Trapelus mutabilis, 2011
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00726.x |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0388A430-0623-C025-5F3C-F9F4E66307EF |
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treatment provided by |
Valdenar |
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scientific name |
Trapelus mutabilis |
| status |
subsp. nov. |
TRAPELUS MUTABILIS POPPEKI SSP. NOV.
Holotype: ZFMK 63678 About ZFMK : juvenile, Libya: east of Tarbu , 24.48.27N, 16.19.11E, 490 m a.s.l., leg. Hemmo Nickel, ix.1996 ( Fig. 7 View Figure 7 ).
Paratype: ZFMK 20848 About ZFMK : female, Libya: Tripolis, leg. W. Schlüter, 1913 ( Fig. 7 View Figure 7 ) .
Diagnosis: A small to medium sized subspecies of T. mutabilis with all the typical characteristics of the genus. Trapelus m. poppeki ssp. nov. differs from many other valid Trapelus species and T. m. mutabilis and T. m. pallidus in its typical body scalation of enlarged vertebral scales and much smaller lateral scales. Only T. savignii has a similar body scalation. A second characteristic is the small pineal scale, which is not much larger than the pineal organ.
Trapelus m. poppeki ssp. nov. differs from valid African species of Trapelus :
– T. savignii (type locality: Egypt) in not possessing a gular pouch, in having the ventral scales smooth and in a high genetic distance.
– T. m. mutabilis (type locality: Egypt) in possessing enlarged vertebral scales in comparison to much smaller scales on the flanks.
– T. m. pallidus (type locality: southern Egypt) in possessing enlarged vertebral scales in comparison to much smaller scales on the flanks.
– T. tournevillei (type locality: Ouargla, Algeria) in having a shorter head, brownish transverse bands on the body, and smooth ventral scales (instead of keeled ventral scales in T. tournevillei ) and in lacking longitudinal lines on the belly.
)
0.116) 0.0
((
NAS 3.42 3.00
))
0.059 0.131
((
PCS 2.62 2.625
Trapelus 0.056 () () 0.147
of WDS 1.86 2.20
species) 0.043 0.111)
new
WIP
0.98 (1.075 (
putative 0.181)) 0.204
a ((
and TH 6.82 10.40
mutabilis 0.155 (
)) (0.405
Trapelus TOE 0.104 10.48) 13.25 0.183)
for
SNL
((
characteristics FOOT 0.261 (20.48) 8.19 0.690 (9.60 25.75)
morphological FEMUR 0.225
) (16.88 (22.38) 0.730. diagnostic values of HAND) (
)
11.94 0.156 16.35
)
) 0.343 (traits morphological
1.053 1.582 of
(
±
SE
(
)
SVL 75.82
(
111.75 definitions
Mean (44
) sp. 1 for
Table
.
)
nov (. 4 Table See
– T. schmitzi (type locality: Ennedi Mts., Chad) in possessing a very heterogenous body scalation with enlarged vertebral scales and smaller lateral scales, and in having brownish transverse bands on the body.
Trapelus m. poppeki ssp. nov. differs from the following synonyms ( Agama aspera is maybe a valid taxon, but clearly different to the here-described subspecies and more research is needed to clarify the status of this taxon):
– Agama inermis Reuss, 1833 (type locality: southern Egypt) in possessing enlarged vertebral scales.
– Agama gularis Reuss, 1833 (type locality: southern Egypt) in possessing enlarged vertebral scales.
– Agama latastii Boulenger, 1885 (type locality: Egypt) in lacking equal sized, rhomboidal dorsal scales.
– Agama aspera F. Werner, 1893 (type locality: Algerian Sahara, between Kef-el-Dhor and Chegga; Biskra-Bordj-Saada; Zab-el-Zig south of El Meranyer) in possessing no spiny scales and a heterogeneous dorsal scalation.
Description of the holotype: Measurements. Snout-vent length 36.5 mm; tail length 49.3 mm; head length 10.8 mm; head height 6.9 mm; head width 9.6 mm; length of left forelimb 19.8 mm; length of left hindlimb 31.1 mm.
