Abstract
The genus Heliobolus comprises four recognized species, all endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, only Heliobolus lugubris occurs in southern Africa, its distribution extending from Angola in the west to Mozambique in the east and reaching as far south as parts of northern South Africa. Like many of the reptile species that occur in southern Africa, Heliobolus lugubris is poorly studied, and preliminary investigation suggested that it may contain cryptic diversity. The present work focusses on the Angolan population of H. lugubris and uses an integrative taxonomic approach based on morphological, coloration and DNA sequence data. The results indicate that some of the current and historical specimens of H. lugubris from Angola do not correspond to the nominotypical form, and that differences between specimens suggest the presence of two additional species, described here as Heliobolus bivarisp. nov. from the southernmost xeric/desertic regions and plateau of Namibe Province, southwestern Angola and H. crawfordisp. nov. from the Serra da Neve inselberg north through the sub-desert coastal regions of northern Namibe, Benguela, and Kwanza Sul provinces. Nominotypical Heliobolus lugubris is confirmed to occur in Cuando Cubango Province, southeastern Angola.
Funder
National Geographic Society
Subject
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
4 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
1. A new species of African legless skink, genus
Acontias
Cuvier, 1816 “1817” (Squamata: Scincidae) from Serra da Neve inselberg, south-western Angola;African Journal of Herpetology;2023-09-19
2. A new species of green-eyed Cordylus Laurenti, 1768 from the west-central highlands of Angola, and the rediscovery of Cordylus angolensis (Bocage, 1895) (Squamata: Cordylidae);Vertebrate Zoology;2023-07-14
3. A new species of thick-toed gecko (Pachydactylus) from Serra da Neve and surrounding rocky areas of southwestern Angola (Squamata: Gekkonidae);Vertebrate Zoology;2023-04-06
4. A new species of feather-tailed leaf-toed gecko, Kolekanos Heinicke, Daza, Greenbaum, Jackman, Bauer, 2014 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the poorly explored savannah of western Angola;ZooKeys;2022-11-02