A new species of Dibamus Duméril & Bibron, 1839 (Squamata: Dibamidae) from Pulau Manado Tua, Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Based on three adult specimens, viz. two males and a female that form the type series, a new species of blind or worm-like lizards is described from Pulau (= Island) Manado Tua, a little volcanic island located off the northern tip of the Minahassa Peninsula of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Dibamus manadotuaensis sp. nov. differs from all congeneric species in the following unique combination of characters: maximum snout-vent length 135 mm; tail length up to 14.2 mm (i.e., 12–13% of SVL); labial and nasal sutures present and complete; four (three) postoculars; four to six scales on posterior edge of infralabial; 26–28 midbody scale rows; 30–33 transverse scale rows posterior to head; 25 transverse scale rows anterior to vent; 218–232 ventral scales; 39 subcaudal scales; relative size of frontal to frontonasal 0.68–0.73; relative size of interparietal to surrounding scales 0.67–1.43; 132–135 presacral and 21–24 postsacral vertebrae. Morphologically, D. manadotuaensis is most similar to D. celebensis, which occurs on mainland Sulawesi.Dibamus manadotuaensis sp. nov. represents the twenty-fourth species of Dibamus and the third species of this genus recorded from the Sulawesi region. At the same time, it is the only squamate species considered endemic for the islands of the Bunaken Marine National Park, to which Manado Tua belongs.