Melanoseps poensis (Bocage, 1895)

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 : 59

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5202.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BF4831D2-D98B-4265-9138-03DB8607B826
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7304738
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C287E8-FF98-FFA9-FF4B-FA0DFAA6E58E
treatment provided by	Plazi (2022-11-04 09:38:00, last updated 2024-11-25 23:12:45)
scientific name	Melanoseps poensis (Bocage, 1895)
status

Treatment

Scelotes poensis Bocage, 1895b: 16 View in CoL . Type locality: “Bissé, nas faldas do Pico de Santa Isabel ”. Basilé, foothill of Pico Basilé.

Melanoseps poensis (Bocage, 1895) : Brygoo & Roux-Esteve 1982: 1171.

Distribution. Endemic to Bioko. This taxon is only known from the type locality, close to Basilé, Bioko ( Bocage 1895b, 1897, 1903; Boulenger 1906) ( Map 16A View MAPS 16 ).

Comments. Treated as a synonym of Melanoseps occidentalis by Mertens (1964) without providing any justification. Morphologically allied and likely conspecific to Melanoseps occidentalis ( Brygoo & Roux-Esteve 1982) , being the only difference between them is the number of supraciliary scales, five in M. poensis and four in M. occidentalis . Unfortunately, the types of Scelotes poensis were lost during the fire suffered in the Museu Bocage of Lisbon in 1977 ( Brygoo & Roux-Esteve 1982), hampering the solution of this taxonomic problem. The study of further collected topotypic specimens will be required in order to resolve its identity. Brygoo & Roux-Esteve (1982) tentatively treated M. poensis as a valid species until more data are available but suggesting the likely conspecificity of both taxa.

Specimens examined. No specimens of this species have been found in the collections examined.

References

Bocage, J. V. B. (1895 b) Reptiles et batraciens nouveaux ou peu connus de Fernao do Po. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 4 (13), 16 - 20.

Bocage, J. V. B. (1897) Mammiferos, reptis e batrachios d'Africa de que existem exemplares typicos no Museu de Lisboa. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 4 (16), 187 - 206.

Bocage, J. V. B. (1903 a) Contribution a la faune des quatre iles du Golfe de Guinee. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 7, 25 - 59.

Boulenger, G. A. (1906) Report on the reptiles collected by the late L. Fea in West Africa. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, 3 (2), 196 - 216.

Brygoo, E. R. & Roux-Esteve, R. (1982) Un genre de lezards scincines d'Afrique: Melanoseps. Bulletin du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 3 (4), 1169 - 1191.