Lygosoma kinabatanganensis, Grismer & Quah & Duzulkafly & Yambun, 2018

Grismer, L. Lee, Quah, Evan S. H., Duzulkafly, Zaharil & Yambun, Paul, 2018, On the taxonomy of Lygosoma bampfyldei Bartlett, 1895 (Squamata: Scincidae) with descriptions of new species from Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia and the resurrection of Lygosoma schneideri Werner, 1900, Zootaxa 4438 (3), pp. 528-550 : 543-547

Lygosoma kinabatanganensis sp. nov.

Kinabatangan Supple Skink

Figs. 4 & 5

Riopa bampfyldei Malkmus et al. 1999:195 ; Malkmus et al., 2002:281.

Lygosoma bampfyldei Das 2010:238 ; Karin et al. 2018:246.

Holotype. Adult male ( FMNH 76226 ) collected by Robert F. Inger on 10 May 1956 at the east coast residency, Kinabatangan District , Deramakot camp (now the Deramakot Sabah Forestry Department), Sabah, East Malaysia (5°17N; 117°33E; 146 m) .

Diagnosis. Lygosoma kinabatanganensis sp. nov. can be differentiated from all other Lygosoma by having the combination of a large (SVL = 141 mm) robust body (PEC/SVL = 0.15); seven supralabials; six or seven infralabials; midline contact of the supranasals; prefrontals not in contact; frontoparietal contacting four supraoculars; eight superciliaries; three postsuboculars, the first being large; one primary and three secondary and tertiary temporals; four nuchal scales; a deep postnasal groove extending from the nasal scale to below the anterior portion of the eye and lying below the anterior loreals and lower preocular and above the second and third supralabials; scaly lower eyelid, no window; 42 midbody scale rows; 98 paravertebral scale rows; 104 ventral scale rows; 39 caudal scale rows at the tenth subcaudal; nine relatively small precloacal scales; smooth to weakly keeled subdigital finger lamellae, 10 lamellae on third finger; keeled subdigital toe lamellae, 15 lamellae on fourth toe; low, round, small palmar scales numbering eight across the base of the palm; head pattern consisting of a dark, frontal and occipital bands separated by a yellowish band; dark occipital band not confluent with lighter color of dorsum and tail; sides of tail olive. These characters are scored across all species in the L. bampfyldei group in Table 2.

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methođs. Description of holotype. Adult male, SVL 141 mm; tail broken, 27 mm; axilla-groin length 80.1 mm; head length 25.5 mm; rostral wider than long, in broad contact with supranasals; supranasals damaged but in contact medially and with frontonasal posteriorly; frontonasal wider than long; prefrontals not large, widely separated on midline; frontal elongate, widest anteriorly, in contact with first two supraoculars; five supraoculars, fifth smallest; frontoparietals in medial contact posterior to frontal, contacting second, third, fourth, and fifth supraoculars anterolaterally and parietals and interparietal posteriorly; frontoparietals non-overlapping; interparietal diamondshaped, large, slightly projecting posteriorly, eyespot in posterior projection; postinterparietal absent; parietals large, in medial point contact posterior to interparietal, contacting fourth and fifth supraoculars anteriorly; one primary temporal; three secondary temporals; three tertiary temporals; uppermost secondary temporal contacting parietal; four nuchal scales between upper secondary temporals; nasals small, widely separated, trapezoidal, contacting rostral anteriorly, supranasal dorsally, anterior loreal posteriorly, first supralabial ventrally; nostril in center of nasal; anterior loreal taller than wide, posterior loreal wider than tall; upper and lower preoculars present; one presubocular; deep groove separating lower preocular and loreals from supralabials two, three, and four; eight superciliaries, posterior superciliary elongate and projecting dorsomedially and bordered medially by fifth supraocular, posteriorly by postocular; three postsuboculars, first in contact with fifth and sixth supralabials; seven supralabials, fourth, fifth, and sixth below eye; fifth supralabial large, in broad contact with eye; two postsupralabials; lower eyelid transparent, scaly, no enlarged central window; mental twice as wide as long; single, large postmental, contacting first and second infralabials; two enlarged pairs of chinshields posterior to postmental, anterior pair contacting medially, contacting second and third infralabials; posterior pair of chinshields separated by a single scale, not contacting infralabials; 7R6L infralabials; external ear opening narrow, vertical, oval, approximately same diameter as eyeball, bearing three anterior lobules; and tympanum deep.

