Afroedura multiporis, Hewitt, 1925

Jacobsen, Niels H. G., Kuhn, Arianna L., Jackman, Todd R. & Bauer, Aaron M., 2014, A phylogenetic analysis of the southern African gecko genus Afroedura Loveridge (Squamata: Gekkonidae), with the description of nine new species from Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa, Zootaxa 3846 (4), pp. 451-501 : 474

A. multiporis ( Hewitt, 1925)

Distribution. Restricted to the Haenertsburg and Wolkberg areas of central Limpopo province, South Africa ( Bauer 2014g) ( Figs. 4 , 6 ).

Remarks. This species was described as a subspecies of A. pondolia and long retained this status (e.g., Onderstall 1984; Kluge 2001), but was referred to by Jacobsen (1990) as A. multiporis multiporis . Our molecular data confirm its affinities with A. haackei . On the basis of substantial genetic differentiation from A. haackei as well as differences in body size and precloacal pore counts (see Table 4) we here formally elevate A. haackei to specific rank, leaving A. multiporis monotypic. The species was previously listed in the South African Red Data Book as “Restricted” ( Jacobsen 1988b) and is currently considered Vulnerable under the IUCN threat categories (Bauer 2014f).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Map of southern Africa showing the approximate distributional ranges of previously described species of Afroedura. Red dots represent localities sampled for the genetic portion of the study. Ranges based on Branch (1998) and Bates et al. (2014) as well as unpublished data. Taxon names follow the conclusions of this paper. Area demarcated by a dashed line is presented in more detail in Figure 6.

FIGURE 6. Map of Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa and adjacent regions showing the distributions of previously described species of Afroedura endemic to this region and known localities of the nine new species described in this paper. For previously recognized forms an approximate outline of the range based on Bates et al. (2014) is shown; genetically sampled localities are marked by circles in Figure 4. For new species all known localities are plotted as dots (see relevant species accounts), with genetically sampled site marked by circles with a a red center, type locality marked by a star, and all other localities indicated by open circles colored to correspond to the key in the figure. The very restricted distributions of A. maripi sp. nov., A. rondavelica sp. nov., and A. rupestris sp. nov. are indicated by arrows and are labeled directly on the map.