Herpetological results of Francisco Newton’s Zoological Expedition to Angola (1903 – 1906): a taxonomic revision and new records of a forgotten collection
Author
Santos, Bruna S.
Author
Marques, Mariana P.
0000-0002-1712-2632
mptlmarques@gmail.com
Author
Bauer, Aaron M.
0000-0001-6839-8025
aaron.bauer@villanova.edu
Author
Ceríaco, Luis M. P.
0000-0002-3798-2664
brunascesantos@gmail.com
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-09-03
5028
1
1
80
http://zoobank.org/c678f0fe-1b62-4f34-8a66-449cf9806b50
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5028.1.1
1175-5326
5453967
C678F0FE-1B62-4F34-8A66-449CF9806B50
Meroles anchietae
(
Bocage, 1867
)
Material (
six specimens
):
Three adult and
one juvenile
specimens (MHNCUP/REP 219–222, formerly UP- MHNFCP-094996–094999;
Fig. S32
), collected from
Mossamedes
[=Moçâmedes] [-15.20000º, 12.15000º,
24 m
a.s.l.
]
Namibe Province
, in 1905
;
two adult
specimens (MHNCUP/REP 223–224, formerly UP-MHNFCP-017366), collected from
Porto
Alexandre
[=Tômbua] [-15.80401º, 11.84492º,
11 m
a.s.l.
]
Namibe Province
, in
July 1904
.
Comments:
Meroles anchietae
is endemic to the Namib Desert (
Branch 1998
;
Marques
et al.
2018
). Ferreira never published the Newton Expedition specimens but identified the extant specimens as
Pachyrhyncus anchietae
, as noted by the extant labels.
Marques
et al.
(2018)
referenced specimens MHNCUP/REP 219–222 from “Mossamedes” when discussing the species’ taxonomy and distribution. Up until recently,
M. anchietae
in
Angola
was only known from its
type
locality “Rio Coroca, dans le littoral de Mossamedes”, but collections by
Ceríaco
et al.
(2016a)
showed that the species has a broader distribution range, even if confined to the Namib Desert regions. The species was recently collected by Luís M. P. Ceríaco and Mariana P. Marques in the same area where Newton collected the aforementioned specimens (
Fig. 7
).