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Novitatesamerican MUSEUM PUBLISHED by the AMERICAN MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST at 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y NovitatesAMERICAN MUSEUM PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CENTRAL PARK WEST AT 79TH STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10024 Number 2896, pp. 1-84, figs. 1-39, tables 1-7 November 9, 1987 Studies on Amphisbaenians (Reptilia). 7. The Small Round-headed Species (Cynisca) from Western Africa CARL GANS' CONTENTS Abstract ........................................ 2 Introduction ........................................ 2 Materials and Methods ........................................ 3 Sources ........................................ 3 Geography ........................................ 4 Character States ........................................ 4 Annuli and Segments ............. ............................ 4 Body Proportions ........................................ 5 Head Segmentation ........... ............................. 5 Other Characteristics ............ ............................ 9 Analysis ........................................ 10 Approach ........................................ 10 Variants of Cephalic Segmentation ........................................ 10 Nondimensional Species ............. ........................... 13 Gabon ........................................ 13 Central African Republic, Chad, and Cameroon ................. .............. 13 Nigeria ........................................ 13 Benin ........................................ 15 Togo ........................................ 15 Ghana ........................................ 15 Burkina Faso ........................................ 17 'Research Associate, Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History; Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109. Copyright © American Museum of Natural History 1987 ISSN 0003-0082 / Price $9.00 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2896 Ivory Coast ........................................ 17 Liberia and Inland Ghana .................. ....................... 18 Sierra Leone ........................................ 18 Coastal Guinea ......................................... 18 Guinea Bissau ........................................ 18 Senegal ......................................... 19 Gambia ........................................ 19 Separation of the Species ............. ............................ 19 Analysis of Pattern III ........... ............................. 19 Analysis of the Southeastern Portion of the Range ............................. 20 The Formns in Nigeria ............ ............................. 20 The Forms in Ghana and Ivory Coast ....................................... 20 The Forms from Northwest of Ghana ........................................ 20 Overview ........................................ 21 Attribution of Names .................... ..................... 21 The genus Cynisca Gray .................... ..................... 21 Status ......................................... 21 Diagnosis ......................................... 22 Key to the Species ......................................... 22 Accounts of Species .................... ..................... 29 Cynisca bifrontalis ........................................ 29 Cynisca degrysi ........................................ 34 Cynisca feae ........................................ 35 Cynisca gansi ......................................... 37 Cynisca haughi ......................................... 39 Cynisca kigomensis ........................................ 41 Cynisca kraussi ......................................... 43 Cynisca leonina ......................................... 46 Cynisca leucura ......................................... 48 Cynisca liberiensis ........................................ 53 Cynisca muelleri ........................................ 55 Cynisca nigeriensis ........................................ 57 Cynisca oligopholis ........................................ 59 Cynisca rouxae ......................................... 61 Cynisca schaeferi ........................................ 63 Cynisca senegalensis, new species ......................................... 65 Cynisca williamsi, new species ......................................... 67 Incertae sedis ........................................ 71 References Cited .................... ..................... 71 Appendix ...... .............. ..................... 