Afroedura pongola, 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 : 481-482

Afroedura pongola sp. nov.

( Fig. 9 B)

Afroedura pondolia 'Godlwayo' Jacobsen 1990, 1992a, 1997 Afroedura sp. nov. “ Pongola flat gecko” Bourquin 2004

Holotype. TM 81210, adult male, Godlwayo, 27°20' S, 31°25' E, Piet Retief District (2731AD), Kwazulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa, collector R. E. Newbery, 24 May 1981.

Paratypes. TM 81211–81213, 81216 same data as holotype; TM 81208–81209, 81214, 81217–81218, same locality as holotype, collectors R. E. Newbery & W. Petersen, 19 November 1985; TM 81215, 81219–81220, Farm Zwartkloof 60HU, Piet Retief district (2731BC), collector R. E. Newbery, 21 May 1981.

Etymology. The name refers to the Pongola River, along part of which this species occurs. It is used as a noun in apposition.

Diagnosis. A small Afroedura (to 40 mm SVL) differing from all other congeners by the following combination of characters: two pairs of enlarged subdigital lamellae per digit; tail not obviously verticillate, with 4–5 subcaudal rows and 6–7 supracaudal rows per verticil; dorsal scales smooth, 95–103 scale rows at midbody; a single (rarely two) internasal scale; 21–23 precloacal pores in males.

Description. (based on holotype TM 81210) Adult male; SVL 35.0 mm; TailL 32.0 mm (partly regenerated); mass in life 1.0 g. Head oval, wider than neck. Rostral approximately 1.5 times wider than high. Nostril pierced between rostral, first upper labial and three nasal scales. Nasorostrals separated by a single granular scale. Scales on snout round and flattened, decreasing in size posteriorly, smallest on crown. Ten scales between nasals and anterior margin of eye; 21 scales between eye and ear. No enlarged supraciliary spines. Supralabials eight. Mental broadly wedge-shaped, wider than deep and in contact with two postmentals; infralabials eight.

Dorsals relatively uniform, smooth, rounded and flattened, becoming larger laterally. Scales at midbody 101. Ventral scales rounded and imbricate, largest mesially becoming smaller ventrolaterally. Limbs relatively short and feet small; digits with two pairs of enlarged scansors; three enlarged inferomedian scales under the fourth toe. Precloacal pores 21, arranged in a continuous shallow ‘V’-shape. Tail flattened at base, becoming more cylindrical distally. Distal half regenerated. Caudal scales in whorls (verticils) with 6–7 scales rows dorsally and 4–5 ventrally. Supracaudals almost square with a rounded posterior margin and subimbricate. Subcaudals large and imbricate. 1–2 postcloacal spurs at base of tail.

Color. Pale to mid-brown with 6–8 dark brown, irregular, wavy crossbands extending from occiput to sacrum. A median white spot or spots adjacent to each crossbar. Crown of head pale with brown to dark brown patches. A dark brown stripe extends from the nostrils through the middle of the eye to link with the occipital bar. In life the eyeballs appear dark gray to blackish through the skin. Limbs spotted and mottled with dark brown. Original tail with nine dark brown crossbands. Venter pinkish white with slightly darker pigmentation under tail.

Variation. Paratypes and other specimens agree with the holotype in most features of scalation ( Table 4). Nasorostrals separated by two granules in TM 81209. Scales between nasals and eye 10–13, from eye to ear 20–23. Supraciliary spines 2–3 and mental nearly as deep as wide in some paratypes. Postmentals 2–3. Supralabials 8–10, infralabials 8–9. Midbody scale rows 95–103. Enlarged inferomedian scales under fourth toe mostly 0, rarely 3–5. Precloacal pores in male paratypes 21–23, females lacking pores. Postcloacal spurs 1–2, rarely three. Original tails 50.5–52. 8% of total length. Tail with 6–7 dorsal and 4—5 ventral scale rows per indistinct verticil. 66.7% (8/12) of individuals have regenerated tails.

Distribution. Known only from north of the Pongola River in the far northeast of Kwazulu-Natal ( Fig. 6 ).

Natural history. This gecko retreats into narrow crevices between rocks and under exfoliating flakes of granite. It is found in Granite Lowveld (SVl 3) and Northern Zululand Sourveld (SVl 22) ( Mucina & Rutherford 2006) at elevations of 750–850 m a.s.l.

Remarks. Afroedura pongola sp. nov. was included by Jacobsen (1990, 1992a, 1997) in his A. pondolia complex, but our molecular results demonstrate that whereas it forms a clade with other members of this proposed complex, A. pondolia is only distantly related. Afroedura pongola sp. nov. may be distinguished from the similarly sized A. marleyi on the basis of its greater number of midbody scale rows (p <0.001, t20 d.f.). and from this species and the much larger A. maripi sp. nov. and A. rondavelica sp. nov. (maximum SVL 63 mm and 55 mm versus 40 mm for A. pongola sp. nov.) by its greater number of precloacal pores in males (mean of 22.4 versus 13.4 or fewer).

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 9. New species in the Afroedura marleyi group. (A) Afroedura maripi sp. nov. from Mariepskop, Mpumalanga, South Africa (Photo Marius Burger). (B) Afroedura pongola sp. nov. from from west of Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Photo Johan Marais). (C) Afroedura rondavelica sp. nov. from the Three Rondavels, Blyde River Nature Reserve, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa (24 ° 34 ' S, 30 ° 50 ' E) (Photo by N. H. G. Jacobsen).