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Type: Article
Published: 2023-05-30
Page range: 501-524
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Rediscovery, range extension, phylogenetic relationships and updated diagnosis of the Ornate Long-tailed Lizard Latastia ornata Monard, 1940 (Squamata: Lacertidae)

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Ecological Genetics Research Unit; Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme; Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences; FI-00014 University of Helsinki
Sylvatrop Consulting; Immeuble PITA; Cité du Chemin de Fer; Conakry
Lycée Saint-Exupéry; B.P. 31; Brazzaville
Sylvatrop Consulting; Immeuble PITA; Cité du Chemin de Fer; Conakry
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Sylvatrop Consulting; Immeuble PITA; Cité du Chemin de Fer; Conakry
MUZOO; Musée d’histoire naturelle de La Chaux-de-Fonds; Neuchâtel
OD Taxonomy and Phylogeny; Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Reptilia geographic distribution morphology cranial osteology systematics phylogenetics eremiadinae Guinea west africa

Abstract

The lacertid Latastia ornata was known to date only by its holotype collected in 1938 in Bafatá, central Guinea-Bissau. We report new specimens and localities from Guinea-Conakry, a new country record and major range extension of 700 km SE of the type-locality. We provide an updated diagnosis of the species, including the first genetic and osteological data, and confirm that Latastia ornata is closely related to, but distinct from, L. longicaudata based on external morphology, cranial osteology, DNA data and zoogeography.

 

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