HAACKE’S SAND LIZARD

Pedioplanis haackei Conradie, Measey, Branch and Tolley, 2012

MATERIAL.— 5 km NW (by road) of Pico Azevedo, 7 December 2013, 15º28ʹ33.6ʺS, 12º27ʹ41.4ʺE, 399 m (CAS 254767) , 15º28ʹ31.7ʺS, 12º27ʹ43.9ʺE, 408 m (CAS 254763–253764); RNN, 28 November 2013, 15º46ʹ22.5ʺS, 12º19ʹ57.7ʺE, 262 m (CAS 254951), 15º46ʹ25ʺS, 12º19ʹ54.9ʺE, 262 m (CAS 254953); Pico Azevedo, 7 December 2013, 15º32ʹ2.4ʺS, 12º29ʹ31.1ʺE, 359 m (CAS 254939) ; Pediva Hot Springs, south side of the river, 2 December 2013, 16º17ʹ37.7ʺS, 13º33ʹ37.2ʺE, 235 m (CAS 254860) , 16º17ʹ24.01ʺS, 12º33ʹ43.9ʺE, 270 m (CAS 254864); INP, north of Tambor, 4 December 2013, 15º59ʹ43.4ʺS, 12º24ʹ23.3ʺE, 306 m (CAS 254840) ; Omauha Lodge, 4 December 2013, 16º12ʹ1.2ʺS, 12º24ʹ00.1ʺE, 343 m (CAS 254835) .

COMMENTS.— Pedioplanis haackei is one of the latest additions to the herpetofauna of Angola, and is endemic to southern Angola. Each of our specimens has 10 to 12 longitudinal rows of ventral scales, a semi-transparent lower eyelid with a brille formed of two large scales, five to six supralabials anterior to the subocular, two rows of granules separating supraoculars from supraciliaries, and the typical coloration with dots on the flanks, concordant with the diagnostic characters presented by Conradie et al. (2012) in the species description. Genetically, our specimens (GenBank accession numbers KU662311–KU662318) have an average 16S p-distance of 1% from those of Conradie et al. (2012) (GenBank accession numbers HE794000, HE793999.1; HE793998.1; HE793997.1; HE793996.1; HE793995.1; HE793994.1; HE793994.3).