Lygodactylus cf. rex Broadley, 1963

Conradie, Werner, Bittencourt-Silva, Gabriela B., Engelbrecht, Hanlie M., Loader, Simon P., Menegon, Michele, Nanvonamuquitxo, Cristovao, Scott, Michael & Tolley, Krystal A., 2016, Exploration into the hidden world of Mozambique's sky island forests: new discoveries of reptiles and amphibians, Zoosystematics and Evolution 92 (2), pp. 163-180 : 171

Lygodactylus cf. rex Broadley, 1963

Material

Mt. Mabu ( PEM R21147 , male, 48.1 mm SVL; PEM R21148 , male, 42.1 mm SVL) .

Comments

Specimens were collected from tree trunks in transitional miombo at lower slopes (Fig. 4D ). These large geckos are morphologically similar to Lygodactylus rex from Mt. Mulanje in that they share the large size of typical Lygodactylus rex (up to 55 SVL: Portik et al. 2013b), the mental scale is very shallow with lateral slits, and the conspicuous ocellus (spot) above the shoulder. Given the high level of genetic diversity in montane species of this genus ( Portik et al. 2013b, Travers et al. 2014) this could either represent an extension of its distribution or a new species. For that reason, we tentatively assign it to Lygodactylus rex .

Figures

Figure 4. A selection of reptiles from northern Mozambique inselbergs. A - Nadzikambia baylissi (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21165), B - Rhampholeon tilburyi (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21157), C - Rhampholeon sp. (Mt. M'paluwe, PEM R 21209), D - Lygodactylus cf. rex (Mt. Mabu, PEM R 21147), E - Holaspis laevis (Mt. Mabu, PEM R 21146), F - Dipsadoboa cf. shrevei shrevei (Mt. Mabu, PEM R 21123), G - Duberria shirana (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21184), H - Psammophylax variabilis (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21186).