Panaspis thomensis Ceríaco, Soares, Marques, Bastos-Silveira, Scheinberg, Harris, Brehm & Jesus, 2018

Soares, Leonor B., P, Luis M., Ceríaco, Marques, Mariana P., Bastos-, Cristiane, Silveira, Scheinberg, Lauren A., James, D., Harris, and, António Brehm & Jesus, José, 2018, Review of the leaf-litter skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from the Gulf of Guinea Oceanic Islands, with the description of a new species, African Journal of Herpetology 67 (2), pp. 132-159 : 140-146

Panaspis thomensis Ceríaco, Soares, Marques, Bastos-Silveira, Scheinberg, Harris, Brehm & Jesus , sp. nov. ( Figs 3 , 4 )

Mocoa africana ( Gray 1845: 83; Greef 1884: 48; Bocage 1886: 68; 1889: 34; Vieira 1886: 237)

Lygosoma africanum ( Bedriaga 1892: 814; Bocage 1905: 92; Boulenger 1906: 206; Manaças 1958: 185; Henriques 1917: 143)

Lygodactylus [sic] africanus ( Henriques 1917: 81)

Riopa africanum ( Smith 1937: 229)

Panaspis africana africana ( Fuhn 1972: 261)

Panaspis africana ( Schätti & Loumont 1992: 29; Perret 1973: 605)

Leiolopisma africana ( Mittleman 1952: 10)

Leptosiaphos africana ( Haft 1993: 59, 65)

Afroablepharus africana ( Jesus et al. 2007) Holotype — MB03-000947 , adult male collected on a trail between Bom Sucesso Botanical Garden and Lagoa Amélia (N: 0.28825, E: 6.608466; WGS-84), São Tomé Island, Republic of São Tomé e Príncipe, by Luis Ceríaco and Mariana Marques on 15 February 2015 ( Fig. 3 ).

Paratypes — All specimens from the Island of São Tomé, Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. Eight specimens: MB03-00948 and MB03-00949 , adult male, with the same collecting locality, collectors and date as the holotype; IICT 47-1954 adult male collected in Roça Monte Café (N: 0.30015, E: 6.63986; WGS-84) by Fernando Frade on 25 November 1954; IICT 50-1954 , adult male collected in Roça Nova Moka (N: 0.28738, E: 6.63334; WGS-84) by Fernando Frade on 26 November 1954; MHNG 2496.11 , adult female collected in Roça Monte Café (N: 0.30015, E: 6.63986; WGS-84) by Fernando Frade on 25 November 1954; MHNG 2540.63 , adult unsexed collected in “ São Tomé ” (no precise locality) by Adolfo Moller on an unknown date (possibly 1885); CAS 219046 adult unsexed collected in trail between Bom Sucesso and Lagoa Amelia (N: 0.26800, E: 6.59131; WGS-84) by Robert C. Drewes, Ricka E. Stoelting and Jens V. Vindum on 14 April 2001; CAS 233693 adult unsexed collected in 0.8 km west (by road) from Abade (N: 0.25411, E: 6.64458; WGS-84) by Robert C. Drewes, J. Uyeda and Jens V. Vindum on 16 May 2006.

Diagnosis — Panaspis thomensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from other Gulf of Guinea Oceanic Islands Panaspis by the following characteristics 1) preocular and prefrontal scales in contact; 2) a medium SVL (31.1 – 47.7 mm); 3) the limbs do not touch each other when adpressed to the body; 4) an high number of paraventral scales (37 – 64); 5) between 10 to 14 lamellae under the fourth toe and 7 to 10 under the fourth finger; 6) an orange-brown coloration on the body.

Description of the holotype — Adult male in good condition. Arrangement and relative size of head, body and tail scales typical for Panaspis ( Fig. 3 ). Robust and cylindrical body with short pentadactyl limbs. Fore- and hind-limbs do not overlap when adpressed against the body. SVL 35.9 mm, tail length 39 mm. Head length 7.3 mm, with relatively acuminate snout (HL 155.4% HW). Other relevant measurements are presented in Table 5 . Rostral wider than long. Rostral visible from above, nostrils set posteriorly so that postnasal effectively borders nostril. Frontonasal wider than long, in contact with postnasal, two prefrontals and frontal. Prefrontals slightly hexagonal, separated by the frontal, and in contact with the following head shields: frontonasal, loreal, preocular, first supraoculars, and frontal. Two loreals, the posterior and dorsal margins of the largest loreal border one enlarged preocular. Frontal diamond-shaped, length 1.6 times the distance between anterior tip of frontal and tip of snout, in contact with prefrontals, the two anterior supraoculars and with both frontoparietals.

