Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea
Author
Sánchez-Vialas, Alberto
Author
Calvo-Revuelta, Marta
0000-0002-8628-1055
Author
Riva, Ignacio De La
0000-0001-5064-4507
albertosv@mncn.csic.es
text
Zootaxa
2022
2022-11-03
5202
1
1
197
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5202.1.1
journal article
182444
10.11646/zootaxa.5202.1.1
45ba25c1-47a9-4001-93d9-294815bf37e7
1175-5326
7285600
BF4831D2-D98B-4265-9138-03DB8607B826
Hemidactylus angulatus
Hallowell, 1852
Figure 8A
Hemidactylus angulatus
Hallowell, 1854: 63
.
Type
locality: “west coast of Africa”, corrected to
Gabon
fide
Loveridge (1947)
.
Hemidactylus cyanodactylus
Girard, 1858: 284
(non Rafinesque).
Type
locality: “Port
Praya
, San Jago,
Cape
de
Verde Islands
”.
Hemidactylus stellatus
Boulenger, 1885: 130
.
Type
locality: “
West Africa
”.
Hemidactylus brookii haitianus
Meerwarth, 1901: 17
.
Type
locality: “
Haiti
, …
Port au Prince
”.
Hemidactylus brookii angulatus
(
Hallowell, 1852
)
:
Mertens 1955
.
Hemidactylus cyanogaster
Schleich, 1987: 51
(nomen substitutum pro
Gecus cyanodactylus
Girard, 1858
).
Hemidactylus haitianus
(
Meerwarth, 1901
)
:
Powell
et al.
1996
.
Hemidactylus leightoni
Boulenger, 1911a: 19
.
Type
locality: “
Honda
,
Magdalena
R.,
Colombia
,
300-400 feet
”.
Hemidactylus neotropicalis
Shreve, 1936: 270
.
Type
locality: “
Puerto Witches
,
Santander
,
Colombia
”.
Distribution
. Widely distributed in Africa, from
Mauritania
and
Cape Verde
at the west, to
Kenya
and
Tanzania
at the east. Introduced in several Caribbean islands and coastal localities. In
Equatorial Guinea
it has been recorded from Bioko (
Boulenger 1885
;
Bocage 1903
) at Malabo (
Mertens 1941
; Pérez del
Val 2001
;
Carranza & Arnold 2006
), and from
Río Muni
at Bata (Pérez del
Val 2001
) (
Map 6B
).
Comments.
Hemidactylus angulatus
is probably a species complex endemic to Africa (
Carranza & Arnold 2006
). The taxonomic history of this taxon has been confusing.
Hemidactylus angulatus
was long considered part of the polytypic taxon
H. brookii
Gray, 1845
[although
Schmidt (1919)
recognized it as a full species]. Thus, old records of this species from
Equatorial Guinea
were recorded under the names
H. brookii
(
Boulenger 1885
;
Bocage 1903
;
Mertens 1941
) and
H. brookii angulatus
(
Mertens 1964a
)
. With the revision by
Kluge (1969)
, the populations from Africa of this species complex were treated as
H. brooki angulatus
.
Carranza & Arnold (2006)
considered
H. angulatus
with specific status, separated from
H. brookii
,
as they do not form a monophyletic group. In the same work, the single specimen sequenced from Bioko was genetically more similar to the Cuban specimens (considered as
H. haitianus
Meerwarth, 1901
) than to the rest of African populations (
Carranza & Arnold 2006
). Currently, the
H. brookii
species complex is limited to Asia [
type
locality restricted to Borneo by
Mahony (2011)
] (
Carranza & Arnold 2006
;
Bauer
et al.
2010
;
Mahony 2011
), whereas the
H. angulatus
species complex occurs in Africa, but also in the New World, where it has been introduced (
Carranza & Arnold 2006
;
Weiss & Hedges 2007
). Pérez del
Val (2001)
listed the specimens MNCN 15664 and MNCN 15666–15668 as
H. mabouia
, which are herein re-identified as
H. angulatus
. The specimens MNCN 15664 and MNCN 15666–15668, were supposedly collected in
Annobon
, together with a single specimen morphologically allied to
H. longicephalus
(MNCN 15665). Both species have never been recorded in
Annobon
despite the sampling efforts carried out on this small island (
Jesus
et al.
2003
). Due to these doubts regarding the specimens MNCN 15664, MNCN 15666–15668, we do not consider
H. angulatus
as part of the
Annobon
fauna until further investigations confirm its presence in the island.
Specimens examined.
Eight
specimens.
Río Muni
:
Bata
,
14 March 1933
(
MNCN 4475–4476
)
.
Bioko
:
Malabo
16–24 January 1933
(
MNCN 4473–4474
)
.
Annobon Island
? (
MNCN 15664
,
MNCN 15666–15668
)
.