Lophognathus temporalis ( Günther, 1867 )

Karin, Benjamin R., Stubbs, Alexander L., Arifin, Umilaela, Bloch, Luke M., Ramadhan, G., Iskandar, Djoko T., Arida, Evy, Reilly, Sean B., Kusnadi, Agus & Mcguire, Jimmy A., 2018, The herpetofauna of the Kei Islands (Maluku, Indonesia): Comprehensive report on new and historical collections, biogeographic patterns, conservation concerns, and an annotated checklist of species from Kei Kecil, Kei Besar, Tam, and Kur, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 66, pp. 704-738 : 716

Lophognathus temporalis ( Günther, 1867)

(Fig. 7)

Type locality. Port Essington , Northern Territory, Australia .

Distribution in the Kei Islands. Known only from Tam and Kur. Apparently absent from both Kei Kecil and Kei Besar.

Natural history. These lizards were abundant in savannah habitat on both Kur and Tam. They seemed to prefer to bask on wide branches on trees, but were also observed on the ground. We never encountered them in dense, closed forest.

Field identification. A large semi-arboreal lizard with a black head and mottled brown to grey dorsum and with a distinct thick white dorsolateral stripe beginning at the tip of the snout and continuing to the hind limbs. This is the only agamid lizard known definitively from the Kei Islands. Adult males possess a conspicuous dorsal and nuchal crest while in females and juveniles it is much more indistinct. Dorsal scales are keeled and form longitudinal lines. Tail long, does not autotomise. SVL to 100 mm, tail to 300 mm or more.

Remarks. Melville et al. (2011) found that populations on Tanimbar and in northwestern Australia were genetically similar, though somewhat divergent, and together the species was found to be quite divergent from other taxa currently placed in this genus. Melville et al. (2011) recommended that that L. temporalis be transferred to a new genus, and Wilson & Swan (2013, p. 408) and Cogger (2014, p. 741) temporarily placed the species in Gowidon with Gowidon longirostris . We retain the generic name Lophognathus here pending future action. Our molecular analysis places the Tam population as most similar to the Tanimbar population

Fig. 8. Photo in life of Cyrtodactylus sp. from Tam (BRK

205).

(unpublished data), although we lacked samples from the geographically most proximate populations in New Guinea.

This large agamid was listed as present in the Kei Islands by Roux (1910). We found them in abundance on Tam and Kur, yet on our surveys of of Kei Kecil and Kei Besar we did not encounter this species and local people were unfamiliar with the species. While Roux and Merton’s collections from the Kei Islands were extensive, they did not collect Lophognathus temporalis or another species Sphenomorphus kühnei [= melanopogon ], but instead reported them based on specimens purchased from a natural history dealer, Hermann Rolle, in Berlin ( Roux, 1910, Shea, 2012). Hermann Rolle received the specimens from a collector (Mr. Kühne) living in Tual on Kei Kecil, but who also made expeditions to surrounding islands such as Damar and Babar where both L. temporalis and S. melanopogon are present ( Shea, 2012). We collected S. melanopogon on Kur and L. temporalis on both Tam and Kur less than 50 km west of Kei Kecil (the ANWC expedition to Tam in 1971 also collected L. temporalis ), so it is possible that the specimens could have been collected from these small islands rather than Kei Kecil itself. Interviews with local people on Kei Kecil and Kei Besar suggest it is not present. The local people on Tam call this lizard “sringat” in their local language and it co-occurs with Varanus there. On Kur this lizard is often referred to as a “soa soa” which is the generic name for a large lizard in Bahasa Ambon (this is the term used for Hydrosaurus on Sulawesi) and can refer to either Varanus or large Agamid species in Maluku.