Acontias meleagris lineicauda Hewitt, 1937b

Conradie, Werner, Branch, William R. & Watson, Gillian, 2019, Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 2: Reptiles (Squamata), Zootaxa 4576 (1), pp. 1-45 : 27

Acontias meleagris lineicauda Hewitt, 1937b

A Guide to the Vertebrate Fauna of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Part II Reptiles, Amphibians and Freshwater Fishes. Grahamstown, p. 41.

Current name: Acontias lineicauda Hewitt, 1937

Lectotype: PEM R5128 (formerly AMG 7053 ); Dunbrody, Uitenhage district , Eastern Cape Province, South Africa; Rev. K. Tasman, date unknown.

Paralectotypes (8): a) PEM R5123–5127 , 5129 ( AMG 7053 ); same collection details as lectotype. b ) PEM R5121 (formerly AMG 718 B); Dunbrody , Uitenhage district, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa; Rev. K. Tasman, 23 December 1908 . c) PEM R5122 (formerly AMG 5193 ); Dunbrody , Uitenhage district, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa; Rev. K. Tasman, 5 December 1925 .

Remarks. Although Hewitt (1938) provided formal descriptions of both A. m. lineicauda and A. m. orientalis , he had used both names, with illustrations, descriptions and localities, in an early popular publication ( Hewitt 1937b) and these therefore constitute the original type descriptions of both taxa. The subsequent allocation of the names to Hewitt (1938) by (e.g.) FitzSimons (1943) and Welch (1982) is incorrect. However, due to its popular nature the original description ( Hewitt 1937b) does not designate a type or type series for either name. The subsequent descriptions ( Hewitt 1938) do, however, give insight into the material on which Hewitt must have based his decisions. He lists (p. 39) only “A series of specimens from Dunbrody, Uitenhage district, C.P. collected by Rev. K. Tasman.

The type bottle received from the AMG contained 10 specimens collected at Dunbrody. Eight of them (all labeled AMG 7053) have only ‘Dunbrody’ written on the original label, one (AMG 5193) has ‘Dunbrody’, the collector ‘Rev. K. Tasman’ and date ‘ 5 December 1925 ’ written on it, one (AMG 718B) with another re-written label with Dunbrody and the date ‘ 23/xii/08 ’, and one (AMG 7087) has only ‘Dunbrody’ on the label. The type bottle also contained specimens from: Farm Middleton, Lower Governors Kop near Grahamstown, and Redhouse. The above material is listed in the type description, but the material from Uniondale and Port Elizabeth listed in the type description is unaccounted for in the PEM collection. In their discussion of the taxon, Broadley & Greer (1969: 23) noted four specimens from Dunbrody “AM. 718b, 5193, 7053 (seven, including lectotype of lineicauda , here nominated), and 7087’. This is confusing as AMG 7053 is represented by eight specimens (seven adults and one juvenile ~ see above). They further only indicated that one of the specimens in the series AMG 7053 is the lectotype. One of the specimens from the series AMG 7053 (PEM R5128) bears a label (“ lectotype, 16 March 1968) in D.G. Broadley’s handwriting and we follow this designation. It is very unusual that the Middleton specimen is illustrated in Plate III, Fig. 1 , and not one of the numerous specimens from Dunbrody. All specimens, except for PEM R5123 and R5129, have a mid-ventral incision.

Broadley & Greer (1969) considered A. meleagris lineicauda Hewitt, 1937 to be a junior subjective synonym of A. m. orientalis Hewitt, 1937 , but the taxon was subsequently elevated to species status ( Lamb et al. 2010).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Family Chamaeleonidae: A—Holotype of Bradypodion atromontanum (PEM R5774), B—Holotype of Bradypodion ngomeense (PEM R16621), C—Neotype of Chamaeleo gutturalis (PEM R5990), D—Holotype of Lophosaura ventralis var. karrooica (PEM R8924), E—Syntype of Lophosaura melanocephla kentanica (PEM R16100), F—Holotype of Kinyongia mulyai (PEM R19199), G—Holotype of Nadzikambia baylissi (PEM R18055), H—Holotype of Rhampholeon (Rhinodigitum) bruessoworum (PEM R20375), I—Holotype of Rhampholeon (Rhinodigitum) nebulauctor (PEM R17278), J— Holotype of Rhampholeon tilburyi (PEM R14921), K—Holotype of Rhampholeon (Rhinodigitum) hattinghi (PEM R19194), L—Holotype of Rhampholeon (Rhinodigitum) maspictus (PEM R18072). All scale bars are 1 cm.