Platysaurus capensis A. Smith 1844

Whiting, Martin J., Branch, William R., Pepper, Mitzy & Keogh, J. Scott, 2015, A new species of spectacularly coloured flat lizard Platysaurus (Squamata: Cordylidae: Platysaurinae) from southern Africa, Zootaxa 3986 (2), pp. 173-192 : 184

Platysaurus capensis A. Smith 1844 , Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Rept.: pl. XL.

English: Cape Flat Lizard

Afrikaans: Kaapse Platakkedis

Types. Holotype (lectotype) BM 65.5.4.110 (re-registered 1946.8.29.26); syntype (paralectotype) MHNP 2807 (2500).

Type locality. “Great Namaqualand”, retricted (above) to Kamiesberg region, Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province, South Africa.

Distribution. Restricted to the greater Kamiesberg region, from Carolusberg near Springbok south of Garies, Northern Cape Province. It is thus endemic to South Africa.

Remarks. The existence of the Paris specimen, listed as a syntype (Brygoo 1985), was not noted by Branch & Whiting (1997). If the Paris specimen is indeed part of Smith’s original material, Broadley’s recognition of the BMNH specimen as the holotype effectively becomes the designation of a lectotype, making the Paris specimen a paralectotype.