Lepidothyris hinkeli, Wagner, Philipp, Böhme, Wolfgang, Pauwels, Olivier S. G. & Schmitz, Andreas, 2009

Wagner, Philipp, Böhme, Wolfgang, Pauwels, Olivier S. G. & Schmitz, Andreas, 2009, A review of the African red – flanked skinks of the Lygosoma fernandi (BURTON, 1836) species group (Squamata: Scincidae) and the role of climate change in their speciation., Zootaxa 2050, pp. 1-30 : 12-14

Lepidothyris hinkeli sp. n.

Holotype: ZFMK 55701 Cyamudongo, Nyungwe, Rwanda, leg. Paĉome & H. Hinkel ( Fig. 7). Paratopotype: ZFMK 55702 same locality as holotype, patata field next to primary forest, subadult, leg.

H. Hinkel, 15.–20. XI 1990.

Paratypes: ZFMK 55704 South Kivu, Station Irangi, DR Congo.

ZFMK 58674 South Kivu, Station Irangi, DR Congo, leg. H. Hinkel.

MHNG 2699.51 South Kivu, Station Irangi, DR Congo, leg. H. Hinkel.

ZFMK 50354 South Kivu, Station Irangi, Dem. Rep. Congo, juvenile, leg. H. Hinkel.

IRSNB 2643 Musosa, District Tanganyika, Congo Belge (= DR Congo), leg. H.J. Bredo, 1939.

Diagnosis: The new species is distinguishable from L. fernandi by different aspects of morphology and colouration: L. hinkeli sp. n. is smaller in size than its sister taxon from West Africa; unlike L. fernandi the new species has small but distinct ear lobuli; there are between 34 and 38 scale rows around midbody, which is much higher than in L. fernandi with 31 to 34 rows; number of longitudinal ventral scales also higher (61 to 77) than in L. fernandi with 56 to 67 scales.

Colouration. Throat and belly white, without any markings; light patches, framed dark, on the sides of the head between ear opening and forelimb, the dark framing is lacking at the lower border of the typical black patch; laterally between the limbs there are seven to nine dark stripes reaching the dorsal side of the body.

Size. The maximum snout–vent length of the analysed specimens is 145.0 mm, average is 115.3 mm.

Description of Holotype: Snout–vent length: 143.9 mm, tail is broken behind 46.5 mm, head length 30.2 mm, head wide 23.2 mm, head height 17.7 mm. Body stout, sub–cylindrical; there are 34 scales around the body and 67 scales longitudinal ventral scales; limbs short and strong with five toes, dark above, light below; 4th fingers with twelve digits on the right and eleven on the left side, 4th toe with nine digits on both sides; ear opening, well visible, oval, with two small ear lobules, little less in diameter than the half of the width of the eye opening, little less broad than high, tympanum visible; lower eyelid with two scale rows; dorsal body scales moderately keeled with three, sometimes four keels; dorsal tail scales moderately triple–keeled to smooth; lateral body scales and tail scales smooth; head distinctly set off from body; size of eye opening half the length of the distance from the posterior edge of the eye to the ear opening; distance of tip of snout from anterior edge of eye a little shorter than the distance from posterior edge of eye to ear; occipital scale lacking; parietal organ set in the posterior edge of the interparietal scale; frontal scale twice as long as broad; two frontoparietal scales at the anterior side of the frontal scale; two frontonasals instead of only one in the paratype series; two internasal scales; rostral scale broader than high; two nasal scales, nostril inside the postnasal scale, the anterior nasal scale smaller than the postnasal scale; two loreal scales, the anterior higher than the posterior; two preocular scales; four supraocular and seven supraciliary scales; eight supralabial scales on each side; eight sublabials on the right, seven on the left side; mental scale broader than high; three pairs of submaxillary scales, the first one is entire.

Colouration. Head and back red to red–brown; on the back lateral black bars are visible, the last two before the hindlimb continue across the back; supralabial scales red; first two sublabial scales red, the following white with a black dot in each scale; colouration of the lateral sides of the body between ear opening and forelimb with a dominant red spot, which is framed by a white line which is itself again bordered by a wider black line above and behind. The red spot is subdivided by one vertical broken black, white framed line; between the limbs nine black bars which are white framed, some of which V–shaped, on a red ground colour; lateral side of tail lined with white and black bars; belly and throat white without any stripes.

Variation of paratypes: The paratypes agree generally well with the given description of the holotype. All of them have, contrary to the holotype, only one frontonasal scale. Some of them show a black line from the end of the jaw straight downwards. Juveniles (ZFMK 50354, 55704) show the typical reddish colouration only on the back and the head; between the lateral black bars they are white in colour. The lateral bars continue across the back. The tail is striated black and blue, black is dominant. The two subadult individuals (MHNG 2699.51, ZFMK 55702) show mostly the typical characteristics of the holotype; the bars on the back are more distinctly visible and the tail shows more blue than in adult specimens. The only adult paratype (ZFMK 58674) shows the typical characteristics of the holotype.

Etymology: We dedicate the new species to Dr. Harald Hinkel, the collector of the type specimen, in admission of his work on the herpetology of the eastern Congo and Rwanda.