Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution
Author
Figueroa, Alex
Author
Low, Martyn E. Y.
0000-0001-7927-7149
martyn.low@nus.edu.sg
Author
Lim, Kelvin K. P.
0000-0002-0638-9198
kelvinlim@nus.edu.sg
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-05-18
5287
1
1
378
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5287.1.1
journal article
53474
10.11646/zootaxa.5287.1.1
90d83153-c065-4771-9ac7-35dda67996b5
1175-5326
7960319
78E23714-8973-4755-BC94-0A751D7D2B37
Aphaniotis fusca
Peters, 1864
—
Native.
Otocryptis
(
Aphaniotis
)
fusca
W.C.H. Peters, 1864a: 385
.
Holotype
:
ZMB 5032
, by original designation. Type locality: “in der Nähe von Malacca (Forest Hill)”, Peninsular
Malaysia
.
Dusky Earless
Agama
(
Figure 10E
; Rifle Range Forest)
Singapore
records.
Aphaniotis floweri
F. Werner, 1900: 486
.
Aphaniotis fusca
—Sworder, 1924: 20 (Pulau Ubin).—Sworder, 1929: 330 (Pulau Ubin).—K.
Lim, 1989h: 64
(Jungle Fall Valley [
BTNR
]).—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 55.—
Denzer & Manthey, 1991: 310
.—K.K.P.
Lim & Subharaj, 1991: 5
(South View Path [
BTNR
]).—Subharaj & K.K.P.
Lim, 1991b: 4
(Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K.
Lim, 1992: 109
, 150.—K.K.P.
Lim & Subharaj, 1992: 8
(Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—E.K.
Chua, 1993: 29
.—L.M.
Chou
et al.
, 1994: 105
.—R. Subaraj, 1994: 14 (MacRitchie North Forest; Sime Road [
SRF
]).—K.K.P.
Lim, 1994b: 221
, 331.—R. Subaraj
et al.
, 1995: 4 (MacRitchie North [
MNF
]).—P.K.L. Ng
et al.
, 1995: 123.—R. Subaraj, 1996: 101.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 388 (Jungle Fall & Seraya Valleys [
BTNR
]; MacRitchie North Forest; Main Road [
BTNR
]; Nee Soon Range [
NSSF
]; Taban & Lasia Valleys [
BTNR
]; Three-Stone Hill [
NSSF
]).—K.P. Lim & F.L.K.
Lim, 2002: 150
.—K.K.P. Lim
et al.
, 2008: 169, 265.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 74, 159.—
Manthey, 2008: 42
.—
Das, 2010: 179
.—
Corlett, 2011a: 51
.—L.L. Grismer, 2011: 129, 132.—T.M.
Leong & Gan, 2011: 29
.—P.K.L. Ng
et al.
, 2011: 220.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 74, 159.—H.H. Tan & K.K.P. Lim, 2012: 362.—Chan-ard
et al.
, 2015: 101.—E.K. Chua, 2015: 69.—Shahriza, 2018: 153.—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 155, 179 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—
Leo
et al.
, 2020: 254
.—
Janssen & Sy, 2022: 17
, 148.
Gonyocephalus borneensis
(non Schlegel, 1851)—Sworder, 1925a: 66.—L.M.
Chou, 1995: 147
.
Gonocephalus borneensis
(non Schlegel, 1851)—
Smith
, 1930: 24.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K.
Lim, 1992: 150
.—L.M.
Chou
et al.
, 1994: 105
.
Goniocephalus
sp.
—D.H. Murphy, 1973: 59.
Gonocephalus
?
borneensis
(non Schlegel, 1851)—
Denzer & Manthey, 1991: 312
.
Aphaniotus
[sic]
fusca
—
Cox
et al.
, 1998: 99
.
Aphaniotus
[sic]
fuscum
—Chan-ard
et al.
, 1999: 21.
Remarks.
Werner (1900) received a specimen of
A. fusca
from B̂ttcher who collected it in
Singapore
, and described it as a new species,
A. floweri
, making
Singapore
the
type
locality (
Table 1
). A year later, this specimen was acquired by MNHN and was registered as “cotype” of
A. floweri
under MNHN-RA-1901.1 (
Brygoo 1988
). Around 1910, NMW acquired specimen NMW-39321 donated by Steindachner, which was not reported in the literature. The next record of
A. fusca
from
Singapore
comes from a specimen Sworder (1924) recorded on Pulau Ubin. Following this record, 49 years pass by before another observation of
A. fusca
was published (
Table 2
), when Murphy (1973) confused
A. fusca
with
Goniocephalus
while discussing insectivores of BTNR. Sworder (1925) also confused
A. fusca
with
Gonyocephalus borneensis
(=
Gonocephalus bellii
), when he included ZRC 2.887 (collected by Saunders in 1922) in his checklist of Singapore’s lizards. After
Lim (1989h)
published an observation of one sleeping at night on
29 November 1989
at BTNR, then reportings of
A. fusca
became a bit more frequent up until Teo & Rajathurai (1997). Afterwards,
A. fusca
has only been reported one more time when Teo & Thomas (2019) record two from BTNR.
Occurrence.
Restricted to CNR. Uncommon.
Singapore
conservation status.
Endangered.
Conservation priority.
Highest.
IUCN conservation status.
Least Concern [2021].
LKCNHM
&
NHMUK
Museum
specimens.
Singapore
(no locality)
:
ZRC
.2.887 (
08-Nov-1922
);
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
:
BMNH 1974.2434
(no date)
,
ZRC
.2.3200 (1967),
ZRC
.2.2336 (1980),
ZRC
.2.2337 (11-
Jun-1980),
ZRC
.2.2522 (
29-Nov-1989
)
;
Pulau Ubin:
ZRC
.2.330 (
Aug-1921
)
;
Seletar Reservoir Park [
USRP
]:
ZRC
.2.3287 (
02-Nov-1991
)
.
Additional
Singapore
museum specimens.
Singapore
(no locality):
MNHN-RA-1901.1 [
holotype
of
Aphaniotis floweri
]
.
Singapore
localities.
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—MacRitchie North Forest—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Pulau Ubin*—Rifle Range Forest—Sime Road Forest—Upper Seletar Reservoir Park.