Cordylus namakuiyus Stanley, Ceríaco, Bandeira, Valério, Bates and Branch, 2016

Ceríaco, L. M. P., De Sá, S., Bandeira, S., Valério, H., Stanley, E. L., Kuhn, A. L., Marques, M. P., Vindum, J. V., Blackburn, D. C. & Bauer, A. M., 2016, Herpetological Survey of Iona National Park and Namibe Regional Natural Park, with a Synoptic List of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Namibe Province, Southwestern Angola, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 63 (2), pp. 15-61 : 38

KAOKOVELD GIRDLED LIZARD

Cordylus namakuiyus Stanley, Ceríaco, Bandeira, Valério, Bates and Branch, 2016

MATERIAL.— 7.5 km NW (by road) of Pico Azevedo, 7 December 2013, 15º28ʹ33.2ʺS, 12º27ʹ45.7ʺE, 421 m ( CAS 254754–254755 , CAS 256530–256531 ); Namibe-Lubango road, road marker 59, 1.8 km W (by road) from Caraculo, north side of the road, 6 December 2013, 15º00ʹ59.4ʺS, 12º38ʹ31.3ʺE, 503 m ( CAS 254912–254914 ) ; 15º00ʹ57.3ʺS, 12º38ʹ32.6ʺE, 509 m ( CAS 256529 ) .

COMMENTS.— Based on a combination of morphological and molercular data, Stanley et al. (2016) described this new species endemic to the arid lowlands west of the southern Angolan escarpment. The majority of the type material of C. namakuiyus was collected during this trip. The new species is morphologically and genetically distinct from its sister taxon Cordylus machadoi Laurent, 1964 , which occurs in the highlands of Huila, not far from Namibe. In addition to an average 7.1% uncorrected p-distance for the mitochondrial marker ND2, the two species differ in the extent of osteodermal armament. The more complete body armor of C. namakuiyus may be an adaptation to the semi-arid and refuge-scarce habitat where the species occurs. Within the new species there is also a degree of internal genetic structure, with specimens from Iona (PEM R18005) and Pico Azevedo (CAS 254754, 254755, 256530, 256531) more closely related to one another than to the two specimens from Caraculo. Specimens in the American Museum of Natural Histiry identified as Cordylus cordylus and collected in 1925 during the Vernay Expedition in Angola are assignable to C. namakuiyus . Although the Vernay specimens lack specific locality information, the expedition field notes mention that significant numbers of unidentified lizards were collected at “Pico Azevedo” and “ 100 km east of Moçâmedes” the same areas where we collected eight specimens of C. namakuiyus .