Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2020-05-19
Page range: 190–200
Abstract views: 153
PDF downloaded: 4

A new species of African Snake-Eyed Skink (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Ethiopia

Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL USA 32304.
Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC USA 20052.
Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085-1699, USA.
Reptilia Ethiopia Panaspis annettesabinae arid faunas scincid lizards cryptic radiations

Abstract

A recent molecular phylogenetic revision of the snake-eyed skinks (genus Panaspis Cope, 1868) uncovered extensive cryptic diversity, including several new species from throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we describe one of these from Ethiopia as Panaspis annettesabinae sp. nov. This description is based on a previous molecular phylogeny and morphological, scalation, and coloration data collected from the type specimen. Phylogenetic analyses place the species alone in what we term the P. annettesabinae species group from Ethiopia. This group forms the sister lineage to a large southern African radiation and suggests a potential northern origin for much of the extant diversity of Panaspis. Many new taxa have recently been discovered in the genus and region, and there are several historical records of Panaspis from elsewhere in Ethiopia. Thus, we suggest that the range of this new species (known only from a single specimen at present) may be much larger, and that additional undescribed species may exist in northern sub-Saharan Africa.

 

References

  1. Angel, M.F. (1924) Description D’un lezard nouveau d’Afrique Orientale, appartement au genre Ablepharus (Mission Al- luaud, 1903–1904). Bulletin du Museum National D’histoire Naturelle, 30, 52–53.

    Bocage, J.V.B. (1866) Reptiles nouveaux ou peu connus recueillis dans les possessions portugaises de l’Afrique occidentale, que se trouvent au Muséum de Lisbonne. Journal de Sciéncias, Mathemáticas, Physicas e Naturaes Academis Real das Sciences de Lisboa, 1, 57–78.

    Boulenger, G.A. (1909) On the reptiles and batrachians collected by the Tancredi Expedition to Lake Tsana, Abyssinia. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova Serie, 3 (4), 193.

    Ceríaco, L.M., Branch, W.R. & Bauer, A.M. (2018) A new species of African snake-eyed skink (Scincidae: Panaspis) from central and northern Namibia. Zootaxa, 4527 (1), 140–150.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4527.1.12

    Ceríaco, L.M., Heinicke, M.P., Parker, K.L., Marques, M.P. & Bauer, A.M. (2020) A review of the african snake-eyed skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Angola, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, 4747 (1), 77–112.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4747.1.3

    Cope, E.D. (1868) Observations on reptiles of the Old World. Art. II. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 20, 316–323.

    Fuhn, I.E. (1972) Révision du Phylum forestier du genre Panaspis Cope (Reptilia, Scincidae, Lygosominae). Revue Roumaine de Biologie, Zoologie, 17 (4), 257–271.

    Gray, J.E. (1845) Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of die British Museum/Edward Newman, London, xxvii + 289 pp.

    Greer, A.E. (1974) The generic relationships of the scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives. Australian Journal of Zoology, 31, 1–67.

    https://doi.org/10.1071/AJZS031

    Gower, D.J., Wade, E.O.Z., Spawls, S., Böhme, W., Buechley, E., Siykes, D. & Colston, T.J. (2016) A new large species of Bitis Gray, 1842 (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia. Zootaxa, 4093 (1), 41–63.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4093.1.3

    Jacobson, N.H.G. & Broadley, D.G. (2000) A new species of Panaspis Cope (Reptilia: Scincidae) from southern Africa. African Journal of Herpetology, 49 (1), 61–71.

    https://doi.org/10.1080/21564574.2000.9650017

    Kilunda, F.K., Conradie, W., Wasong, D.V., Jin, J.-Q, Peng, M.-S., Murphy, R.W., Malonza, P.K. & Che, J. (2019) Revalidation and resurrection of Panaspis massaiensis (Angel, 1924) and the description of a new species of Panaspis Cope (Squamata: Scincidae) from south-eastern Kenya. Zootaxa, 4706 (2), 255–274.

    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4706.2.3

    Largen, M. & Spawls, S. (2010) The amphibians and reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 694 pp.

    Loveridge, A. (1932) New races of a skink (Siaphos) and frog (Xenopus) from the Uganda Protectorate. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 45, 113–115.

    Medina, M.F., Bauer, A.M., Branch, W.R., Schmitz, A., Conradie, W., Nagy, Z.T., Hibbitts, T.J., Ernst, R., Portik, D.M., Nielsen, S.V., Colston, T.J., Kusamba, C., Behangana, M. & Rödel, M-O. (2016) Molecular phylogeny of Panaspis and Afroablepharus skinks (Squamata: Scincidae) in the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 100, 409–423.

