Tetradactylus ellenbergeri (Angel, 1922)

Conradie, Werner, Keates, Chad, Verburgt, Luke, Baptista, Ninda L., Harvey, James, Júlio, Timóteo & Neef, Götz, 2022, Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Angolan Okavango-Cuando-Zambezi River drainages. Part 2: Lizards (Sauria), chelonians, and crocodiles, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 322) 16 (2), pp. 181-214 : 195

Tetradactylus ellenbergeri (Angel, 1922)

Ellenberger’s Long-tailed Seps ( Fig. 18 , Map 18) Material (4 specimens): PEM R23375 (neonate), outlet of Cuito River source lake, -12.70453° 18.35445°, 1,429 m asl; PEM R23424, Cuando River source, -13.00345° 19.12751°, 1,343 m asl; PEM R23976 (posterior half of body and tail only), Lungwebungu River campsite, -12.58319° 18.66573°, 1,284 m asl; PEM R24275, Cuanavale River source lake, -13.09442° 18.89372°, 1,397 m asl. Description: Dorsal scales ridged with a central keel; 12–14 dorsal midbody scale rows; 6 enlarged longitudinal ventral plates; 63 transverse ventral scale rows; 63 transverse dorsal scale rows; 4 supralabials; 3 infralabials; 3 supraciliaries; no front limbs; hind limbs monodactyle (<2 mm). Largest specimen: 62.5 + 160.0 mm (PEM R24275). Habitat and natural history notes: All specimens were found near waterbodies. One female specimen (PEM R23424) was captured by a Cattle Egret ( Bubulcus ibis ) that released the specimen upon being startled. The specimen contained two eggs (8.4 x 3.5 mm) in November. One neonate (PEM R23375) was collected at the outlet of the Cuito River source lake in February. Comment: These new records fill the gap between the most southeastern Luassinga River record ( Conradie et al. 2016) and the northeastern Angolan records ( Monard 1937; Laurent 1964), and they are the first records for the Cuando River basin. The taxonomy of this species in Angola has been complicated by the naming of T. lundensis Monard, 1937 and T. fitzsimonsi simplex Laurent, 1950 . Laurent (1964) synonymized these two species with T. boulengeri , which he in turn separated from T. ellenbergeri based on the lower number of dorsal scale rows (12 versus 14). Broadley (1971) rejected this, as he found specimens in eastern Zambia whose dorsal scale rows varied from 12–14 (the outer scale rows being much smaller). Most of our specimens had 12 dorsal scale rows, except for two specimens from the Cuando River (PEM R23424) and the Luassingua River ( Conradie et al. 2016), which each had 14 dorsal scale rows (outer scale rows half the size of adjacent rows).

Figures

Fig. 18.Adult female Tetradactylusellenbergeri (PEM R23424) from Cuando River source. Photo by Werner Conradie.