Frontoparietals two, in contact with each other, the frontal, second, third and fourth supraoculars, parietal and interparietal. Frontoparietal plus interparietal length is 1.25 times the length of the frontal. Interparietal with visible parietal foramen; parietals about two times larger than frontoparietals and in contact at the anterior point of the interparietal. Parietals in broad contact. A pair of large, broad nuchals collectively bordered by a total of six dorsals. Supraciliaries six, fifth largest. Supralabials seven, the fifth being the subocular. Infralabials seven. Transparent scale present in lower eyelid. Two pre-temporals. Tympanum visible, approximately the same height as eye. Dorsal scales smooth, without keels. Ventral scales smooth. MSR 27, SAD 56, SAV 57. Limbs with five digits; scales on soles of hands and feet smooth. Relative length of fingers III> IV> II> I> V, relative length of toes IV> III> V> II> I. Finger-IV lamellae 8 (right side), Toe-IV lamellae 12 (right side). Tail long, robust and tapering smoothly. In preservative, background colour of flanks and upper side of head, neck, dorsum, legs and tail dark-brown, with darker dorso-lateral lines, and some light-coloured speckles in the limits of those lines. Between the dorso-lateral lines, incomplete and thinner dark lines run on the midbody. A thin dark lateral line runs from the tympanum to the beginning of the tail. Supralabials present a distinctive whitish blotch, surrounded anteriorly and posteriorly by scattered small dark spots. Infralabials present some dark-brown dots that extend to the chin. Venter uniformly whitish-yellow, although in the transition from venter to dorsal sides of the body, there is a dark-brown pigmentation, forming small disperse patches.

Variation — Variation in scalation and body measurements of the paratypes of P. thomensis are reported in Table 5 . The majority of the paratype agree entirely with the holotype, except regarding the contact between the prefrontals, which are separated, but not in the case of IICT 50-1954 , MB03-00949 and MHNG 2496.11 , where the prefrontals contact narrowly at a single point.

Colour — Colour in life ( Fig. 4 ): orange-brown background on flanks and upper side of head, neck, dorsum, legs and tail, with a distinctive dark dorsolateral band, speckled with some light-coloured scales, starting near the tympanum and running along the entire dorsum to the anterior half of the tail. In some specimens, there are some irregular dark-brown lines in the dorsum, between the two dorsolateral bands. A dark-brown line starts on the top of the prefrontal and extends until the temporal, across the supraciliaries. Upper labials have a distinctive whitish blotch, surrounded anteriorly and posteriorly by scattered small dark spots. This pattern extends to the infralabials, and the small dark spots briefly enter into the limits of ventral side of the mandibula. Venter whitish, spotless. The underside of the tail bears scattered dark speckles. Female specimens have a vivid orange coloration between the cloaca and the anterior part of the tail.

Comparison with other Gulf of Guinea Panaspis — Table 4 summarises the most important distinguishing characteristics between P. thomensis and all other Gulf of Guinea oceanic island Panaspis . Comparing P. thomensis with P. africana , P. thomensis the preocular scale is in contact with the prefrontal scale, whereas in P. africana the preocular is separated from the prefrontal by the obtrusion of the posterior supraciliar and the loreal. In P. thomensis the subocular (5th supralabial) is twice as long as wide, whereas in P. africana it is approximately as long as wide. In the new species has a larger SVL (31 to 47 mm in P. thomensis versus 22 to 42 mm in P. africana ), and a higher number of ventral scales between the mental and the cloaca (37 to 64 in P. thomensis versus 29 to 54 in P. africana ). The two species do not exhibit any consistent differences in color, although Príncipe individuals tend to be darker than the São Tomé species. Despite the differences cited in the morphological and meristic cranial between P. thomensis and P. africana , both species are morphologically very similar. Comparing P. thomensis with the Annobon endemic Panaspis annobonensis , the new species has a higher number of MSR (24 to 29 in P. thomensis versus 24 to 27 in P. annobonensis ), a slightly lower number of LUFT (10 to 14 in P. thomensis versus 13 to 17 in P. annobonensis ) and lower number of LUFF (7 to 9 in P. thomensis versus 9 to 12 in P. annobonensis ). In P. thomensis the upper palpebrals (usually 7) are roughly the same size, whereas in P. annobonensis the fifth upper palpebral is considerably larger, extending along almost the entire upper region of the eye. In P. thomensis the preocular scale is in contact with the prefrontal scale, whereas in P. annobonensis the preocular is separated from the prefrontal by the obtrusion of the posterior supraciliar and the loreal. In terms of coloration, P. annobonensis is considerably darker than P. thomensis , and has a well defined dark subocular band. The throat of P. annobonensis is homogeneously speckled with dark-brown speckles, whereas in P. thomensis these speckles only occur in the margins.

Distribution — Endemic to São Tomé Island, Rolas Islet and Santana Islet, Republic of São Tomé & Príncipe, West Africa.

Habitat and natural history notes — The newly described species occurs in the leaf litter of primary and secondary forests of São Tomé Island. It can sometimes be found along the limits of the forests, in more opened areas. Manaças ’ analysis of stomach contents revealed a diet composed of Dermaptera and other unidentified insects ( Manaças 1958).

Etymology — The specific epithet “thomensis ” refers to the Island of São Tomé and is applied here as a substantive in apposition. We propose the English name of “ São Tomé Leaf-litter Skink ” and the Portuguese name “ Lagartixa da manta morta de São Tomé ”.

Figures

Figure 3. Holotype (MUHNAC/MB03-000947) of Panaspis thomensis sp. nov. (Photograph: Luis Ceríaco).

Figure 4. Live photograph of Panaspis thomensis sp. nov. (Photograph by Dong Ling).