Lerista lineopunctulata ( Duméril & Bibron, 1839 )

Edwards, Danielle L., 2017, Taxonomy of the Sand Sliders of Western Australia’s central coast (genus Lerista, Squamata: Scincidae): recognition of Lerista miopus (Günther, 1867), Zootaxa 4317 (1), pp. 111-133 : 120

Synonyms of Lerista lineopunctulata ( Duméril & Bibron, 1839) and assignment of northern populations to

Lerista miopus ( Günther, 1867) . Rhodona punctata Gray, 1839 (type locality ‘Australia’), was placed in synonymy of L. lineopunctulata by H. G. Cogger in Cogger et al. (1983). Although it was published before Brachystopus lineopunctulatus Duméril & Bibron, 1839 , Cogger et al. considered R. punctata to be a junior homonym of Lacerta punctata Linnaeus, 1758 and therefore unavailable. Duméril & Bibron (1839) recognised the close similarity between R. punctata and their B. lineopunctulatus , stating that were it not for the widely different localities (Australia vs. the Cape of Good Hope), they would believe them to be the same. Unfortunately, the African locality was in error and they were in fact describing the same taxon ( Cogger et al. 1983). Gray’s description of the genus Rhodona states the taxon to have the following limb arrangement: ‘the front ones rudimentary, short, small, conical, undivided, ending in a simple claw, hinder small, weak, with a distinct knee, and ending in two very unequal clawed toes’. This description immediately precedes the description of R. punctata , which is the only species assigned to the genus described. Images of the syntypes lodged at the British Museum, kindly supplied by H. G. Cogger, show a group of five lizards with distinctly visible forelimb stumps and two toes on the hindlimb. Although the image available to us of the Brachystopus lineopunctulatus type ( Fig. 4 , again supplied by H. G. Cogger) does not show the forelimbs clearly, the colour pattern is again of distinct, heavy longitudinal lines along the dorsum. The type of Ronia catenulata Gray, 1841 is lost ( Cogger et al. 1983). This species was described from material with a locality only of ‘Western Australia’, and hence cannot be assigned to the northern or southern population with certainty. However, the generic description of Ronia Gray, 1841 , of which R. catenulata is the only species, gives ‘The front limbs very small, rudimentary, undivided; the hinder limbs moderately developed, ending in two very unequal toes, with distinct claws.’ The combination of a distinct forelimb, a hindlimb with two toes and a bold colour pattern, shared by these specimens, suggests strongly that all three names can be assigned to the southern population, and consequently, that L. lineopunctulata is the appropriate name for this population by chronological priority.

The description of Soridia miopus Günther, 1867 gives ‘No free fore limbs, but there is a short longitudinal groove, in the upper end of which a minute tubercle (the first indication of an external limb) is visible; hind limb as long as the head, terminating in a single longish toe.’ This limb arrangement is typical of the northern population and not known in L. lineopunctulata sensu stricto. The type locality (Champion Bay, WA, approximately 28° 46' S 114° 36' E) places it well within the range of the northern population. This is also the case with Lygosoma bipes concolor Werner, 1910 (from Denham, WA, approximately 25° 55' S 113° 32' E). The description of this taxon cites “die anscheinend kürzeren Gliedmaâen sind anscheinend genügende Unterschiede von L. bipes .” [the shorter limbs diagnose it from L. bipes ]. As L. bipes ( Fischer, 1882) has no forelimbs, it can be assumed this is also the case with L. b. concolor . We have examined the type of L. (R.) nigriceps Glauert, 1962 (WAMR14039) and it conforms well with the morphology of L. miopus and was collected within this taxon’s known distribution (Vlaming Head, 21° 48' S 114° 06' E).

Designation of a neotype for Soridia miopus Günther, 1867 . The holotype for S. miopus is purported to be at the British Museum of Natural History, registered as 1946.8.15.60 (see Fig. 5 ). It was originally registered in 1864 as 64.7.22.2 and then re-registered in 1946 after retrieval from safe storage during World War II (G. Shea, pers. comm.). This specimen was examined by H.G. Cogger in 1970, who concluded that it cannot be the type for Soridia miopus on the basis of comparing the type description with its actual appearance. Specifically, the specimen is half the length given in the description, has two toes on the hindlimb (vs. one), no forelimbs (vs. “a minute tubercle”) and has a broad black lateral band (vs. simply “four very indistinct stripes of minute blackish dots along the dorsal series of scales”). In addition, Boulenger gives a very similar description (as Lygosoma miopus ) to Günther in his Catalogue Of The Lizards Of The British Museum (1887), suggesting strongly that both authors examined a different specimen to the one currently identified as the type. Cogger identified the specimen in 1970 as Lerista bipes . It was for these reasons that Cogger et al. (1983) considered the whereabouts of the true type of S. miopus as unknown, and it does not seem to have been located in the years since (P. Campbell, BMNH, pers. comm.). Therefore, to stabilise nomenclature we nominate a neotype collected from the type locality and held at the Western Australian Museum, WAMR136122.

Figures

FIGURE 4. MNHP 1246, holotype of Brachystopus lineopunctulatus Duméril and Bibron, 1839. Photo by H. G. Cogger.

FIGURE 5. Purported type of Soridia miopus Günther, 1867, BMNH 1946.8.15.60. Photo by H. G. Cogger.