74 ABSTRACT The West African genus Cynisca is reviewed genus includes 16 species, two of which, Cynisca based upon all known specimens from museum williamsi from Ghana and C. senegalensis from collections and recent field collections. Specimens Senegal, are here described as new. Specific diag- come from Senegal in the west, to the Central Af- noses are based on segmental counts and body rican Republic and Gabon in the east. All existing proportions, as well as head shield pattern and types were reexamined, diagnoses reformulated, caudal specializations. and a key prepared. The study indicates that the 1 987 GANS: AMPHISBAENIANS: CYNISCA 3 INTRODUCTION Small and more or less round-headed spec- 16 species are recognized. Specimens were imens ofamphisbaenians have been recorded borrowed from every collection that had from localities throughout a belt extending them. The pattern of data analysis and de- inland from the West African coast between scription follows that ofearlier studies (Gans Gabon and Senegal. These forms, colloqui- and Alexander, 1962; Gans, 1966, 1971; Gans ally known as worm lizards (in Hausa, cibi- and Latifi, 1971; Broadley et al., 1976). Un- yan kasa; Dunger, 1968), are characterized fortunately, the results show that (1) 9 of 16 by enlargement or fusion of the anterior ce- species are still known only from their type phalic shields and traditionally assigned to series (or holotypes), (2) the material for cer- the genera Chirindia, Cynisca, and Placogas- tain other species, such as C. liberiensis, is in ter. Their composite range is roughly contig- extremely poor condition, and (3) the distri- uous with that of the genus Zygaspis (Saiff, butional pattern of the species suggests that 1970; Broadley and Gans, 1975, 1978), which additional taxa probably remain to be dis- extends to the north of that of Cynisca. The covered. The material now available is ade- distribution ofthe assemblage overlaps those quate only to characterize the round-headed of several other genera. For example, be- West African amphisbaenids and to note, but tween Gabon and Cameroon it occurs to- not resolve, a biologically curious situation gether with some species ofthe spade-snout- that exists in southern Ghana (perhaps Be- ed genus Monopeltis (Gans and Latifi, 1971; nin) and Ivory Coast. Gans and Lehman, 19732) and in Nigeria it overlaps that of the keel-headed monotypic MATERIALS AND METHODS genus Baikia (Dunger, 1965). To the east, the distribution of these round-headed amphis- SOURCES baenians seems to be limited by the Zaire The approximately 485 specimens dis- forest, and to the north and northwest by the cussed derive from the following collections inland savannahs and deserts that fringe the (identified by abbreviations throughout the West African forests. text; an * identifies the few specimens not at The several accounts ofthese animals were hand when the report was prepared) and I am written in many different languages; indis- grateful to the curators (names given in pa- pensable materials, obviously dispersed ow- rentheses) for assistance with loans or hos- ing to political dissection of the region, were pitality during visits. available from the institutions of more than a dozen countries. Most previous redescrip- AMG Albany Museum, Grahamstown, C.P., South Africa (F. H. Farquharson) tions had attempted to deal with issues on a AMNH American Museum of Natural History, localized basis (e.g., Dunger, 1968); the re- New York City, New York (R. G. Zwei- vision of Loveridge (1941) is a notable ex- fel) ception. Only a few specimens each are known BM British Museum (Natural History), from many scattered localities. However, London, England (A. G. C. Grandison, there are relatively large samples from a few N. Arnold, and A. Stimson) localities, notably from the region around Ac- CAS California Academy of Sciences, San cra, Ghana. This suggests that the scarcity of Francisco, California (R. C. Drewes) specimens in collections may reflect the at- CG Carl Gans collection, Ann Arbor, Mich- titudes of collectors rather than the actual igan CM Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Penn- abundance of the animals. sylvania (C. J. McCoy, Jr.) The present report is a review of the spe- CZL Centro de Zoologia, Ministerio do Ul- cific status ofthe entire genus Cynisca in which tramar, Lisbon, Portugal (S. Manacas and M. Pinheiro) 2 Matschie (1893) properly characterized Monopeltis. FMNH Field Museum ofNatural History, Chi- However, he noted that it occurs in Ghana and both to cago, Illinois (H. Marx and H. Voris) the north and south of Togo and added that the form HM Zoologisches Institut und Zoologisches from Togo was unnamed. I am unaware of any records Museum, Universitiit Hamburg, Ger- of this genus from west of Cameroon. many (H. W. Koepcke) 4 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 2896 IFAN Institut fondamentale d'Afrique Noire, and B. Hughes who helped with the field- Dakar, Senegal (M. Cisse) work. Messrs. Denis Harris and Douglas W. IRSNB Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles Nelson of the University of Michigan Mu- de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium (J. Gosse seum ofZoology kindly x-rayed the animals. and the late G. F. de Witte) KM Universitetets Zoologiske
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