Hemidactylus aporus Boulenger, 1906

Sánchez-Vialas, Alberto, Calvo-Revuelta, Marta & Riva, Ignacio De La, 2022, Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea, Zootaxa 5202 (1), pp. 1-197 : 32

Hemidactylus aporus Boulenger, 1906

Hemidactylus aporus Boulenger, 1906: 199 . Type locality: “Anno Bon”, Annobon.

Distribution. Endemic to Annobon ( Map 6C ).

Comments. Only known from the type specimens, as no more individuals have been recorded since 1906 ( Meiri et al. 2017). The eight syntypes are housed in the Museo civico di storia naturale Giacomo Doria ( Capocaccia 1961b). Loveridge (1947) redescribed H. aporus confirming the absence of precloacal and femoral pores. It is noteworthy that the sympatric H. newtoni , another species endemic to Annobon, also lacks preanal and femoral pores. Loveridge (1947) provided some differences between these taxa based on the number of subdigital lamellae (seven vs. 11–12 lamellae in the fourth toe of H. aporus and H. newtoni respectively) and on the arrangement of the dorsal tubercles (regular vs. irregular arranged in H. aporus and H. newtoni , respectively). However, the taxonomic status of H. aporus is in need of revision ( Ceríaco et al., 2022), as some authors suggest that it could be a synonym of H. newtoni or H. longicephalus (L.M.P. Ceríaco, pers. comm.). Boulenger (1906) mentioned that Hemidactylus aporus and H. longicephalus (as H. bocagii ) are closely allied, with morphological differences mainly restricted to the presence/absence of preanal and femoral pores ( Loveridge, 1947) (see H. longicephalus account).

Specimens examined. No specimens of this taxon were found in the examined collections.

Figures

MAPS 6 A–C. Distribution maps for Equatorial Guinean records of (A) Ancylodactylus koehleri; (B) Hemidactylus angulatus (question mark represents a dubious record; see species account); (C) Hemidactylus aporus.