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
Bitis
(
Calechidna
)
caudalis
(Smith, 1839)
Material (
one specimen
):
One adult specimen (MHNCUP/REP 322, formerly UP-MHNFCP-094977;
Fig. S55
), collected from Mossâmedes [=Moçâmedes] [-15.20000º, 12.15000º,
24 m
a.s.l.
]
Namibe Province
, in 1905
.
Comments:
Bitis caudalis
is commonly found in arid western regions of southern Africa, with southern
Angola
as its northern distribution limit (
Branch 2018
;
Marques
et al.
2018
). It is an arenicolous species that belongs to the dwarf adders subgenus,
Calechidna
, endemic to southern Africa (
Barlow
et al.
2019
). The extant specimen is within the expected range for
B. caudalis
, but as Ferreira did not properly study the specimens from the last part of Newton’s Expedition, it was not cited or identified. Recently,
Barlow
et al.
(2019)
recovered two mitochondrial lineages of
B. caudalis
which they treated as two different taxa. The limited sampling by the authors did not yield firm conclusions, but showcased the need for further studies, given the apparent cryptic nature of
B. caudalis
. In addition, no Angolan material was evaluated.A detailed taxonomic revision of the case is being prepared by Ceríaco
et al.
(in prep). This specimen appears to be relatively hornless, a characteristic that seems to be common in this species (
Spawls & Branch 2020
; Ceríaco & Marques
in press
).