Lubuya ivensii (Bocage, 1879)

Conradie, Werner, Keates, Chad, Verburgt, Luke, Baptista, Ninda L., Harvey, James, Júlio, Timóteo & Neef, Götz, 2022, Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Angolan Okavango-Cuando-Zambezi River drainages. Part 2: Lizards (Sauria), chelonians, and crocodiles, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 322) 16 (2), pp. 181-214 : 199-200

Lubuya ivensii (Bocage, 1879)

Iven’s Water Skink ( Fig. 27 , Map 24)

Material (2 specimens): PEM R23422 , Cuando River source, -13.00345° 19.12751°, 1,343 m asl ;

PEM R 24276, Cuando River, Camp 19, -14.79365° 20.20482°, 1,121 m asl. Description: Dorsal scales with three keels each; tail twice SVL; 29 midbody scale rows; 64–66 transverse ventral scale rows; 62–64 transverse ventral scale rows; 6–7 supralabials; 6 infralabials; 3–4 supraciliaries; 16–19 subdigital lamellae under 4 th toe. Largest specimen: 113.0 + 216.0 mm ( PEM R 24276). Habitat and natural history notes: One of the specimens was caught basking on top of dense grass within a grassy wetland. Comment: Monard (1937) reported that the material from northeastern Angola has an extra lateral white line, but took no taxonomic action. Subsequently, Laurent (1964) described northeastern material as Mabuya ivensi septemlineata . Branch and Haagner (1993), while reporting on a large collection of specimens from northwestern Zambia and adjacent DRC, found no evidence to support the continued recognition of M. i. septemlineata. The two new records reported here and the record in Conradie et al. (2016) represent the most southern records of this species and the first from the Okavango and Cuando River basins.

Figures

Fig. 27. Juvenile Lubuya ivensii (PEM R23422) from Cuando River source. Photo by Werner Conradie.