Ptenopus australis BECKER, ALEXANDER & TOLLEY, 2025
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Ptenopus australis?
Ptenopus australis
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| Higher Taxa | Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Southern barking gecko Afrikaans: Suiderlike blafgeitjie |
| Synonym | Ptenopus australis BECKER, ALEXANDER & TOLLEY 2025: 297 Ptenopus garrulus maculatus – OELOFSEN & VORSTER 1976 Ptenopus garrulus maculatus – REBELO et al. 2018 |
| Distribution | Republic of South Africa (Eastern Cape) Type locality: farm Rooidraai, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (–32.4645, 23.6330, 860 m a.s.l.) |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. PEM R23122, adult male, collected by Werner Conradie, Alexander Rebelo, and Philip Jordaan, on 2 November 2017. Paratypes. PEM R23118–23121, adult males except for PEM R23120 (allotype), collected from farm Dor- ingkraal, Eastern Cape, South Africa (-33.0479, 24.9611, 305 m a.s.l.), by Werner Conradie, Alexander Rebelo, and Philip Jordaan, on 31 October 2017. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: The smallest Ptenopus (SVL max. 44.6 mm, mean 42.7 mm, n = 5) with the shortest tail of any Ptenopus species (TL 61% of SVL, only one specimen had full original tail, but other paratypes/holotype lost a very small portion of the tail tip and they still appear to be similarly short) and a moderately stout appearance. It is distinguished from P. kochi, P. carpi, and P. sceletus sp. nov. by: Being substantially smaller; 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., and generally equal to in P. kochi); ventral surface being generally white or cream with some unpigmented and/or dark brown-speckled scales on the (hand/foot) soles (vs. substantial pink, unpigmented patches on the tail and limbs in P. kochi, and immaculate white in P. carpi and P. sceletus sp. nov.); having MBSR 140–156, mean 148 (n = 5) (vs. ≥187–222 in P. kochi and usually <135 in P. carpi and P. sceletus sp. nov.); a generally brown-and-cream spotted appearance with some paired light and dark markings dorsally (vs. pinkish or orange, more evenly spotted pattern 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). From congeners previously included in ‘P. garrulus’ it is distinguished by: A smaller internasal scale, with higher IN/INSBB (~10.6, range 7.3–11.6, n = 5) and lower INSH/NB (~0.65, range 0.57–0.97, n = 5) than P. circumsyrticus sp. nov. (IN/INSBB <6, INSH/NB usually >0.97); having lower RB/RH (<1) than these congeners (usually >1, except for some P. adamanteus sp. nov. individuals); having lower MBSR (~148, range 147–149, n = 5) than P. garrulus and P. kenkenses sp. nov. (≥158); IOS/MBSR (~0.26, range 0.24–0.29) usually higher than P. garrulus (~0.23, range 0.20–0.25, n = 10); having 3 internasal scales in contact with the rostral (vs. usually <3 for P. garrulus and P. adamanteus sp. nov., ≤2 for P. kenkenses sp. nov. and P. maculatus, and only 1 in P. circumsyrticus 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 2938 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 Latin “australis”, the (masculine) adjective meaning “southern”. |
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