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.04.026

    Monard, A. (1940) Résultats de la mission du Dr. Monard en Guinée Portugaise 1937–1938. Arquivos do Museo Bocage, Lisbon, 11, 147–182.

    Monard, A. (1949) Vertébrés nouveaux du Cameroun. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 56 (38), 731–745.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.146036

    Nieden, F. (1913) Neues Verzeichnis der Kriechtiere (außer den Schlangen) von Deutsch-Ostafrika, I. Teil: Reptilia. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin, 7 (1), 51–100.

    Nielsen, S.V. & Colston, T.J. (2014) The phylogenetic position of Ethiopia’s sole endemic and biogeographically enigmatic cordylid lizard, Cordylus rivae (Squamata: Cordylidae), and a discussion of its conservation status. African Journal of Herpetology, 63 (2), 166–176.

    https://doi.org/10.1080/21564574.2014.953606

    Peters, W.C.H. (1873) Über eine neue Schildkrötenart, Cinosternon effeldtii und einige andere neue oder weniger bekannte Amphibien. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussische Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1873 (October), 603–618.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.26974

    Perret, J.L. (1975) La différentiation dans le genre Panaspis Cope (Reptilia, Scincidae). Bulletin de la Socieìteì des sciences naturelles de Neuchâtel, 98, 5–16.

    Roll, U., Feldman, A., Novosolov, M., Allison, A., Bauer, A.M., Bernard, R., Böhm, M., Castro-Herrera, F., Chirio, L., Collen, B. & Colli, G.R. (2017) The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 1 (11), 1677.

    https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0332-2

    Ruane, S. & Austin, C.C. (2017) Phylogenomics using formalin-fixed and 100+ year—old intractable natural history specimens. Molecular Ecology Resources, 17 (5), 1003–1008.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.12655

    Schmidt, K.P. (1943) Amphibians and Reptiles from the Sudan. Field Museum of Natural History, Zoological Series, 24 (29), 331–338.

    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.3839

    Siu-Ting, K., Gower, D.J., Pisani, D., Kassahun, R., Gebresenbet, F., Menegon, M., Mengistu, A.A., Saber, S.A., de Sá, R., Wilkinson, M. & Loader, S.P. (2014) Evolutionary relationships of the Critically Endangered frog Ericabatrachus baleensis (Largen, 1991) with notes on incorporating previously unsampled taxa into large-scale phylogenetic analyses. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 14 (1), 44.

    https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-14-44

    Smith, A. (1849) Appendix in Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa, Reptilia. Smith, Elder and Co., London, 28 pp.

    Soares, L.B., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P., Bastos-Silveira, C., Scheinberg, L.A., Harris, D.J., Brehm, A. & Jesus, J. (2018) Review of the leaf-litter skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from the Gulf of Guinea Oceanic Islands, with the description of a new species. African Journal of Herpetology, 67 (2), 132–159.

    https://doi.org/10.1080/21564574.2017.1413015

    Stringer, C. (2003) Human evolution: out of Ethiopia. Nature, 423 (6941), 692.

    https://doi.org/10.1038/423692a

    Udvardy, M.D.F. (1975) A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world. IUCN Occasional Paper No. 18. IUCN, Morges, 49 pp.

    Uetz, P., Freed, P. & Hošek, J. (Eds.) (2020) The Reptile Database. Available from: http://www.reptile-database.org (accessed 31 March 2020)

    Wallace, A.R. (1876) The geographical distribution of animals. Vol. 1 & 2. Macmillan and Co., London, 503 pp. & 607 pp.

    Werner, F. (1902) Über westafrikanische Reptilien. Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 52, 332–348.

    Werner, F. (1914) Über Eidechsen, darunter zwei neue, aus dem angloägyptischen Sudan. Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften / Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe, 57 (18), 393–394.

    Witte, G. F. de (1933a) Batraciens et reptiles recueillis par M.L. Burgeon au Ruwenzori, au Kivu et au Tanganika. Revue de zoologie et de botanique africaines, 24, 111–123.

    Witte, G. F. de (1933b) Reptiles récoltés au Conge Belge par le Dr. H. Schouteden et par M. G.-F. Witte. Annales du Museìe du Congo belge, Seìrie 5, Botanique, 1(3), 53–100.