Body robust (PEC/SVL = 0.15); dorsal scales smooth, cycloid, imbricate; ventral scales smooth, same size dorsal scales; 42 longitudinal scale rows around midbody; 98 paravertebral scale rows; 104 ventral scale rows; no enlarged precloacal scales; tail thick, round in cross-section at base; subcaudals same size dorsal caudals; limbs, robust, short (FL/SVL = 0.25; HDL/SVL = 0.25), widely separated when adpressed; scales of dorsal surfaces slightly wider than those of ventral surfaces; palmar and plantar scales flat to low and rounded; digits short, scales of dorsal surfaces in a single row; 10R,L subdigital lamellae on third finger, 15R,L subdigital lamellae on fourth toe; keels of subdigital lamellae of toes two, three and four keeled and slightly raised; and subdigital lamellae of fingers rounded to weekly keeled.

Coloration in alcohol ( Fig. 4 & 5 ). Occiput and rostrum brown, separated by a light-colored band across the parietal region; dark frontal band extends from the upper labial region of one side of the head to the upper labial region of the other side of the head; a dark-brown occipital band extends across occiput from ear opening to ear opening; dorsal region of body and tail much lighter than occipital band; sides of head, neck and flanks slightly lighter, bearing scales outlined in light-brown; top of limbs dark-brown; underside of head, limbs, and body beige; undersides of hands, feet, and digits dark-brown; and underside of tail grey.

Etymology. The specific epithet, kinabatanganensis is in reference to this species being from the Kinabatangan region of Sabah in East Malaysia.

Distribution ( Fig. 1 ). Lygosoma kinabatanganensis sp. nov. is known only from the type locality.

Natural history. Nothing was reported on the natural history of the holotype at the time of its collection other than it came from the camp clearing. Its body morphology and reduced limbs suggest it is semi-fossorial. Malkmus et al. (1999) report seeing a specimen active during the day at Deramakot , Sabah.

Comparisons. Lygosoma kinabatangensis sp. nov. differs from all other species in the bampfyldei group by the frontoparietal contacting five vs. four supraoculars, having 104 vs. 94–99 ventral scales, 39 vs. 28–34 scales around the tail, and nine relatively small vs. seven or eight large precloacal scales. Other characters differentially separating L. kinabatanganensis sp. nov. from various combinations of the other species are listed in Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of the species of the Lygosoma bampfyldei group in Sundaland. Stars designate the location of the type localities for L. bampfyldei along the Rajang River, Sarawak, East Malaysia; L. peninsulare sp. nov. from 13.5 km east of Jeli, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia; L. kinabatanganensis sp. nov. from the Kinabatangan District, Deramakot camp (Deramakot Sabah Forestry Department), Sabah, East Malaysia; and L. schneideri from Indragiri, Djapura, Sumatra, Indonesia. Colors are coded to match those of the Figure 3.

FIGURE 4. Comparisons of body stature of the types of A, Lygosoma scheideri (BM 4743) from Djpura, Indragiri, Sumatra, Indonesia; B, syntype of Lygosoma bampfyldei (BMNH 1946.8.10.84) from the Rejan River, Sarawak, East Malaysia; C, L. kinabatanganensis sp. nov. (FMNH 76226) from the Kinabatangan District, Deramakot camp (Deramakot Sabah Forestry Department), Sabah, East Malaysia; and D, L. peninsulare sp. nov. (LSUHC 13857) from 13.5 km east of Jeli, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia.

FIGURE 5. A. Right lateral view of the heads of A, the syntype of Lygosoma bampfyldei (BMNH 1946.8.10.84) from the Rejan River, Sarawak, East Malaysia; B, the holotype of L. kinabatanganensis sp. nov. (FMNH 76226) from the Kinabatangan District, Deramakot camp (Deramakot Sabah Forestry Department), Sabah, East Malaysia; C, L. peninsulare sp. nov. (LSUHC 13857) from 13.5 km east of Jeli, Kelantan, Peninsular Malaysia; and D, L. scheideri (BM 4743) from Djpura, Indragiri, Sumatra, Indonesia. Photos by LLG.