Pelomedusa Wagler, 1830

Marques, Mariana P., Ceríaco, Luis M. P., Blackburn, David C. & Bauer, Aaron M., 2018, Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840 - 2017), Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 65, pp. 1-501 : 162-164

Genus Pelomedusa Wagler, 1830

Pelomedusa subrufa ( Bonnaterre, 1789) HELMETED TERRAPIN

T estudo Subrufa Bonnaterre 1789:28 ; pl. 6, fig. 5. Holotype: MNHN 7970 (collector P. Commerson, see Notes below) fide Bour (1982:533). Type locality: “Les grandes Indes” [= India] ( Bonnaterre 1789:28), in error, corrected by Mertens (1937b:141) to “Kap der Guten Hoffnung,” South Africa, and later by Bour (1982:535) to “Taolañaro (Fort-Dauphin), Républic Malagasy ( Madagascar)” [= Tolanaro], Madagascar.

Pentonyx Gehafie : Bocage (1870:68).

Pelomedusa galeata : Bocage (1887b:202, 1895a:5), Mertens (1937b:152), Schimdt (1933:3), Monard (1937b:147).

Pelomedusa subrufa subrufa : Loveridge (1941b:470), Bour (1982:533).

Pelomedusa subrufa : Iverson (1986:236, 1992:52), Boycott and Bourquin (2008:007.1), Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (2014:435), Petzold et al. (2014:542) , Ceríaco et al. (2016a:54), Conradie et al. (2016:26) .

Global conservation status (IUCN): Not Evaluated.

Global distribution: The species is distributed from the subtropical savannas and semi-desert regions in Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, parts of Mozambique, and portions of northeastern South Africa. It has also been introduced to Madagascar.

Ocurrences in Angola (Map 110): This species has been confirmed from numerous localities across southern and central Angola.

Malanje: “ Duque de Bragança ” [-9.10000,

15.95000] ( Bocage 1895a:5; Monard

1937b:146; Loveridge 1941b:479). Bié:

“Gauca” [-11.18333, 17.45000] ( Schmidt

1933:3; Loveridge 1941b:479); “Chitau”

[-11.43333, 17.15000] ( Schmidt 1933:3; Loveridge 1941b:479). Benguela: “Quissange”

[-12.43333, 14.05000] ( Bocage 1895a:5;

Monard 1937b:146; Loveridge 1941b:

479); “Catumbella-Mündung, Benguella”

[-12.33333, 13.55000] ( Mertens 1926:152).

Huíla: “Kalukembé” [-13.78333, 14.68333]

( Monard 1937b:147; Loveridge 1941b:479);

“Quillengues” [-14.06667, 15.08333] ( Bocage

1895a:5; 1937b:146; Loveridge 1941b:479); MAP 110. Distribution of Pelomedusa subrufa in Angola. “sur les bordes du Kuvangu, au sud de Vila-da-Ponte (Kuvangu river S. Vila da Ponte)” [-14.46667, 16.30000] ( Monard 1937b:147; Loveridge 1941b:479); “Huíla District” [-15.24179, 14.52210] ( Petzold et al. 2014, supplemental information); “Kahuihui” [Undetermined Locality] ( Monard 1937b:147; Loveridge 1941b:479); “Kalundunga” [Undetermined Locality] ( Monard 1937b:147; Loveridge 1941b:479). Namibe: “Mucungu” [-14.78333, 12.48333] ( Schmidt 1933:3; Loveridge 194b1:479; Ceríaco et al. 2016a:54); “Maconjo” [-15.01667, 13.20000] ( Bocage 1895a:5; Monard 1937b:146; Loveridge 1941b:479; Ceríaco et al. 2016a:54); “Capangombe” [-15.10000, 13.15000] ( Bocage 1887b:202; 1895a:5; Monard 1937b:146; Loveridge 1941b:479; Ceríaco et al. 2016a:54); “Mossamedes” [-15.20000, 12.15000] ( Bocage 1887b:202; 1895:5; Loveridge 1941b:479; Ceríaco et al. 2016b:54). Cunene: “Humbe” [-16.68333, 14.90000] ( Bocage 1895a:5; 1937b:146; Loveridge 1941b:479). Cuando Cubango: “ 23 km E Jamba” [-17.48690, 22.98790] ( Petzold et al. 2014, supplemental information); “Cuando basin (40)” [-17.45786, 22.91191] ( Conradie et al. 2016:9-10, 26).

Taxonomic and distributional notes: This species was first described by Lacépède (1788) as Testudo subrufa , but following the ICZN ruling that this was an unavailable non-binominal work ( ICZN 2005, Opinion 2104, Case 3226), authorship has been attributed to Bonnaterre (1789). Mertens (1937b) and Loveridge (1941b) demonstrated that T. subrufa pre-dated T. galeata , until then widely employed as the name for the helmeted terrapin. As the collector named by Lacépède, Pierre Sonnerat, was known to have collected in the southwestern Cape region of South Africa, Mertens (1937b) restricted the type locality to this area. However, Bour (1982) presented evidence that the type was probably actually collected by Philibert Commerson in Madagascar in 1770

(see review in Fritz et al. 2014). Loveridge (1941b) cited several species and subspecies for

Pelomedusa , but subsequently P. subrufa was long treated as monotypic (e.g., Gasperetii et al. 1993; Fritz and Havas 2007; Turtle Taxonomy Working Group 2007; Boycott and Bourquin 2008). However, Vargas-Ramírez et al. (2010) identified several species-level lineages within P. subrufa . Petzold et al. (2014) have formally resurrected several species from synonymy and have described additional species corresponding to the lineages identified genetically. The populations in Angola belong to the same taxon as the Madagascan type of P. subrufa , which represents a population introduced from the mainland of Africa ( Vargas-Ramírez et al. 2010; Wong et al. 2010). Iverson (1986, 1992) and The Turtle Taxonomy Working Group (2007, 2014, 2017) presented point locality distribution maps for the species.