Afroedura broadleyi, Jacobsen, Niels H. G., Kuhn, Arianna L., Jackman, Todd R. & Bauer, Aaron M., 2014

Jacobsen, Niels H. G., Kuhn, Arianna L., Jackman, Todd R. & Bauer, Aaron M., 2014, A phylogenetic analysis of the southern African gecko genus Afroedura Loveridge (Squamata: Gekkonidae), with the description of nine new species from Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa, Zootaxa 3846 (4), pp. 451-501 : 487-488

Afroedura broadleyi sp. nov.

( Fig. 10 C)

Afroedura langi 'Soutpansberg' Jacobsen 1992a, 1997; Kirchhof et al. 2010 Afroedura 'Matlala' Jacobsen 1992a, 1997

Holotype. TM 81316, adult male, Farm Peover 772MS, 22°59' S, 29°44' E, Soutpansberg District (2229DC), Limpopo Province, Republic of South Africa, collector R. E. Newbery, 6 November 1985.

Paratypes. TM 81317–81322, 81341, same data as for holotype; TM 81338-81340, Farm Leek 769MS, Soutpansberg District (2229DC), Limpopo Province, collector R. E. Newbery 6 November 1985.

Additional material examined (all localities in Limpopo Province). TM 81323-81326, Farm Outlook 789MS, Soutpansberg District (2229DD); TM 81327–81329, 81330-81336, Farm Newgate 802MS, Soutpansberg District (2229DD); TM 81337, Mutshenzheni, Sibasa District (2230CD); TM 81300-81307, 81309-81314, Farm Leipzig 264LR, Bochum District (2328BB); TM 81288–81299, 81308, Farm Urk 10LS, Bochum District (2329AA); TM 81188–81207 Matlala Mountain, Seshego District (2329CC).

Etymology. The species is named for our friend and colleague Dr. Donald G. Broadley in honor of his many contributions to African herpetology and in celebration of his 80th birthday.

Diagnosis. A mid-sized Afroedura (maximum SVL 56.0 mm) differing from all other congeners by the following combination of characters: two pairs of enlarged subdigital lamellae per digit; tail moderately verticillate (semi-verticillate) and flattened near base, with four subcaudal rows and 6–8 supracaudal rows per verticil; dorsal scales smooth, 88–106 scale rows at midbody; internasal scales typically absent; 8–12 precloacal pores in males.

Description. (based on holotype TM 81316) Adult male; 45.5 mm SVL; 49.0 mm TailL (part regenerated); mass before preservation 2.3 g. Moderately dorsoventrally depressed; head oval, wider than neck; limbs robust with stout digits; tail depressed, long and tapered, distal portion regenerating. Rostral twice as broad as high; nostril pierced between rostral, first upper labial and three nasals; nasorostrals large and in contact behind rostral. Scales on snout large, heterogeneous and flattened, decreasing in size posteriorly, smallest on crown of head; 10 scales from nasals to eye and 21 scales from eye to ear; three supraciliary spines. Supralabials nine. Mental narrow, wedge-shaped, longer than wide and in contact with two postmentals. Infralabials seven.

Dorsal scales relatively homogeneous, rounded,smooth, slightly flattened and juxtaposed; midbody scales 91. Ventral scales larger, imbricate and almost hexagonal. Digits with two pairs of enlarged scansors and one enlarged inferomedian scale under the 4th toe. Precloacal pores 11, arranged in a shallow curve, separated (five and six) by a poreless scale. Tail semi-verticillate with scales arranged in whorls with six dorsal and four ventral rows per verticil. Supracaudals rectangular with a rounded posterior margin; subcaudals squarish with rounded posterior margins. Two to three cloacal spurs at base of tail.

Color. Pale grey to buff or pinkish brown above with 6–7 dark brown to blackish, very wavy and irregular crossbands extending from occiput to sacrum. Crossbands darkest posteriorly, incompletely edged with white and with a median white spot. Crown of head heavily spotted or mottled with dark brown; a forward pointing darker ‘V’ extending along the canthus rostralis, whereas a dark streak runs from the nostril through the middle of the eye to above the ear, joining the occipital band. Limbs spotted with white and dark brown. Original tail banded with 10 regular dark brown to blackish crossbars edged with black posteriorly, each followed by a narrow band of white. Venter pale whitish pink; underside of tail mottled and spotted with white and brown.

