39.4 mm, n = 19) with long tails (TL 77%, range 60–99%, n = 19) while that of the northern populations is moderate (up to 50.8 mm, mean 49.7 mm, n = 6), with a moderately long tail (TL 71%, range 67–76%, of SVL) and an overall lean appearance. It is distinguished from P. kochi, P. carpi, and P. sceletus sp. nov. by: Toes being intermediately fringed laterally (vs. weakly fringed in P. carpi and P. sceletus sp. nov. and extensively fringed in P. kochi), with fringe length being at least half the breadth of the toe between fringes (vs. generally less than half in P. carpi and P. sceletus sp. nov., generally equal to in P. kochi); having MBSR 141–185 (vs. ≤131 in P. carpi and P. sceletus sp. nov. and >185 in P. kochi); by having on the dorsum 4–5 paired, more-or-less symmetrical, light-coloured, ovoid markings on the body, about half the diameter of the eye or larger, interspaced by dark brown blotches (vs. more finely patterned dots in P. kochi and banded pattern in P. carpi and P. sceletus sp. nov.). It is further distinct from P. carpi and P. sceletus sp. nov. by the nasals being more swollen and the nostrils partially covered by internal projections of the upper labials; from P. kochi by having fingers laterally fringed with pointed triangular scales (vs. elongated pointed scales in P. kochi), and having white pigmented ventral scales on entire ventral surface (vs. pink, unpigmented patches on the tail and limbs in P. kochi). From congeners previously included in ‘P. garrulus’ it is distinguished by: Having immaculate white pigmented scales on soles, vs. some pink, unpigmented scales on soles of P. garrulus and P. australis sp. nov., and dark speckling on the soles of P. kenkenses sp. nov. and P. australis sp. nov.; having a usually smaller internasal scale than P. circumsyrticus sp. nov., with IN/INSBB ~8 (usually >6.0, vs. usually <6.0 in P. circumsyrticus sp. nov.); higher RB/RH (~1.1, usually ≥1 and <1.2) than P. australis sp. nov. (usually ≤1.0), but lower than P. circumsyrticus sp. nov. (usually >1.1); usually lower INSH/NB (usually <1.1) than P. circumsyrticus sp. nov. (usually >1.1); having a generally higher IOS (mean 45, range 35– 53, n = 30) and IOS/MBSR (mean 0.29, usually >0.24) than P. maculatus (IOS usually <37, IOS/MBSR usually <0.24); having one or two inernasal scales in contact with the rostral vs. three in P. australis sp. nov. (Becker et al. 2025) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 3907 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Distribution: for a map see Becker et al. 2025: 289 (Fig. 5). |
| Etymology | Named after the diamond-scattered coastline that forms its habitat, including the Sperrgebiet in Namibia and the Richtersveld in South Africa, where extensive diamond mining occurred historically and continues to this day. We use the specific epithet “adamanteus”, the Latin adjective meaning “of diamond”, framed in the male genitive to match the gender of Ptenopus. |
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