Scalation. Nostril on the canthus rostralis, piercing in the posterior part of a large, flat nasal scale; nostril is directed obliquely upwards. Head scales heterogeneous in size and shape: supraocular scales smooth; parietal organ pierces the corner of an enlarged scale, giving the impression that it is in the middle of four enlarged scales that are surrounded backwards by four larger scales. Between the eyes a row of three longitudinal scales is obvious. Scales originating from both sides of the parietal midline have imbrications directed laterally, with their free anterior margins having sensory pits. Eyelid with mucronate scales forming a ring. The ear opening is medium in size, less than half of the size of the eye, having a superior margin with five spiny, mucronate scales on both sides; tympanum sunken but visible. A rudimentary nuchal crest is present, consisting of five spiny, mucronate scales. Gular scales are flat, smooth, with the posterior margins being enlarged and slightly imbricate; gular scales are equal in size but become smaller on the gular fold. Gular fold small. Gular pouch absent. Ventral scales are smooth, slightly imbricate, and equal in size. Dorsal scales smooth to keeled, slightly imbricate, partly mucronate, and heterogeneous, intermixed with larger, keeled scales. Vertebral scales much larger than scales on the flanks. Scales on tail strongly keeled, mucronate, and not arranged in whorls. The tail is cylindrical and relatively long, nearly as long as the snout-vent length. Only one row of about ten weakly developed precloacal pores is present. Forelimbs with strongly keeled scales on the upperside, becoming smooth to the underside, homogeneous in size; digits are long with long claws, fourth digit longest, digital length increasing 4-3-2-5-1, plantar scales and subdigital lamellae are strongly keeled. Hindlimbs have strongly keeled and slightly mucronate scales on the upper-side, becoming smooth and nonmucronate to the underside, scales on the upperside are homogeneous in size, becoming smaller on the underside; digits are very long with long claws, fourth digit longest, digital length increasinge 4-3-2-5-1, plantar scales and subdigital lamellae strongly keeled.
Coloration in alcohol. Ground coloration sandy to grey and some of the enlarged scales are recognizable as whitish dots. The tail is barred. On the shoulders a black blotch is visible. Underparts of the specimen are uniform whitish. On the throat pale brownish lines are visible.
Paratype: Habitus of the paratype, a pregnant female, is stout; tail only moderately longer than the body.
Measurements. Snout-vent length 75.4 mm; tail length 94.0 mm; head length 21.0 mm; head height 11.6 mm; head width 17.1 mm; length of left forelimb 35.8 mm; length of left hindlimb 53.1 mm. Scalation. The parietal scale is small, more or less rectangular, surrounded by three enlarged scales and four scales of equal size; pineal organ visible, piercing the middle of the scale, in contrast to the holotype. Likewise, there are no elongate scales between the eyes. Ventral scales usually smooth, but with the impression of keels and also partly very feebly keeled.
Coloration in alcohol. Basic dorsal coloration of body, tail and head uniform yellowish to sandy. On the body fragments, three brown transverse bands are obvious, interrupted by yellowish stripes and dashes. The tail is barred; the first six bars are interrupted by a yellowish line. Head with some brownish shades, which gives the impression that the brownish bands are also present there. Ventral coloration uniform whitish without any markings on the throat.
Relationships: Regarding the interspecific molecular data between the North African taxa of Trapelus , and the new subspecies the uncorrected 16S pairwise sequence divergences were calculated as follows: T. sp. nov. – T. m. poppeki ssp. nov. = 2.55–2.82%; T. m. mutabilis – T. m. poppeki ssp. nov. = 2.02%; T. m. pallidus – T m. poppeki ssp. nov. = 1.82%; T. savignii – T. m. poppeki ssp. nov. = 6.65%. Within the T. mutabilis complex, the genetic distances are highest between the new species described in this paper and T. mutabilis poppeki ssp. nov., whereas they are slightly lower for the recognized subspecies of T. mutabilis . Moreover, the genetic analysis completely supports the morphological results as it corroborates the distinctiveness of the new taxon as a subspecies of the T. mutabilis complex and shows it to be clearly distinct from T. savignii .
Habitat: Details of the habitat are unknown, but similar requirements to the habitat as in other North African Trapelus species seem obvious.
Etymology: The new species is named after Hans- Jürgen Poppek for his decades of honorary work, e.g. as chairman of the German national scout and guide association ‘Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder’.
Distribution: The new species is so far only known from the two localities of the type specimens ( Libya: Tripolis; Libya: east of Tarbu).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