Variation. Paratypes and other specimens agree with the holotype in most features of scalation ( Table 4). Nasorostrals separated by a single granular scale in four (of 75) specimens examined. Scales between nasals and eye 10–13, from eye to ear 15–22. Mental from as long to twice as long as broad; one postmental in 18 of 70 specimens. Supralabials 7–10. Infralabials 6–9. Postmentals usually two, but occasionally 1 or 3 (18 and 2 of 72 examined, respectively). Midbody scale rows 88–106. 0–11 enlarged inferomedian scales under the fourth toe. Precloacal pores in males 8–12 (mostly 9–11) often with a median gap; females lacking pores, although exhibiting a row of somewhat enlarged scales in this position. Original tails 50.0–55.5% of total length. Supracaudal scales in 6–7 (rarely 8) rows per tail whorl. 44.7% of specimens have regenerated tails (n=76).

Distribution. Isolated populations are found on the Soutpansberg, Blouberg and Matlala inselberg, Limpopo Province ( Fig. 6 ).

Natural history. The species is nocturnal. It frequents crevices and fissures between rocks as well as under flakes on Waterberg sandstone outcrops, although the Matlala population occurs on granites. May be solitary or can occur in small (presumably family) groups in Soutpansberg Mountain Bushveld (SVcb 21) and Soutpansberg Summit Sourveld (GM 28) ( Mucina & Rutherford 2006) at elevations of 1000–1700 m a.s.l.

Two eggs at a time are laid during midsummer.The eggs adhere to the roof of the crevice before hardening. Communal nesting has been observed in the Soutpansberg where more than 20 eggs have been found under a rock.

Remarks. Afroedura broadleyi sp. nov. shares a suite of characters with A. langi and four other species described herein as new. In comparison with other members of this group it differs most obviously in male precloacal pore counts, being much lower than A. leoloensis sp. nov. and having non-overlapping pore ranges with A. langi , A . pienaari sp. nov. and A. granitica sp. nov. (more pores) and A. waterbergensis sp. nov. (fewer pores). In addition it is substantially larger than A. leoloensis sp. nov., A. langi , and A. waterbergensis sp. nov. (see Table 4).

Three populations are known, each of which appears to differ slightly from the others. However, there is significant overlap in morphological features and Jacobsen’s (1990, 1992a) initial recognition of two putative species (‘Soutpansberg’ and ‘Matlala’) cannot be substantiated given available data. Unfortunately, molecular data were available only from Soutpansberg samples. The Soutpansberg form is separated from the others by A. pienaari along the Waterpoort Gap, whereas those from Matlala are separated by 70 km from the nearest other population (on the Blouberg). The Matlala and Blouberg forms have the precloacal pores in a continuous row, only exceptionally subdivided by a poreless scale, as is frequently the case in Soutpansberg populations. Precloacal pores on Matlala and in the Blouberg are mostly eight, nine or 10 and on the Soutpansberg nine, 11 or 12. Individuals from the eastern Blouberg tend to be smaller and have a mean midbody scale count of 91.46 + 2.37 (n = 13), which is considerably lower than that from Soutpansberg individuals—96.91 + 4.32 (n = 22), western Blouberg—97.73 + 3.49 (n = 15) and Matlala—99.5 + 4.19 (n = 18).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Map of Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa and adjacent regions showing the distributions of previously described species of Afroedura endemic to this region and known localities of the nine new species described in this paper. For previously recognized forms an approximate outline of the range based on Bates et al. (2014) is shown; genetically sampled localities are marked by circles in Figure 4. For new species all known localities are plotted as dots (see relevant species accounts), with genetically sampled site marked by circles with a a red center, type locality marked by a star, and all other localities indicated by open circles colored to correspond to the key in the figure. The very restricted distributions of A. maripi sp. nov., A. rondavelica sp. nov., and A. rupestris sp. nov. are indicated by arrows and are labeled directly on the map.

FIGURE 10. New species in the Afroedura langi group. (A) Afroedura granitica sp. nov. from Farm Lillie, Limpopo Province, South Africa (24 ° 04 ’ S, 30 ° 51 ’ E) (Photo Stuart V. Nielsen). (B) Afroedura leoloensis sp. nov. from Farm Maandagshoek, Limpopo Province, South Africa (Photo N. H. G. Jacobsen). (C) Afroedura broadleyi sp. nov. from 22 ° 58 ’ 40 ” S, 29 ° 19 ’ 57 ” E, Limpopo Province, South Africa (Photo Marius Burger).