Agama anchietae Bocage, 1896

Ceríaco, L. M. P., De Sá, S., Bandeira, S., Valério, H., Stanley, E. L., Kuhn, A. L., Marques, M. P., Vindum, J. V., Blackburn, D. C. & Bauer, A. M., 2016, Herpetological Survey of Iona National Park and Namibe Regional Natural Park, with a Synoptic List of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Namibe Province, Southwestern Angola, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (2), pp. 15-61 : 21

ANCHIETA’S GROUND AGAMA – Fig. 3

Agama anchietae Bocage, 1896

MATERIAL.— INP, 29 November 2013, 16º39ʹ27.12ʺS, 12º26ʹ17.04ʺE, 459 m ( CAS 254778 ) ; Pico Azevedo, 7 December 2013, 15º32ʹ2.4ʺS, 12º29ʹ31.1ʺE, 359 m ( CAS 254942 ) ; NNP, 28 November 2013, 15º46ʹ27.4ʺS. 12º19ʹ59.2ʺE, 264 m ( CAS 254956 ) .

COMMENTS.— These specimens have distinctive black-tipped spines on the palmar scales, which distinguish A. anchietae from the morphologically similar A. aculeata Merrem, 1820 that occurs sympatrically in Southern Angola and Namibia (Branch 1993). Agama anchietae was described from Angola by Bocage based on specimens from Catumbela, Benguela and Dombe (all in Benguela Province), and Moçamedes (currently Namibe, Namibe Province). In Angola, the species is known to occur in Namibe Province ( Bocage 1896, 1897; Laurent 1964a), Benguela Province (Bocage 1863, 1896, 1897), and Bié Province ( Schmidt 1933). Our specimens represent the southernmost localities of the species in Angola, although it is certainly distributed continuously across the entire province.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Anchieta’s Ground Agama, Agama anchietae Bocage, 1866, from Sesfontein, Kunene Region, Namibia. Photo courtesy of Johan Marais.